2. Therapy styles
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this paper is to compare three very unique and different types of therapy styles in
regards to their goals, relationship between counselor and client, the techniques used and which
aspects of my own personality would fit well within each type. Just as each person is unique in
their own manner, each therapist is unique as well, and as such should spend sufficient time
exploring the many therapy styles and what fits best within their own personality. It is also
important for a therapist to have a wide range of styles to reference from in order to treat each
client and their own specific needs and therapy goals to the best of their ability. To this extent, I
have chosen three different therapy styles in an attempt to help create a broad understanding of
just three of the methods that are available for use.
Opening Statement
Cognitive behavior therapy, feminist therapy and person-centered therapy are three types of
therapies which can each be very effective in regards to reaching therapy goals of the client.
Although each therapy is different from the next, it is not to say that one is better or worst.
Instead, it superior to assume that each therapy works in its own ways for helping the client reach
goals that are unique to themselves and to the therapy. Having a therapist who not only
3. understand which type of therapy their own personality melds well with, but one in which has
the ability to use their personality and the therapy in combination to serve the client and the
client’s needs is the best approach.
Discussion
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) was presented in the early 1960s by Arron T. Beck
M.D. The idea behind CBT is that behind all psychological disturbances is a form of
dysfunctional thinking which influences mood and behavior (Beck, 2011). In an attempt to alter
this dysfunctional thinking, one of the main goals involved in CBT therapy is to teach clients
how to separate the evaluation of themselves and the evaluation of their behaviors (Corey, 2013).
By helping clients differentiate between realistic and unrealistic views of themselves, clients are
able to learn to stop the trend of comparing their own self-worth to unrealistic goals.
This type of therapy focuses heavily on meeting goals and goal management, both for an
overall therapy and on the individual goals of each specific client. In order to meet these goals, a
sort of “A-B-C Framework” can be applied to help demonstrate how one’s beliefs about an event
or oneself work to foster emotional and behavioral consequences (Corey, 2013). First the
activating event (A) is identified, and beliefs (B) regarding this event are then discussed in
regards to the emotional and behavioral consequences (C). This A-B-C framework is based on
the idea that this very pattern of thought causes everyone’s psychological thoughts and changes a
person’s mood and behavior. In an attempt to help alter unwanted and damaging emotional and
behavioral consciences (C) to an event (A), the therapist will help the client to
4. reexamine the belief (B) in a manner that disputes (D) the initial reaction. By disputing the
original beliefs and allowing for a re-evaluation, a new effect (E) can be observed, which leads to
new feelings (F) about the original activating event (A).
Overall, the frame work is meant to take an approach that is goaled towards clients taking
assessments and control of their own behaviors and the way they think about themselves and
others. They are then able to see whether there are alternative perspectives and actions that could
be more useful to them (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Competences Framework (Archived),
2015).
Cognitive therapy is educative; by teaching patients to reexamine their own thoughts and
actions, they will eventually be able to reevaluate and reassess on their own and, in essence,
become their own therapists (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Goals, n.d.). This educative aspect
of Cognitive Behavior Therapy added to the skills based and goals orientated framework allows
for this type of therapy to have a time frame often between nine to twelve weeks (Vinci, Coffey,
& Norquist, 2015).
Therapist and clients together look at arbitrary inferences, or the ideas and habits of
jumping to a conclusion not warranted by the data observed (Schuyler,2013) and selective
abstractions, or forming conclusions based on an isolated detail of an event (Corey, 2013), to
help examine where cognitive change in thinking patterns may need to be addressed. Other
thought patterns which are often addressed in CBT therapy include overgeneralization, where a
client may view one single event as the ‘rule’ guiding all similar future events and
Magnification, which involves exaggerating the importance of shortcomings, and problems, and
minimizing the importance of desirable qualities (Hartney, 2014). Labeling and mislabeling may
5. also be addressed, which involves portraying one’s identity on the bases of imperfections and
mistakes made in the past, thus allowing them to define ones true identity (Corey, 2013).
Personalization and dichotomous thinking are two other specific thought patterns which can be
detrimental to the CBT process if not addressed. Personalization involves a tendency for an
individual to relate external events to themselves, even when there is no biases for making this
connection, and dichotomous thinking can be described as categorizing experiences in either-or
extremes.
Similar to CBT therapy, Person-Centered therapy has a framework that also focuses on
the reactions of the clients to activating events. Unlike with CBT however, person-centered
therapy focuses not on the problems and specific goals that need to be met, but on the client as a
person. “The central truth for Carl Rogers, the originator of the approach, was that the client
knows best. It is the client who knows what hurts and where the pain lies and it is the client who,
in the final analysis, will discover the way forward” (Mearns, & Thorne, 1988. pp 2)
Unlike the goal driven therapy style of CBT, the goals of Person-Centered therapy are
much more general and focused on providing clients with an opportunity to develop a sense of
self-concept and help them realize their attitudes, feelings, behavior, and potential (Chao, 2015).
The main goals of this type of therapy are to help a client be open to experiences, to trust in
themselves and that they are an internarial source of evaluation, and to have a willingness for
connive growth (Corey, 2013). By focusing on the client as a person over the client’s current
problems, therapy sessions often do not utilize any main therapy technique, but instead focus
more on the relationship between the client and the therapist, and the environment provided in
the therapy session to help the client reach their goals.
6. Feminist therapy is a style of counselling which incorporates both personal goals and
societal goals as part of the overall counseling sessions (Corey, 2013) . When a person seeks
feminist therapy, their main goals often involve empowerment, not just of the female, but of their
own personal self. Social change, self-nurturance and equality all work to help build up the
client’s self-esteem in a long lasting manner that works to benefit their future ambitions. Other
goals of feminist therapy include balancing independence and interdependence, empowerment,
freeing oneself from gender constraints, and recognizing and claiming their own personal power.
Feminist therapy, much like Person-Centered, does not relay on the use of techniques to
help clients meet their goals. Because the main goals of feminist therapy relay on empowerment
and recognizing and utilizing their own personal power (Corey, 2013), the techniques used to
meet the goals vary based on each client. Each client that enters a therapists office has a vast
array of individual talents and skills. In order to help empower each of these clients it is
important to focus on their own talents and skills as a means of reaching the overall goals of the
therapy sessions.
Just as the main goal of feminist therapy is based on ideas of empowerment, the
relationship between the client and the therapist is also based on the standards of mutuality,
equality and empowerment (Corey, 2013). The client is expected to enter therapy with an open
and honest mindset, and in return the therapist offers a presence of trust, safety, mutuality,
equality, open disclosure, and provision of timely and constructive feedback (Degges-White,
2013). Knowing that it can sometimes be difficult for clients to open up to a new therapist,
therapist may often module a no expert stance in supervision. By presenting themselves in a
authentic and open stance, therapy becomes demystified, and encourages the client to risk a
7. similar open and relaxed stance in their sessions. This may help to facilitate clients to share and
reflect more on their own experiences.
The relationship between therapist and client in a Person-Centered therapy session is
similar to that of the feminist relationship, in that there is no major techniques that are used to
help facilitates change, but instead change is brought about on a more individual basis based on
the attitudes and atmosphere presented in the session. The most fundamental concept in person-
centered therapy is trust —that is, trust in clients’ tendency to grow toward actualization and
trust in clients’ ability to achieve their goals and run their lives (Wilson, 2014).
Unlike in many other therapeutic relationships, with Person-Centered therapy it is
important that the therapist be seen as a person and not just as a therapist or as a role that they are
playing (Wilson, 2014). Without the therapist being seen as their own person who is invested in
the growth and development of their client, the three main functions of Person-Centered therapy
as described by Carl Rogers will not be effective. “The counselor must experiences empathic
understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference, the counselor experiences unconditional
positive regard for the client, and the counselor acts congruently with his or her own experience,
becoming genuinely integrated into the relationship with the client” (Wilson, 2014). These three
distinctive framework steps are crucial in the growth of the client in a manner that allows the
client to become more self-relent in the end rather than therapy reliant, while providing a genuine
and tangible professional relationship between client and therapist that fosters honesty, growth
and acceptance.
When looking at Cognitive-Behavioral therapy, the relationship described between client
and therapist in Person-Centered therapy is regarded as a necessity when entering CBT, but also
8. as only building blocks, requiring a deeper level of trust in the sessions (Corey, 2013). Although
the use of techniques and a solid understanding theory are required to facilitate quality CBT, the
foundation between client and therapist is required to be securer and profounder than in other
therapy types.
Effective CBT therapy requires a concept of collaboration in regards to the treatment of
the client. In order to reach a collaboration, the therapist must have a solid framework in micro
skills such as developing rapport, exploring fears, sharing understandings, eliciting key themes,
monitoring internal feelings and increasing awareness of relationship among thoughts, feelings
and behaviors (Gilbert, 2007). A therapist must be able to do all this and more in a manner that is
not intrusive to the patient, and allows the client to come to their conclusions and understandings
on their own terms (Corey, 2013).
Although it may seem like the therapist has more guidance and power over the sessions,
it is important that the clients be involved in all aspects of their therapy sessions. CBT therapists
will engage clients in helping to frame the collaborate and participants in all forms of their
therapy, including everything from guiding what is talked about in the sessions, to deciding how
often to meet and to setting an agenda and even homework for each session(Corey, 2013).
Recommendations and personal views
Feminist therapy, CBT and Person-Centered therapy each hold their own unique aspects
to be presented and offered in therapy sessions, it is the personal style of the relationship
9. between the client and the therapist that I believe agrees the most with my own beliefs, attitude
and personality. In all three therapies, one of, if not the most important, aspects of a successful
session is an authentic and open therapist who is invested in the client and the client’s goals. My
own natural ability and skills to not only be sympathetic to others needs but to be truly and
openly empathetic as well would prove to provide an important aspect in the therapy sessions
that cannot be faked.
I also agree on a personal level with the ideas and ideals behind CBT therapy. In both my
personal and professional life, now and in the past, I have found myself encouraging my friends
and peers to see that their own styles of dichotomous and arbitrary thought patterns were being
detrimental to their happiness. The ideas behind CBT at its core are ideas that I value in my own
personal life and encourage in those around me.
It is important to note however that CBT therapist work to guide their clients in a way
that allows them to come to terms and understanding in their own manner (Beck, 2011). This is
one aspect that, as a professional therapist, would take some concentration and work to
accomplish personally. It would take strict practice in regards of knowing what and when to say
to clients in order to foster an ideal therapy session that adheres to the CBT guidelines.
Although I truly appreciate the ideals behind Feminist therapy in regards to making the
client aware and helping to break the restrictions of gender identity within society and on a
personal level, I do believe that this style of therapy is only ideal for select clients. Clients who’s
main goals involve redefining their own identity as a whole (as discussed in striving for change
over adjustment in regards to gender identity and identify within a family or overall culture),
would benefit the most from Feminist therapy over clients who’s goals would be to and not work
10. towards changing overall cognitive patterns (such as those that are focused on in CBT like
selective abstractions or labeling and mislabeling) (Corey, 2013).
Person-Centered therapy, especially in regards to the main concept of connecting with the
person in therapy instead of focusing on that person’s problems, favors highly with my
personality as well. My views of mental health in general tend to fall under the guidelines that
the client is a person who has meatal illness, and not that that person is defined by that mental
illness ( “she has depression” over “she is depressed”). Person-Centered therapy and its core
concepts and guidelines fall eloquently in line with my form of thinking in regards to mental
illness.
Summary
Overall, I would agree with the ideas behind CBT therapy, and that although the concepts
behind Person-Centered therapy are a strict necessity, they are not enough. To truly meet the
needs of each client on an individual level it is essential for the therapist to be well versed and
comfortable in many different styles of therapies. While one client may struggling with their
identify within the culture and need help viewing their gender roles from a new perspective,
another client may be perfectly comfortable with their gender role but suffer from a form of
anxiety and need CBT to help counteract their thought patterns (Vinci, Coffey, & Norquist,
2015).
11. References:
Beck, J. (2011). Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond (2nd ed.).
Guilford Press.
Chao, R. C.-L. (2015) Person-Centered Therapy, in Counseling Psychology: An Integrated
Positive Psychological Approach, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK. doi:
10.1002/9781119137245.ch8
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Competences Framework (Archived). (2015). Retrieved
August 26, 2015.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Goals. (n.d.). Retrieved August 26, 2015.
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Ninth ed.).
Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
12. DEGGES-WHITE, S. C. (2013). Counseling Supervision Within a Feminist Framework:
Guidelines for Intervention. Journal Of Humanistic Counseling, 52(1), 92-105
Gilbert, P. (2007). The therapeutic relationship in the cognitive behavioral psychotherapies.
London: Routledge.
Hartney, B. (2014). Cognitive Distortions Identified in CBT. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
Mearns, D., & Thorne, B. (1988). Person-centred counselling in action. London: Sage
Publications.
Schuyler, D. (2013). Arbitrary Inference. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
Vinci, C., Coffey, S. F., & Norquist, G. S. (2015). When to recommend cognitive behavioral
therapy. The Journal Of Family Practice, 64(4), 232-237.
13. Wilson, G. L. (2014). Person-centered therapy (PCT). Salem Press Encyclopedia Of Health
