Developing and applying theories in a pluralistic society – The Person Centred Method

For this assignment I leave behind be considering Carl Rogers somebody m altogetherd order and its application to paederastic women in a pluralist confederation, I will be drawing upon the theoretical frame work previously use in my presentation.Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was the founder of the mortal centred order his theories atomic number 18 associated with the Humanistic psychology it is similarly associated with Maslow(1908-1970) and phenomenological approach.Phenomenology is a philosophical assessment of the man-to-man it was authentic by Husserl (1975), the digest is on the subjective find out. The method involved requires the professional to suspend their guess and interpretation of the clients world, thereby wholeowing the client to interpret and explore their suffer experiences and thoughts.It is great to consider the context in which psychological theories fantasyionualised and developed. Humanistic psychology developed in the industrial age and in the 5 0s and 60s it thereof names great importance on the individual as a soul striving for independence, ego actualisation and their maximum potential.Dryden et al (1989) go with also given an portray of the origins of the humanistic theory, that these were in the affluent era of the 50s and 60s in California, terms much(prenominal) as self actualisation, back end be just a slogan that is apply without any in truth meaning, when contrasted between the prosperous, optimistic beau monde of California, it pot induct a different meaning for those people that are in privation are unemployed or homeless.The concept of self actualisation which is considered incumbent by psychologists much(prenominal) as Rogers can be explored in coitus to homo cozy women and how society conceptualises them.Homosexuality has been trip uped by psychformer(a)apists and psychiatrists as a intellectual illness, and was considered as such until 1974 when the American Psychiatric Association decl assified it, til now there was considerable opposition to this from psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and checkup good example psychiatrists ( Mcleod J, 1998), in-fact psychotherapeutics was used to resolve to cure transgenderity.Although the work of Rogers has encouraged progress and has been associated with movement away from the previous medical model of mental illness, one the draw backs of Rogerian person centred therapy out run along by Ivey et al (1997) is that it is a highly verbal technique, which is over-concerned with the fater meaning of life quite an than tackling problems and key outing solutions. Therefore it may not be suited to all clients especially those with mental health problems etceteraRogers therapy kn aver as person centred and non-directive aimed to change the balance of power towards that of the client, and to treat the individual as a client rather than a patient.However this point can be debated as to whether the balance of power is actually shifted and the control is with the recipient, rather than the provider of the therapy. admonition of therapies, such as Rogerian, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural correspond to Ivey et al (1997) is that they place responsibility for the problem with the client rather than considering structural, political and environmental issues that are relevant to the clients experience.The person centred method in likeness to lesbian women necessarily to be applied in a way that is sensitive to them, therefore if the counsellor is male he will reserve to be apprised that he does not impose his own self-confidences and interpretation onto the client, firstly nearly his ideas some womens roles within society and as nurturers, wives and mothers, secondly stereotypical perceptions about lesbianism.Feminists criticise models of the helping alliance which have their origins in the white shopping center class male ideology, they relate this to the way a patriarchal society beat oute s women into submissive roles, Banks (1999) also questions whether male therapists can vali assure a womanish clients experiences in a male dominated society.Hetro-sexual women can also oppress lesbians through negative assumptions and homophobia that can go away to imposing our own value and assumptions about lesbian kindreds, McLeod (1998) gives a serious example where a female person therapist tried to actively encourage her lesbian client to date men.The person centred approach places fussy emphasis on the use of the center of attention conditions, genuiness, unconditional authoritative count on and empathy, and its view of human nature is positive and optimistic in comparison to Freudian psychology. The impression conditions out seamed by Rogers plays an essential part in building a remedy relationship, between the therapist and the client.From my professional experience when work as bringing up affable player relating to a teenage pregnancy, the girl was fifteen eld old and Asian. I was surprised when she said that she thought she was a lesbian, merely working with the young person and applying Rogers core conditions, of genuiness, empathy and unconditional positive regard, enablight-emitting diode me to crystalise that people extremity to discover their sexuality and who the real person is society can place pressure on young people to adapt to the norms of a white, heterosexual society and thereby place conditions of worth on them.Unconditional positive regard which is accepting the clients experiences without judgment is essential in building a therapeutic relationship, however if the counsellor has absorbed negative, discriminatory assumptions about homosexuality, from the society that he/she lives in then these may consciously or unconsciously be transferred on to the client. Humanistic psychotherapist male parent Clark (1987) has expressed that therapeutic neutrality is impossible to maintain, since we have taken on board societ ys negative stereotypes of homosexuality, he has averd that it is presumptuous to assume that counsellors who have been taught about valuable concepts such as unconditional positive regard are able to apply them with human-lesbian clients if they are not aware of their own heterosexual or homophobia biases (Davies and Neal,1996)A lesbian women may for example find it difficult to come to terms with her own sexuality, because of negative stereotypes and stigma associated with it, sapphic women are raised to view themselves as a half person without a man, they may see marriage as a opening to ad hominem growth, adult hood, freedom, and motherhood. ( Davies and Neal,1996) the counsellor may therefore need to enable the lesbian woman to restore her self esteem and her concept of creation a woman, the conventional female roles, as mother and married woman may not be stereotypes that she aspires to.The impact of Homophobia on the self concept of a lesbian woman will create conditio ns of worth, therefore lesbians may feel they are not worthy individuals if they are not heterosexual, do not have boorren, have a male partner and coiffure as society expects women to do.Bradshaw (1998) has defined the concept of Toxic shame in relation to internalised homophobia within the self-concept. This notion cannot be to the full understood without the use of a more eclectic approach to counselling because it states that the self concept can become, fragile and a false self concept can develop, through denial, this may be conscious or unconscious but it will be due to the fear of discovery.Toxic shame can lead to the development of defences which can lead to alcohol, substance abuse, suicide attempts, distancing oneself from others, underachievement or over-achievement etc.Being useful or dysfunctional human being is specially relevant to how lesbian womens identity and self concept develops, becoming functional human being requires being able to use ones own organisma l valuing process, which maximises the potential to grow and become the true self. The dysfunctional human being lives to meet the values of others to acquire love and respect. Coming out as a lesbian therefore is fraught with anxiety and even hazard of rejection by family, friends and community.The primary question is will they be valued by society if they come out as Lesbian? The organismic need to come out and be accepted as a lesbian should be facilitated by the therapist to enable the client to accept their real identity however the client should be ready to do this in her own time. Therefore acceptance from the therapist or social worker or other professional is an essential first step.However therapists as well as other professionals such as socialworkers can easily oppress lesbian women, an example from my confide experience when working with the Education Welfare service in a case where the child was not attending school regularly, during the home visit the client reveale d that her relationship with her husband had broken voltaic pile and that she had started a lesbian relationship, this immediately led me to make the assumption that the childs non-attendance may be related to this new relationship.On reflection I noticed how easy it was to jump to a certainty relating to same sex relationships and would I have made the same assumption if the relationship was with a partner of the opposite sex?Drawing from my own experience I notice how easily professionals from helping organisations can make assumptions that can lead to discrimination and oppression, when working in a recourse for vulnerable women that had been the victims of domestic violence, a Black woman with four children came to the centre it was assumed automatically by the member of staff taking down her history that the abusive partner was male. The woman found that she had to explain that she was in a lesbian relationship, and the abusive partner was another woman.This is a good exampl e where social assumptions and stereotypes where women are perceived to be submissive, passive individuals that are the victims of domestic violence rather than the perpetrators of it. It also shows that assumptions are made by professionals regarding relationships that a partner automatically means someone of the opposite sex.The person centred method when applied to lesbians need to take into account the experience of the individual as a woman and also as lesbian her experience needs to be valued and respected, this method if used effectively according to Rogers, can build up the self -worth and self acceptance.However Davies and Neal (1996) state that few British training courses in counselling or psychotherapy cover working with lesbian, gay and bi-sexual people. They propose a model of gay affirmative therapy this should be incorporated into other theoretical methods such as humanistic and psychodynamic etc.Gay affirmative therapy is not an independent organization of psychothe rapy. Rather it represents a special range of psychological knowledge which challenges the traditional viewsDavies and Neal (1996)Gay affirmative therapy is an eclectic model that incorporates both theories.2 significant factors pointed out by Davies and Neal is firstly whether the counsellor is competent to counsel the homosexual individual, and secondly that it is important for the counsellor to examine their own ideas about values, virtuous and lifestyles when working with clients who are culturally different. This is the important factor of genuiness or congruity that Rogers has defined, Kus (1990), states that a therapist should be open and honest about personal blemishs that they hold about homosexuality, and refer clients on, however congruence can be much more difficult in practice, if the therapist or the client with holds information from each other in the relationship.Empathy is also an important core condition that was noted by Rogers with in the person centred appro ach, it is a deep understanding of the clients personal perspective of their problems, however it can be argued whether a heterosexual person can fully understand what it feels like to be a lesbian, similarly can a white person fully understand what it feels like to be black? This question exposes the difficulty of cross-cultural counselling, especially if the counsellor or therapist is unaware of the their own prejudice for e.g. non-verbal behaviour, body language or are ignorant about the issues for lesbian women.However it is important for professionals such as therapists not to assume that all lesbians need counselling for coming to terms with their sexuality, counselling may be required for a wide range of other issues as with hetero sexual women. R.J, Kus (1990) states that one of the approximately frequent criticism concerning helping professionals is that they get fixated upon the homosexual life style and lose sight of the issues the help is being sought-after(a) for, this means that the therapist assumes that the life style is the problem, despite the client stating other issues that help is sought for.The Humanistic perspective has contributed to social work practice by providing valuable criteria working in anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory way with service users, the most useful contribution is the person centred approach, which facilitates building of genuine helping relationship and listening to the service user. It also acknowledges that the client is expert on his/her particular problems.The person centred method has many positive aspects that can be used by social workers and other helping professionals, and aspects of this model can be incorporated with other theories to provide an eclectic model that can be used effectively by them.For example the humanistic person centred method is a valuable tool to build warm, respecting and trusting relationship with clients such as lesbian women, it will facilitate understanding their present si tuation, and how they view them selves within society and explore their organismic needs. Aspects of the psychodynamic approach may be useful in the enabling the client to explore their unconscious feelings and motives, whilst multicultural perspectives, acknowledge the cultural background and identity of the individual.I think that for anti-discriminatory social work practice that can empower the individual an eclectic model may be the most useful approach in a helping relationship.