third edition third edition AN INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING McLeod Third Edition Reviews of the second edition: AN INTRODUCTION “It is impossible to do justice to such an exhaustive, broad based and very readable work in a short review. Professor McLeod has been meticulous, and with true scientific impartiality has looked at, studied and described the many strands and different schools of thought and methods that can lead towards successful counselling.” – Therapy Weekly “This is a fascinating, informative, comprehensive and very readable book...McLeod has TO COUNSELLING produced a text that offers a great deal no matter what your level of competence or knowledge.” – Journal of Interprofessional Care “One of the book’s strengths is McLeod’s willingness to go beyond a history of the development of counselling or a beginner’s technical manual...[and to] consider the political TO COUNSELLING AN INTRODUCTION dimensions of counselling and the relevance of power to counselling relationships. A worthwhile acquisition for therapeutic community members, whatever their discipline or background.” – Therapeutic Communities This thoroughly revised and expanded version of the bestselling text, An Introduction to Counselling, provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of counselling and therapy. It is written in a clear, accessible style, covers all the core approaches to counselling, and takes a critical, questioning approach to issues of professional practise. Placing each counselling approach in its social and historical context, the book also introduces a wide range of contemporary approaches, including narrative therapy, systemic, feminist and multicultural. This third edition includes a new chapter on the important emerging approach of philosophical counselling, and a chapter on the counselling relationship, as well as expanded coverage of attachment theory, counselling on the internet, and solution-focused therapy. The text has been updated throughout, with additional illustrative vignettes and case studies. Current, comprehensive and readable, An Introduction to Counselling is a classic introduction to its subject. John McLeod is Professor of Counselling at the University of Abertay Dundee, having previously taught at Keele University and Wolverhampton University. He has practised in a range of counselling settings, as well as being involved in training, research and consultancy with many occupational groups, including nurses, social workers and emergency services personnel. The author of six books and more than fifty articles and chapters on various aspects of counselling and psychotherapy, he is currently editor of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. ISBN 0-335-21189-5 9 780335 211890 John McLeod AN INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING Third Edition AITA01 1 12/10/06, 10:08 AM AITA01 2 12/10/06, 10:08 AM AN INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING Third Edition John McLeod Open University Press AITA01 3 12/10/06, 10:08 AM Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First Published 1993 Reprinted 1994 (twice), 1996 (twice), 1997 Second Edition published 1998 Reprinted 1999, 2000 and 2001 First published in this third edition 2003 Reprinted 2003, 2004 Copyright © John McLeod 2003 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1P 0LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 21189 5 (pb) 0 335 21190 9 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McLeod, John, 1951– An introduction to counselling / John McLeod.—3rd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-335-21190-9 – ISBN 0-335-21189-5 (pbk.) 1. Counseling. 1. Title. BF637.C6 M379 2003 361′.06–dc21 2002072276 Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd., Glasgow AITA01 4 12/10/06, 10:08 AM For Julia AITA01 5 12/10/06, 10:08 AM AITA01 6 12/10/06, 10:08 AM Contents Preface xviii 1 An introduction to counselling 1 Introduction 1 Stories of counselling 2 Paula’s story: coming to terms with trauma 2 Myra’s story: being depressed 3 Matthew’s story: everything is getting on top of me 3 Laura’s story: finding the right counsellor 4 What is counselling? 4 Defining counselling 7 The relationship between counselling and psychotherapy 8 Counselling and other helping professions 8 The diversity of theory and practice in counselling 10 The aims of counselling 12 Counselling as an interdisciplinary area of study 13 A user-centred definition of counselling 14 Conclusions 16 Chapter summary 17 Topics for reflection and discussion 17 Key terms and concepts 18 Suggested further reading 19 AITA01 7 12/10/06, 10:08 AM viii Contents 2 The cultural and historical origins of counselling 20 Introduction 20 The emergence of the ‘trade in lunacy’ 21 The invention of psychotherapy 24 The growth of psychotherapy in the USA 26 The secularization of society 28 The role of Carl Rogers 29 Therapy as a response to the ‘empty self’ 30 The expansion of counselling in the late twentieth century 31 The social meaning of counselling 33 Images of the person implicit in counselling approaches 36 Conclusions 37 Chapter summary 38 Topics for reflection and discussion 39 Key terms and concepts 39 Suggested further reading 40 3 Counselling theories: diversity and convergence 41 Introduction 42 What is a theory? 43 Theory as a structured set of ideas 43 Theory as a set of social practices 45 The purpose of theory: explanation or understanding? 47 Why do we need theory? The uses of conceptualization in counselling practice 49 Something to hang on to: the need of the counsellor for structure in the face of chaos 49 Offering the client a way of making sense 50 Establishing professional status 50 The creation of knowledge communities 50 The diversity of theorizing in counselling 52 Alternative ‘images of the person’ 52 The personal dimension of theory 53 The social context of theory construction 53 The mental health industry: brand names and special ingredients 54 The underlying unity of approaches to counselling 55 ‘Common’ or ‘non-specific’ therapeutic factors 55 The movement towards theoretical integration 60 The debate over the merits of integrated versus ‘pure’ approaches 61 Eclecticism and integrationism 64 AITA01 8 12/10/06, 10:08 AM Contents ix Pathways to integration 65 The use of client assessment in integrative approaches 66 The use of ‘transtheoretical’ concepts in integrative approaches 67 The missing dimension: counsellor development 69 The future of integration 70 Conclusions: counselling theories – tools or truths? 72 Chapter summary 73 Topics for reflection and discussion 75 Key terms and concepts 76 Suggested further reading 76 4 Themes and issues in the psychodynamic approach to counselling 78 Introduction 78 The origins of psychodynamic counselling: the work of Sigmund Freud 79 The childhood origins of emotional problems 80 The importance of the ‘unconscious’ 82 The therapeutic techniques used in psychoanalysis 83 The post-Freudian evolution of the psychodynamic approach 87 The object relations school 89 The origins of object relations theory in child observation 89 The application of an object relations perspective in therapy 90 The British Independents: the importance of counter-transference 95 The American post-Freudian tradition: ego psychology and self theory 98 The European tradition 99 Attachment theory 100 Psychodynamic counselling within a time-limited framework 106 The conversational model 113 An appraisal of the psychodynamic approach to counselling 117 Chapter summary 118 Topics for reflection and discussion 120 Key terms and concepts 120 Suggested further reading 121 5 From behaviourism to constructivism: the cognitive–behavioural approach to counselling 122 Introduction 122 The origins of the cognitive–behavioural approach 123 AITA01 9 12/10/06, 10:08 AM x Contents The application of behavioural ideas in clinical practice 125 Behavioural methods in counselling 126 The cognitive strand 132 Cognitive processes 133 Cognitive content 136 The techniques and methods of cognitive–behavioural counselling 138 An appraisal of the cognitive–behavioural approach to counselling 141 The constructivist revolution 143 Solution-focused therapy 146 Conclusions 152 Chapter summary 153 Topics for reflection and discussion 154 Key terms and concepts 154 Suggested further reading 155 6 Theory and practice of the person-centred approach 156 Introduction 156 The evolution of the person-centred approach 157 The image of the person in person-centred theory 163 The therapeutic relationship 166 Empathy 169 Congruence and presence 174 The therapeutic process 177 Experiential focusing 179 The process-experiential model of therapy 180 An appraisal of the person-centred approach 184 Chapter summary 187 Topics for reflection and discussion 188 Key terms and concepts 188 Suggested further reading 188 7 Working with systems 190 Introduction