Intro To Christian Counseling Class

/in /by

Counseling Review Paper Instructions

You will read an academic article provided in the “Assignments” folder in Module/Week 5 that covers a secular professional counseling technique called client centered therapy (CCT). After reading the article, review passages of scripture from the list below and look for evidence that CCT applies biblical truth. Review the article and passages of scripture again looking for the limitations of CCT to achieve life change that brings

Latting, Jean Kantambu et al., “Dr. Kenneth Bancroft Clark: A Biography,” Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, (September 1991): 263-64.

“Light in the Ghetto,” Newsweek, (May 31, 1965): 78. Markowitz, Gerald and Rosner, David. Children, Race, and

Power: Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s Northside Center. University Press of Virginia, 1996.

McGuire, William and Wheeler, Leslie. American Social Lead- ers. ABC-Clio, 1993, pp. 99-100.

Sammons, Vivian Ovelton. Blacks in Science and Medicine. Hemisphere Publishing, 1990.

“10 Forces Behind U.S. Education,” Scholastic Update, (Feb- ruary 3, 1984): 9.

Willie, C.V., “Five Black Scholars,” Change, (September 1983): 27.

Young, Margaret. Black American Leaders. Watts, 1969, pp. 28-30.

Classical conditioning The process of closely associating a neutral stimu- lus with one that evokes a reflexive response so that eventually the neutral stimulus alone will evoke the same response.

Classical conditioning is an important concept in the school of psychology known as behaviorism, and it forms the basis for some of the techniques used in be- havior therapy.

Classical conditioning was pioneered by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) in the 1890s in the course of experiments on the digestive systems of dogs (work which won him the Nobel Prize in 1904). Noticing that the dogs salivated at the mere sight of the person who fed them, Pavlov formulated a theory about the relationship between stimuli and responses that he believed could be applied to humans as well as to other animals. He called the dogs’ salivation in response to the actual taste and smell of meat an unconditioned re- sponse because it occurred through a natural reflex with- out any prior training (the meat itself was referred to as an unconditioned stimulus). A normally neutral act, such as the appearance of a lab assistant in a white coat or the ringing of a bell, could become associated with the ap- pearance of food, thus producing salivation as a condi- tioned response (in response to a conditioned stimulus).Pavlov believed that the conditioned reflex had a physiological basis in the creation of new pathways in the cortex of the brain by the conditioning process. In further research early in the 20th century, Pavlov found that in order for the conditioned response to be main- tained, it had to be paired periodically with the uncondi- tioned stimulus or the learned association would be for-

gotten (a process known as extinction). However, it could quickly be relearned if necessary.

In humans, classical conditioning can account for such complex phenomena as a person’s emotional reac- tion to a particular song or perfume based on a past expe- rience with which it is associated. Classical (sometimes called Pavlovian) conditioning is also the basis for many different types of fears or phobias, which can occur through a process called stimulus generalization (a child who has a bad experience with a particular dog may learn to fear all dogs). In addition to causing fears, however, classical conditioning can also help eliminate them through a variety of therapeutic techniques. One is sys- tematic desensitization, in which an anxiety-producing stimulus is deliberately associated with a positive re- sponse, usually relaxation produced through such tech- niques as deep breathing and progressive muscle relax- ation. The opposite result (making a desirable stimulus unpleasant) is obtained through aversion therapy, in which a behavior that a person wants to discontinue— often an addiction, such as alcoholism—is paired with an unpleasant stimulus, such as a nausea-producing drug.

Further Reading Gormezano, Isidore, William F. Prokasy, and Richard F.

Thompson. Classical Conditioning. 3rd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum, 1987.

Lieberman, David A. Learning: Behavior and Cognition. Bel- mont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1990.

Mackintosh, N.J. Conditioning and Associative Learning. New York: Oxford University, 1983.

Client-centered therapy An approach to counseling and psychotherapy that places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the patient, with the therapist taking a non-directive role.

Developed in the 1930s by the American psycholo- gist Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy—also known as non-directive or Rogerian therapy—departed from the typically formal, detached role of the therapist common to psychoanalysis and other forms of treatment. Rogers believed that therapy should take place in the supportive environment created by a close personal relationship between client and therapist. Rogers’s introduction of the term “client” rather than “patient” expresses his rejection of the traditionally authoritarian relationship between therapist and client and his view of them as equals. The client determines the general direction of therapy, while the therapist seeks to increase the client’s insightful self- understanding through informal clarifying questions.

GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION124

C la

ss ic

al c

on di

ti on

in g

 

 

Rogers believed that the most important factor in successful therapy was not the therapist’s skill or train- ing, but rather his or her attitude. Three interrelated atti- tudes on the part of the therapist are central to the suc- cess of client-centered therapy: congruence, uncondi- tional positive regard, and empathy. Congruence refers to the therapist’s openness and genuineness—the will- ingness to relate to clients without hiding behind a pro- fessional facade. Therapists who function in this way have all their feelings available to them in therapy ses- sions and may share significant ones with their clients. However, congruence does not mean that therapists dis- close their own personal problems to clients in therapy sessions or shift the focus of therapy to themselves in any other way.

Unconditional positive regard means that the thera- pist accepts the client totally for who he or she is without evaluating or censoring, and without disapproving of particular feelings, actions, or characteristics. The thera- pist communicates this attitude to the client by a willing- ness to listen without interrupting, judging, or giving ad- vice. This creates a nonthreatening context in which the client feels free to explore and share painful, hostile, de- fensive, or abnormal feelings without worrying about personal rejection by the therapist.

The third necessary component of a therapist’s atti- tude is empathy (“accurate empathetic understanding”). The therapist tries to appreciate the client’s situation from the client’s point of view, showing an emotional understanding of and sensitivity to the client’s feelings throughout the therapy session. In other systems of ther- apy, empathy with the client would be considered a pre- liminary step enabling the therapeutic work to proceed, but in client-centered therapy, it actually constitutes a major portion of the therapeutic work itself. A primary way of conveying this empathy is by active listening that shows careful and perceptive attention to what the client is saying. In addition to standard techniques, such as eye contact, that are common to any good listener, client- centered therapists employ a special method called re- flection, which consists of paraphrasing and/or summa- rizing what a client has just said. This technique shows that the therapist is listening carefully and accurately and gives clients an added opportunity to examine their own thoughts and feelings as they hear them repeated by an- other person. Generally, clients respond by elaborating further on the thoughts they have just expressed.

Two primary goals of client-centered therapy are in- creased self-esteem and greater openness to experience. Some of the related changes that it seeks to foster in clients include increased correspondence between the client’s idealized and actual selves; better self-under- standing; decreases in defensiveness, guilt, and insecuri-

ty; more positive and comfortable relationships with oth- ers; and an increased capacity to experience and express feelings at the moment they occur. Beginning in the 1960s, client-centered therapy became allied with the human potential movement. Rogers adopted terms such as “person-centered approach” and “way of being” and began to focus on personal growth and self-actual- ization. He also pioneered the use of encounter groups, adapting the sensitivity training (T-group) methods de- veloped by Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) and other re- searchers at the National Training Laboratories in 1950s.

While client-centered therapy is considered one of the major therapeutic approaches, along with psychoana- lytic and cognitive-behavioral therapy, Rogers’s influ- ence is felt in schools of therapy other than his own, and the concepts and methods he developed are drawn on in an eclectic fashion by many different types of counselors and therapists.

Further Reading Rogers, Carl. Client-Centered Therapy. Boston: Houghton

Mifflin, 1951. ———. On Becoming a Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,

1961. ———. A Way of Being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.

Clinical psychology The application of psychological principles to diag- nosing and treating persons with emotional and behavioral problems.

Clinical psychologists apply research findings in the fields of mental and physical health to explain dysfunc- tional behavior in terms of normal processes. The prob-

GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 125

C linical psychology

CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY

QUALITIES OF THE THERAPIST

Congruence: therapist’s openness to the client

Unconditional positive regard: therapist accepts the client without judgement

Empathy: therapist tries to convey an appreciation and understanding of the client’s point of view

GOALS OF THE THERAPY

Increase self-esteem

Expand openness to life experiences.

spiritual health.

Write a 2–3-page (double-spaced) paper that includes an introduction, two main sections and a conclusion. The first section should support that aspects of CCT, an accepted secular counseling technique, are a direct application of biblical truth.  Choose select passages of biblical truth from the list below to support your conclusions. In the second section describe the limitations of CCT to solve our greatest relational and spiritual health problems using support from biblical truth from some of the passages listed below. Think of different goals and expectations for the two types of counseling when determining limits. Please consult your APA manual for how to format your title page, headings, page numbers, in-text citations and references. There is no Abstract needed for this assignment.

Write an introduction paragraph that indicates the purpose of the paper, and end the paper with a conclusion paragraph that summarizes your conclusions. Use the following headings between the introduction and conclusion paragraphs:

· Support for CCT

· Limitations of CCT

Cite all sources used according to current APA format and include the following:

· Title page

· Headers (running head and page numbers on all pages)

· In-text citations

· Reference page

Please consult the grading rubric to grasp more specifics on how points are weighted for this assignment.

Submit this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 5.

1 Kings 19:1–8

Psalm 139

Psalm 94:17–19

Psalm 62

Psalm 37:1–7

Psalm 23

Psalm 27

Psalm 8

Psalm 16:5–11

Proverbs 3:5–8

Jeremiah 17:5–10

Matthew 6:20–30

Matthew 11:25–29

Luke 15:11–32

you will need the info in the file to complete this assignment

Discussion Board For Christian Counseling

/in /by

You are required to create a thread in response to the provided prompt for each forum. Each thread must be at least 250 words and demonstrate course-related knowledgeTopic: Discussion Question from Caring for People God’s Way – Chapter 6

pic: Discussion Question from Caring for People God’s Way – Chapter 6 text by Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager

Forgiveness is key to a healthy marriage and self-awareness is the first step to offering forgiveness. Consider Worthington’s “injustice gap” experiential theory as an explanation for the impact a personal offense has on an individual (p. 121). Now consider his concepts of “decisional forgiveness” and “emotional forgiveness” as desired goals of the forgiveness process. How might these concepts bring self-awareness that could serve a person’s ability to forgive their spouse? What key points of resistance do you predict would challenge an individual’s ability to offer both forms of forgiveness to their mate?

Moral Reason

/in /by

Read the Heinz dilemma (http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html), and consider what you would do if you were in his place. Write down your answer and the reasons behind it. How would your answer fit in Kohlberg’s stages? Are there other responses that Kohlberg would consider “more moral”? If so, how do you feel about this? Do you think Kohlberg’s “Heinz dilemma” is a good measure of one’s morality? Explain.

Multicultural And Social Issues In Psychology

/in /by

PART 1- Does an individual’s membership in a diverse population define his or her personality, or does the personality determine the diverse populations to which the person will belong?

PART 2- What is the significance of diversity when everyone is diverse in some way? 

PART 3- Review this week’s course materials and learning activities, and reflect on your learning so far this week. Respond to one or more of the following prompts in one to two paragraphs:

  1. Provide citation and reference to the material(s) you discuss. Describe what you found interesting regarding this topic, and why.
  2. Describe how you will apply that learning in your daily life, including your work life.
  3. Describe what may be unclear to you, and what you would like to learn.

PART 4- 

Option 1: Diversity Identity Self-Evaluation Paper

Read the University of Phoenix Material: Diversity Case Study located on the student website. The case study serves as an example of the diversity within self-identity.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word self-evaluation paper about your diversity identity.

Include the following information in your self-evaluation:

· A minimum of five diverse groups you belong to

· Significance of belonging to the diverse groups

· Assumptions others may make about you based on the diverse groups you belong to

· How these assumptions affect your own self-identity.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Option 1: Diversity Identity Self-EvaluatRead the University of Phoenix Material: Diversity Case Study located on the student website. The case study serves as an example of the diversity within self-identity.

CHAPTER 11 Women Across Cultures

Hilary Lips and Katie Lawson

Women’s lives differ, sometimes drastically, across cultures. Yet there are themes in their difficulties and challenges, in their strengths and successes, that link women’s experiences across cultural boundaries. In diverse cultures, women face, for example, an emphasis on molding their bodies to fit cultural standards of physical appearance and beauty, an expectation that they will carry the major burdens of childrearing, and ascribed status that is lower than men’s. Yet women in different cultures deal differently with such issues. This chapter examines some of the important commonalities and differences across cultures in women’s lives. Included in our narrative are issues linked to physical bodies, motherhood and family, work and pay, violence, power and leadership, and feminist activism. A theme that links all these issues is the gendering of power. Women and men control different amounts and types of the resources upon which power is based; such differences in access to resources help shape gender differences in behavior in each of these realms.

Physical Bodies

Worldwide, women face enormous pressure to adhere to strict standards of physical beauty—in part because a beautiful body is one resource a woman can use to gain status, solidify relationships, and attract other resources. Due to the body dissatisfaction that often results from this pressure to be beautiful, women go to great lengths to mold their bodies to conform to cultural standards. In parts of Africa and Thailand, girls as young as age 3 begin to wear rings around their necks in an attempt to make them appear longer, in order to attract an affluent husband as an adult. Over the years, additional rings (weighing up to 12 pounds) are added to the neck. The rings push down the collarbone and ribs to create the illusion of a neck up to 10 to 12 inches longer (Mydans, 2001). In the United States, nearly 91% of the 11.7 million cosmetic surgeries were performed on women in 2007 (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2008). These surgeries include breast and buttocks implants, collagen lip injections, and liposuction (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005).

Although women worldwide are often dissatisfied with their bodies, the type of dissatisfaction depends on the culture. Women in Western cultures often strive for thinness (which is associated with control, wealth, and happiness), while individuals in non-Western, poorer cultures often associate thinness with poverty, disease, and malnutrition, and thus admire larger women. Although traditionally more affluent cultures prefer thin women while poorer cultures prefer larger women, the gap between these cultural preferences has been shrinking due to the “Westernization” of many cultures (Grogan, 2008). Cultures not only differ on weight preferences, but also on desirable size for particular areas of the body. Women between the ages of 18 and 24 in Canada report more dissatisfaction and concern for the weight of their lower torso (abdomen, hips, thighs, and legs) whereas women in India report more concern for the weight of their upper torso (face, neck, shoulders, and chest) (Gupta, Chaturvedi, Chandarana, & Johnson, 2001).

Theories

Research focuses on two main theories for women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies. Sociocultural theories suggest that cultures influence body dissatisfaction through the media, family, peers, and other sources (Becker, Burwell, Gilman, Herzog, & Hamburg, 2002). According to this approach, women compare themselves to ideals presented by these sources to make judgments about their own body size. Upward social comparisons (comparisons made with other individuals who have a body closer to the cultural ideal) lead to more body dissatisfaction in women. Therefore, in cultures where women are constantly exposed to images of very thin women (e.g., the United States), women make numerous upward social comparisons daily, thus increasing body dissatisfaction (Leahey, Crowther, & Mickelson, 2007). The sociocultural theory is supported by the observation that “Westernization” appears to be correlated with the increasing preference of non-Western cultures for thin women (Grogan, 2008).

Feminist theories, on the other hand, suggest that women’s cultural roles play a large part in body dissatisfaction. According to these theories, male power is a key issue in body dissatisfaction; body standards are used as tools for oppressing women. Unachievable body ideals, along with drastic amounts of pressure from society to attain the perfect body, can lead women to focus on these superficial aspects, rather than more important issues such as their own competencies. Therefore, in cultures where there is rapidly increasing equality in women’s roles, feminist theories predict more body dissatisfaction in women (because there is more pressure for the perfect body as a backlash against women’s advances). This interpretation is supported by research showing that Korean women (who are living in an area with increasingly equal gender roles) reported more body dissatisfaction than women in the United States and China (Jung & Forbes, 2007).

Consequences of body dissatisfaction

Body dissatisfaction in women is often associated with depression and lower levels of self-esteem (e.g., Paxton, Eisenberg, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2006). It also leads to actions with sometimes dire consequences for women’s physical health. After years of wearing rings to elongate their necks, women in rural areas of Africa and Thailand lose the ability to hold up their heads with their own neck muscles if the rings are taken off (e.g., to punish the women for adultery). Even in countries with very sophisticated medical technology, cosmetic surgery can lead to deformed bodies, infection, or even death. Researchers also worry about the mental consequences of cosmetic surgery due to the fact that some patients have shown adjustment problems, anger toward surgeons, and isolation after surgery (Dittmann, 2005).

Body dissatisfaction can also lead to eating disorders (e.g., anorexia, bulimia), which have profound health effects on women. The Renfrew Center Foundation (2002) estimated that 70 million individuals worldwide have eating disorders, with 24 million of those in the U.S. Eating disorders are associated with mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance abuse) and a number of physical health problems, including low blood pressure, anemia, osteoporosis, hair and bone loss, kidney failure, heart attacks, and even death (National Institute of Mental Health, 2008).

Motherhood and Family

One reason women have traditionally been defined so strongly by their physical bodies is that the biological processes of reproduction—menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation—are so obvious in women. Historically, many cultures have surrounded these processes with myths and elaborate rituals and taboos, underscoring the importance (and dangers) of childbearing. For example, some Native American cultures regarded menstruating women as so powerful that they must stay away from men preparing for battle, lest their power interfere with the warriors’ power (Allen, 1986). Indeed, the onset of menstruation, with its implication that pregnancy is now a possibility, is the trigger for new behavioral restrictions on young women in many cultures—from veiling in countries such as Saudi Arabia (Sasson, 1992) to increased parental control and admonitions about sexuality in North America (Lee, 1994).

Although constructed from a biological link between mother and child, motherhood is a profoundly cultural role and process. As Sudarkasa (2004) notes,

Even the act of childbirth itself varies according to culturally prescribed rules and expectations … we are all aware that the typical contemporary Western mode of childbirth, where a woman lies on her back, with her legs spread apart is by no means the “natural” or relatively comfortable position for delivery. In parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world, the more traditional women still give birth from a kneeling position. (Introduction section, para. 4)

Clearly, this physical process of labor and delivery is shaped to some extent by cultural norms.

Aligned with the focus on reproduction is the notion, common to most cultures, that motherhood, and the domestic responsibilities that go with it, is a primary role for women—and that women are better suited to such work than men. Around the world, women devote vast amounts of their time to the bearing and rearing of children. One 10-country study showed that mothers spent from 5.2 to 10.7 hours daily on childcare, whereas fathers spent from 0.1 to 0.9 hours (Owen, 1995), and a more recent overview of time use studies carried out in 20 countries between 1965 and 2003 shows that men spent an average of only 14 minutes per day on childcare, thus leaving most of that work to women (Hook, 2006). Furthermore, women’s family caring activities are not limited to children; women all over the world do most of the caring work for family members who are ill, disabled, or elderly (Forssén, Carlstedt, & Mörtberg, 2005).

Motherhood is understood to be a major aspect of women’s identity (Wilson, 2007). In many cultures, a woman without children is considered a failure—perhaps not even a real woman. However, just producing children is not enough to succeed at this role. Depending on the culture, mothers may be held to high standards in terms of the ways they are expected to feel and behave toward their children. In North America and other Western cultures, motherhood is supposed to involve trying to live up to an ideal of love and self-sacrifice (Wilson, 2007) and conforming to an ideology of “intensive mothering”—an approach to mothering that is highly child-centered, labor-intensive, expensive, emotionally absorbing, and reliably puts the child’s needs before the mother’s (Hays, 1996). This ideology of motherhood appears to fit into a broader ideology that women are supposed to care for others— that they must be sensitive and responsive to the needs of others, even when they themselves are exhausted, stressed, and ill (Forssén et al., 2005). Women who fail to live up to this ideology may suffer guilt, anxiety, and a loss of self-esteem.