ASPECTS OF COUNSELING Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

ASPECTS OF COUNSELING - Research Paper Example The cognitive aspect of counseling looks into how an individual reasons and processes information. In behavioral aspect the counselor looks into a person’s overt behavior and how learning has and can affect it. In affective aspect the counselor looks into what an individual is experiencing inside themselves. The spiritual aspect deals with a person’s religious affiliations or beliefs that affect their social life, emotions and physical well-being. A counselor therefore needs to know a client’s cognitive, behavioral, affective, and spiritual aspects before taking a specific counseling approach. Spiritual, Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Aspects of Counseling Introduction Counseling has been in existence for thousands of years, but it is one of the most misunderstood concepts in psychology. In the past, counseling was performed by wise elders in the communities with the family unit at its core. These elders counseled people on the various norms that existed an d how to follow them. This trend has continued to grow, but now it is parents and other community members such as teachers, coaches, and religious leaders that find themselves in the counseling field. These community leaders have the role of counseling inherently embedded in their duties. As time passed, counseling took new approaches that were more scientific although the ancient ones also depicted some level of science and ethics. The transformation of counseling has primarily been based on the need for it to suit different people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles. Ironically, as the world has become more informed and technologically savvy, the breakdown of the family unit is on the rise. This brings about a generation of people who have not developed the emotional, mental, behavioral, and spiritual skills needed in our complex and changing society. This and more reasons have contributed to the development and spread of modern techniques and theories in counseling . The misunderstanding gap in relation to counseling in the past has been also reduced with more people seeking formal counseling services. In addition, counseling today does not have the stigma it once held in the past. In actuality, many theories used today consider counseling as a process where the client and the counselor come up with solutions or plans together. Today’s counseling has taken an integrative approach with the incorporation of spiritual, affective, behavioral and cognitive aspects in treating the client through individual or group counseling. Cognitive Aspect of Counseling: Rational Emotive Behavior Theory (REBT) The cognitive domain is basically a domain that focuses on how an individual thinks and reasons. Every individual has mental processes which include knowledge, comprehension, problem solving, and critical thinking or analysis. It is crucial for the counselor to understand how the client can process information. To elaborate this, a client may have t heir reasoning blurred by emotions rendering them incompetent to develop conclusive, decisive or sound solutions. Clients can be illogical and can exhibit irrationality in their judgment and attitudes (Hollon, Stewart and Strunk, 2006). The counselor should in turn replace these by logic and rationality in the client’s ideas and attitudes. The client through cognitive aspect is able to gain self-actualization, thereby attaining some level of happiness (Kenardy, 2011). If a client can identify the element(s) in their environment that they struggle with, self- awareness and self-discovery may commence. Eric Berne for example developed Transactional Analysis that aimed