A theory is a formulation of the underlying principles of certain observed phe- nomena that have been verified to some extent. A criterion of the power of a theory is the extent to which it generates predictions that are confirmed when relevant empirical data are collected. The more a theory receives confirmation or verification, the more accurate it is. Facts strengthen rather than replace theories. Why are they useful? Therapists cannot avoid being counselling and psychotherapy theorists.
All make assumptions about how clients become and stay the way they are and about change. Three of the main functions of counselling and psychotherapy theories are: providing conceptual frameworks, providing languages, and generating research.
Theories provide therapists with concepts that allow them to think systematically about human develop- ment and the therapeutic process. Counselling and psychotherapy theoretical approaches may be viewed as possessing four main dimensions if they are to be stated adequately. In this context behaviour incorporates both observable behaviour and internal behav- iour or thinking. The dimensions are: 1. They are partial rather than complete or comprehensive theoretical statements.
Arguably, some of the missing concepts in the theo- ries are implicit rather than explicit. Theorists select for more thorough treat- ment those dimensions of a theory that they consider important.
Another function of theories is similar to that provided by languages. Languages are vocab- ularies and linguistic symbols that allow communication about phenomena. Like the major spoken languages of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, the differ- ent theorists develop languages for the phenomena they wish to describe: for instance, cognitive, psychoanalytic or person-centred languages.
Language can both unite and divide. It can encourage communication between people who speak the same language, but discourage communication if they do not. Each theoretical position has concepts described in unique language. The psychotherapy process is a series of conversations requiring languages. In any therapeutic relationship there are at least four kinds of conversations going on: namely, therapist and client inner and outer speech.
All therapists who oper- ate out of explicit theoretical frameworks are likely to talk to themselves about clients in the language of that framework. In varying degrees their therapeutic practice will match their language.
Therapists do not always act according to how they think. Furthermore, in varying degrees therapists share their theoreti- cal language with clients. For example, unlike in rational emotive behaviour therapy, the language in which person-centred theory is expressed tends not to be shared with clients.
Clients are also theorists, though usually without the sophistication of their therapists. Approaches like rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy actively try to influence the language in which clients talk to them- selves so that it becomes helpful rather than harmful. For example, cognitive behaviour therapy is based on research into how people think and into how both people and animals behave.
Furthermore, cognitive behaviour approaches, such as rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy, have stimulated research into their processes and outcomes. Theories also provide therapists with frameworks within which to make pre- dictive hypotheses during their practice of psychotherapy.
Whether acknowl- edging it or not, all therapists are practitioner-researchers. Therapists make hypotheses every time they decide how to work with specific clients and how to respond to single or series of client utterances. Clients are also practitioner-researchers who make predictions about how best to lead their lives. If valid theories of counselling and psychotherapy are transmitted to clients, they may increase the accuracy with which clients can predict the consequences of their behaviours and, hence, gain more control over their lives.
They can be used for ill as well as for good. A criticism of many theories is that they present partial truths as whole truths. Ellis focuses on irrational beliefs at risk of paying insufficient attention to other aspects of thinking, for instance perceiving accurately or using coping self-talk.
Freud emphasizes uncovering unconscious material through the analysis of dreams, but says little about developing specific effective behaviours to deal with everyday problems. Some theories may lead to focusing more on what is wrong rather than on what is right with clients, a criticism which positive therapy specifically addresses. For instance, psychoanalysts can view aspects of learned ineffective behaviour as symptomatic of deeper underlying conflicts. The different languages of theoretical approaches can disguise similarities between them.
Theoretical rigidity is also fostered when language differences lead therapists mainly to talk with those speaking the same language rather than to a broader sharing of knowledge and experience. The language of theo- ries can also create a power imbalance between therapists and clients. Therapists who think in a special theoretical language that they do not share can put themselves in superior—inferior relationships with clients. Furthermore, the language of some theories does little to empower clients once they end therapy.
Clients unable to articu- late what to think and do when faced with problems after therapy are less likely to maintain gains than clients who can instruct themselves appropriately. Possibly all the theorists in this book insufficiently take into account cultural differences. In addition, theorists can either ignore or underestimate how socio-environmental conditions like poverty, poor housing and racial discrimi- nation may contribute to explaining ineffective behaviour.
Though feminist and gender-aware theorizing is attempting to redress the balance, most theo- rists insufficiently take into account the influence of sex-role conditioning.
In addition, theorists tend to assume heterosexuality and often insufficiently take into account the needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual clients. To a large extent these theories reflect the historical context and per- sonal and intellectual life histories of their founders. All theorists are influenced by their families of origin and by previous writers and thinkers. The following section suggests some important factors that have influenced the creation and development of counselling and psychotherapy theory and practice.
Theorists are influenced by the historical and cultural contexts in which they live. For exam- ple, the prevalence of sexual repression in turn-of-the-century Austria influ- enced Freud to develop a theoretical position in which unacknowledged sexuality plays a large part.
Another example is that, during the first half of the twentieth century, parents tended to dominate their families more than they do now.
Carl Rogers was brought up in the first quarter of the century. Whereas Rogers reacted against certainty, the popularity of existential therapy partly represents a reaction to the lack of structure of much of modern society Yalom, Old certainties provided by institutions like family and church no longer exist to the same extent and many people are faced with a more obvi- ous need to create their own meaning.
Culture also influences how theoretical approaches develop. For example, ideas of desirable behaviour differ greatly between Western and Eastern cultures. Western psychotherapies attach a high value to individualism that people from Eastern cultures, with their greater emphasis on group harmony, may find uncongenial Laungani, Seligmann may have been partly motivated to develop positive therapy because of the American cultural context of getting ahead and making the most out of life.
The topic of cultural considerations in psychotherapy theory and practice is developed in greater detail later in this book. However, many of the other theorists whose work is described in this book encountered periods of signifi- cant psychological suffering in their lives. Freud also had occasional attacks of dread of dying, some psychologically induced fainting spells, and became very frightened about train travel.
Carl Jung Analytical therapy was a solitary child who, at one stage, used fainting spells to get out of going to secondary school. In his late thirties and early forties Jung expe- rienced schizophrenic-like symptoms. Carl Rogers Person-centred therapy was an extremely shy and solitary child who grew up considering his parents as masters of subtle emotional manipulation.
Rogers felt it unsafe to share much of his personal feelings at home for fear of being judged negatively. Fritz Perls Gestalt therapy grew up in a distressed family where his parents had many bitter verbal and physical fights. Eric Berne Transactional analysis , when eleven, experienced the death from tubercu- losis of his beloved physician father, leaving his mother to support him and his sister.
May grew up in a discordant and unhappy family atmosphere. Aged 12, Ellis dis- covered his parents had divorced.
She could also be moody, inconsistent and excitable. While growing up Beck developed many anxieties, including fears related to abandonment, surgery, suffocation, public speaking and heights. Arnold Lazarus Multimodal therapy was the youngest of four children and grew up feeling ignored and unimportant at home, which contributed to his feeling shy, inad- equate and hypersensitive.
Lazarus was also a skinny kid who was bullied a lot. If one accepts that many originators of counselling and psychotherapy theories experienced more than their fair share of psychological suffering, the question still remains how this affected their theorizing. For some leading theorists, shyness with people may have stimulated a desire to communicate through words. In addi- tion, early feelings of inferiority may have fuelled their ambition to make their mark.
Furthermore, having suffered themselves, theorists may be motivated to develop theories that can alleviate the suffering of others. Some theorists seem to have been motivated to develop theoretical positions that would help not just clients, but themselves. Albert Ellis, in his late teens, regularly went to the Bronx Botanic Gardens in New York and forced himself to sit next to women on park benches and strike up conversations with them so that he could learn to control his shyness and build his relating skills.
Here, early in life, Ellis was trying to think and behave more rationally in one of his problem areas. Furthermore, some theorists, for instance Jung and Yalom, were avid readers right from their early years. In his teens, Lazarus helped edit a bodybuilding magazine and then entered university with a view to becoming a journalist and a writer.
Beck was editor of his high school newspaper and an undergraduate English major. Skinner majored in English and planned to become a writer. Ellis too envisaged a writ- ing career and wrote reams in his quest to become the Great American Novelist. Berne studied English along with psychology and pre-medicine as an undergraduate and his mother was a journalist. Later in life at least two theorists, Skinner and Yalom, branched out to write novels for example, Skinner, ; Yalom, ; , ; However, readers should be circumspect about attributing commer- cial motives to theorists.
For example, for over forty-five years, Ellis donated all his royalty, client and workshop income to the Albert Ellis Institute. Furthermore, when theorists start writing books they have no guarantee that their time and effort with be remunerative. All theorists think they have something of value to offer and want to share it.
For instance, throughout his professional life Rogers was very concerned with making an impact on others. Frustration, creative insights, clinical experimentation and careful observation can each contribute to developing a theory.
Beck, Berne, Ellis, and Perls were trained in psychoa- nalysis. Their negative experiences practising psychoanalysis challenged them develop their own positions. Each used their work with clients to develop and experiment with different ways of helping them. Lazarus was stimulated to develop his multimodal therapy approach as a reac- tion to the restrictiveness of traditional behaviour therapy.
Rogers developed his person-centred approach from discovering the limitations of existing ways of working. Michael White and David Epston developed narrative therapy partly as a reaction to the hierarchical and dehumanizing ways they perceived people were treated in psychiatric hospitals. Theory can also be developed and validated from researching the processes and outcomes of psychotherapy.
Theorists are practitioner-researchers generating and testing hypotheses in their psychotherapy practice. Thus pro- fessional experience can act as informal psychotherapy process and outcome research. Theorists and their adherents differ in the extent to which they either engage in or generate more formal psychotherapy research. On the one hand, the processes and outcomes of approaches like cognitive therapy, rational emo- tive behaviour therapy, person-centred therapy and behaviour therapy are heavily researched.
On the other hand, there is a paucity of research into approaches like transactional analysis, gestalt therapy and existential therapy. Many of the remainder trained as clinical psychologists: for instance, Ellis, Lazarus, May, Rogers and Seligmann. Of the clinical psychologists, only Lazarus and Seligmann were affiliated in academic psychology.
De Shazer, Berg, White and Epston were social workers and counsellors. However, women have been prominent in psychodynamic approaches to therapy: for instance, Anna Freud, Karen Horney and Melanie Klein. Furthermore, women have contributed to the development of other approaches presented in this book as well as being the driving force behind feminist therapy. All the major theorists appear to have been heterosexual, at least as far as their public personas.
In addition, Ellis had a Jewish mother. Longevity helps major theorists to develop, refine, proselyt- ize and defend their work. Ellis lived into his nineties, Freud, Jung, May, Rogers and Lazarus lived into their eighties, and Perls lived to over seventy-five.
Of the living theorists Beck b. Another aspect of longevity is that many, if not most, major theorists did not publish original work until they were over forty. Theory creation is both a subjective process of making sense of material as well as an external process of reading, learning, researching and practising psychotherapeutic skills.
How can you make yourself a better theorist and hence a more effective therapist? The following are some suggestions. Nevertheless, it should provide you with a faithful overview of some of the main counselling and psychotherapy theories. To understand any theory you need to master its basic concepts. It is insufficient just to read about them. You will need actively to work on understanding and memorizing them. At the end of each theory chapter I, and other authors, provide review questions that test your knowledge of basic concepts.
Applying the differ- ent theories to your own life is one way to make learning more personal, involving and interesting.
What do the theories say that seems applicable to you and why? Another way to understand the theories is to think how appli- cable they are to past, present or future clients. What in different theories might prove useful in your practical work and why?
You can also compare and contrast different theories in an attempt to critically evaluate their strengths and weaknesses for you as a person and as a therapist. At the end of each chap- ter I, and other authors, provide personal questions so that you may apply your learning and insights to yourself. Another way to learn about the theories is to try to develop a theoretical approach of your own. For over twenty-five years I asked counselling and coun- selling psychology trainees taking my theories classes to write a paper present- ing their current theoretical approach.
Ultimately, there is no substitute for reading primary sources. You will get a much broader and deeper impression of the different theories if you read widely the works of their originators. Styczynski and Leonard Greenberg. Alexander Simpkins and Annellen M. Madson Emily E. Bullock Alayna C. Speed and Shirley A. Don Morgan Dana K. Soetaert and Robin J. Inman and Nicholas Ladany. Toldson and Shawn Utsey. Nilsson Danah M. Barazanji Codi L. Schale and Angela D. Author Index.
Subject Index. Having the opportunity to read this book has been delightful. I have learned new concepts and remembered learnings from my past. I really recommend it. Erickson Foundation Newsletter , Winter
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