Realistically, do you think it is possible to be congruent and to extend empathy and unconditional positive regard to these clients in a psychotherapeutic context? Why or why not?

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 Discussion Rogerian Therapy

Similar to Freud, Carl Rogers developed his theory from his extensive work with his patients. However, unlike Freud, he believed that people are typically healthy; being mentally healthy is the normal state. Although there are unhealthy people, they are not the norm or what one has to accept and live with throughout one’s life. Furthermore, Rogers believed that each person has one primary motivation—to realize his/her full potential or to be self-actualized. Finally, he posited that neurosis stems from incongruence between one’s real self and one’s ideal self. He applied this to his theory of counseling in the development of three therapeutic criteria that he felt were both necessary and sufficient to help the patient. These three qualities are now the foundation for modern person-centered therapy.

The three qualities that form the foundation of Rogerian therapy are empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. These will be relatively easy to express for people you naturally like but can be difficult to express for people whom you do not like nor agree with.

Imagine that you are a psychologist working with a population of individuals that tend to be more difficult to work with, such as sex offenders, elderly patients with dementia, or mentally challenged children. Use the Internet, Argosy University library resources, and your textbook to research the concepts of Rogerian therapy and respond to the following questions:

  • Realistically, do you think it is possible to be congruent and to extend empathy and unconditional positive regard to these clients in a psychotherapeutic context? Why or why not?
  • How do you think clinicians practicing Rogerian therapy would approach these concepts for these clients?
  • How might Rogerian therapy be a helpful strategy for these clients?
  • Is it possible these concepts of Rogerian therapy could hinder treatment?

 

Write your initial response in 4–5 paragraphs. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

 

RESPOND TO:

Realistically I do not think that it is possible to be congruent and to be able to extend empathy as well as unconditional positive regard to these types of clients in a psychotherapeutic context.  I state this, because there needs to be trust and understanding between both the client and the counselor.  If the sex offender does not want or believe that he/she needs counseling, he/she is least likely to admit the need to be there, and display low regard to the counselor for making them sit through a session.  If we are dealing with a client that does not want the therapy of their own free will, they are not likely to express themselves at a normal level, and the contact will be impersonal, and the information superficial (Gazzola, 1997).  For an elderly client with dementia, he/she may want to be there, but without the ability to hold and maintain information from one session to another; how likely would they be in believing what their therapist is telling them?  They would not remember how they felt towards their therapist and if the trust was established or not.  Each session would be a work in progress in laying the ground work for trust.  The chance to reach a deeper understanding does not seem likely.  Then depending on how mentally challenged the child is how likely are they to hold a child’s attention?  Most “normal” children come across as having a difficult time in being patient.  If the mentally ill child does not want to viewed a specific way and the therapist thinks that there are showing the correct type of empathy; then the child could be offended.  The therapist could misinterpret what it is that the child is trying to tell them.

Since each client is different and no two cases are the same, it would depend on how far into their therapy sessions each client has received in their stages.  Saying that the trust was built between the counselor and the sex offender, it is best that the counselor try to think in the mind of the client.  How are they feeling?  In what ways would he/she react in a positive light to change a part of their situation?  The counselor wants to make sure to interpret the information correctly and therefore, if the client has expressed guilt in sexually assaulting a child, then they have an understanding and can work based on that guilt.  This would be the ground work for their sessions.

For the elderly patient with dementia it would help the therapist to be empathic toward his/her situation.  This would help the counselor ease the client’s discomfort and allow him/her to open up in each session.  The most important thing counselors have to remember, is to not judge and also not relay their feelings or emotions onto the client.  Studies have shown that when a client is comfortable in their surroundings, as well as with the therapist, that they are more likely to open up about their problems and work together to try and “solve the issue at hand (Smith, 1963).

For the mentally ill child, it would be useful to show congruence and be a real, genuine person.  This would show the child that you care about what he/she might be feeling and are being honest in their expressions (Feist, 2008).  At the same time, it would be useful to show unconditional positive regard toward the child, because this will help elicit “a warm and positive attitude toward the client” (Feist, 323).  This would also allow the relationship to grow, and allow for psychological growth to occur (Feist, 323).

It is possible that Rogerian Therapy could hinder treatment among clients, because no therapy is one hundred percent effective.  This is one of the reasons why we explore so many different methods of treatment for clients in school, because certain aspects of one treatment may work well together for a particular client, while another coupling of treatments might work best for another client.  It depends on the case by case basis, and I already mentioned before no two clients are going to experience a situation in the exact same way.  The world does not work that way, and everyone is unique.  There is no simple cookie cutter routine for every situation, and each theorist has their own ideas for how psychological growth can occur.

RESPOND TO:

In the cases all of these cases of sex offenders, dementia patients, and other mentally ill that are difficult to deal with it is entirely possible to have positive regard and empathy for them. To put on in one’s shoes is the concept of empathy, emotionally being able to relate. Being able to relate to a sex offender my be the most difficult, but according to roger’s the incongruence to one’s sense of self can lead these people to feel they must sex offend. That their stages of development as children was somehow distorted and the balance of their self and what the self is supposed to be is some how skewed.

Therapist in the Rogeran theory would approach their therapy techniques with empathy and unconditional positive regard. What this means is that their emotional output is genuine and their positive regard for their health and

success is also organic. With someone who is not genuine in their approach will turn off a client with a quickness and the focus and work put forth to their mental health will be wasted because the client wont be able to feel they can truly convey their emotions and feeling s to the therapist.

I feel Rogerian therapy is very helpful for these patients because his approach to therapy is very down to earth, he sees patients as human being s that have genuine need for acceptance and recognition, and he sees them as people with potential and not just neurotic or psychotic. His approach speaks form a stand point that therapist have to be genuine in their practice and the patient has to feel that and then the client-patient relationship can develop and once that develops, the progress of the patient’s self-actualization can develop. Congruence in therapy include awareness, feeling, and expression when incongruence occurs, the awareness and feeling is stifled and the expression is hard to express for lack of positive regard and empathy from the counselor.

I feel the hindering of treatment would be from the lack of positive regard and empathy towards certain clients, like a sex offender or any other patient that can be difficult to handle. The difficulty can lead to personal bias, frustration, and annoyance. If someone is feeling empathy but not positive self regard in the sense that their feelings and motives aren’t genuine the client will feel that. If the relationship is rocky in anyway then the progress wont be there. If I personally had a sex offender as a client, from personal issues of my own, it would be difficult to have empathy for that patient. I would have to excuse myself from treatment and find another therapist to assist them.

Feist, J., & Feist, G. (2008). Theories of Personality, 7th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from  http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/books/007-7376714/id/pg323

Describe, in your own words, what the researchers concluded from the results of the experiments.

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The assignment requires students to locate a peer-reviewed primary article in the University’s periodical holdings, read it and answer questions about it.

Please use the University’s Library to locate the article “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking”. It is a primary research article reporting three empirical studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Science. It was published in 2014 in volume 25.

1. After reading the article, using APA style please provide a reference citation for this article.

2. What was the hypothesis investigated in Experiment 1?

3. List the independent variable(s) and corresponding conditions or levels.

4. List the dependent variable(s) and how they were measured.

5. Were the participants randomly assigned to condition?

6. Was evidence found to support or refute the hypothesis? Describe, in your own words, the results.

7. What was the purpose of Experiment 2?

8. List the independent variable(s) and corresponding conditions or levels.

9. List the dependent variable(s) and how they were measured.

10. Were the participants randomly assigned to condition?

11. Was evidence found to support or refute the hypothesis? Describe, in your own words, the results.

12. Describe, in your own words, what the researchers concluded from the results of the experiments.

Please use a question and answer format to record your answers in a word document and submit it in the assignments section of the course. The document should use Times New Roman 12 point font and be double-spaced.

Discuss the basic tenets of Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development.  Do you believe personality develops in stages similar to his theory?

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Will someone please complete these 5 discussion questions? Each reply has to be a total of 200 words. Please look over questions, and reply to each on in the most authentic way possible. Thank you

PRE-NATAL TO BIRTH

Imagine you work with high-risk expectant mothers educating them about the development processes of their unborn child.  How might you advise a first-time mother who is engaging in one or more behaviors that may be potentially harmful to her and/or the child.  What developmental issues might you discuss with her to help her make more informed choices to protect and improve the development of the unborn child? Include both positive and negative perspectives you might include in your discussion with the mother.

COGNITIVE GROWTH (INFORMATIONAL PROCESSING)

Briefly discuss what information processing approaches to cognitive development are, and how to do they differ from those of Piaget and Vygotsky?

Additionally, choose one of the following processes and discuss the process using an informational process approach.

Attention

Memory

Learning

You can use the concepts discussed in your textbook to do this, but do not simply repeat what is in the book.  Include applications, examples, or other additional information that demonstrates your understanding of the approach.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Compare and contrast the Learning Theory Approach (nurture) and Chomsky’s Nativist Approach (nature) to language development.  Discuss the “pros and cons” of each approach.   Include in your discussion whether or not you believe basic language is universal and genetic, or socially learned.  Would you suggest one of these is the best explanation of language development, or would you choose an “Interactionist” (combined) approach?  Explain your answer.

INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT

Do you believe modern I.Q. scales are appropriate and adequate measures of intelligence?  Why or why not?  Include concepts of the development of intelligence in your answer.  Would you propose a different means of measuring intelligence?  If so, how would that look?

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (ERIKSON)

Discuss the basic tenets of Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development.  Do you believe personality develops in stages similar to his theory?  Give reasons to support your answer.   You may want to use sources outside of the textbook to help with this answer (be sure to cite any used and include the full reference at the bottom of the post).

Also include at least one scriptural example that indicates someone who may have changed their personality or way of thinking at least to some degree later in life.

Explain the relationship between the alpha level (or significance level) and Type I error. What is a Type II error? How are Type I and Type II errors different?

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Answer the following questions, covering material from Ch. 13 of Methods in Behavioral Research:
1. Define inferential statistics and how researchers use inferential statistics to draw conclusions from sample data.
2. Define probability and discuss how it relates to the concept of statistical significance.
3. A researcher is studying the effects of yoga on depression. Participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups: yoga and medication (experimental group); or support group and medication (control group). What is the null hypothesis? What is the research hypothesis?
4. In the scenario described in the previous question, the researcher implements two programs simultaneously: a 6-week yoga program coupled with medication management and a 6-week support group program coupled with medication management. At the end of the 6 weeks, participants complete a questionnaire measuring depression. The researcher compares the mean score of the experimental group with the mean score of the control group. What statistical test would be most appropriate for this purpose and why? What is the role of probability in this statistical test?
5. In the scenario described in the previous questions, the researcher predicted that participants in the experimental group—yoga plus medication—would score significantly lower on measures of depression than would participants in the control group—support group plus medication. True or false: A two-tailed test of significance is most appropriate in this case. Explain your response.
6. Explain the relationship between the alpha level (or significance level) and Type I error. What is a Type II error? How are Type I and Type II errors different?
7. A researcher is studying the effects of sex—male and female—and dietary sugar on energy level. Male and female participants agree to follow either a high sugar or low sugar diet for eight weeks. The researcher asks the participants to complete a number of questionnaires, including one assessing energy level, before and after the program. The researcher is interested in determining whether a high or low sugar diet affects reported energy levels differently for men and women. At the end of the program, the researcher examines scores on the energy level scale for the following groups: Men – low sugar diet; Men – high sugar diet; Women – low sugar diet; Women – high sugar diet. What statistic could the researcher use to assess the data? What criteria did you use to determine the appropriate statistical test?