Types of Counselling
Presented By- Vedika Rathi
B.A (Hons.) Applied Psychology
Semester- IV
What is Counselling?
• According to Ruth Strang, “Counselling is a face to face
relationship in which growth takes place in the counsellor as
well as the client.”
• In other words, counselling refers to professional service
provided to an individual who is facing a problem and needs
assistance to overcome the problem. It is also considered to be
an integral part of guidance.
Types of Counselling
Directive Counselling - given by E.G. Williamson (1950)
Non- Directive Counselling - given by Carl Rogers (1951)
Eclectic Counselling - given by F.C. Thorne (1950)
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What is Directive Counselling?
• Directive counselling is a type of counseling where the counsellor
plays an active role in a client's or patient's decision-making by
offering advice, guidance, and/or recommendations.
• The major goal of this approach is to replace the emotional behavior
of the individual with deliberately rationale behavior.
• This approach is also known as counsellor-centered counseling, and
the focus is on a particular problem and possibilities for its solution.
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Merits of Directive Counselling
• Directive counselling is a counselor-oriented approach that helps the
counselee become independent and self-reliant, attain emotional
integrity, and attain more sustainable adjustment to their situation.
• It is less time-consuming and can be adopted when an early solution
is required.
• The person-centered approach to counselling is a highly effective
way of encouraging personal growth and understanding in a client.
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Demerits of Directive Counselling
• Directive counselling is a counselor-oriented approach where the client
becomes fully dependent on the counselor, leading to new adjustment
problems and not developing attitudes through their own experiences.
• It is not an effective or best guidance as the client's personal autonomy
and integrity are not respected.
• Client in most cases is helpless and waits for the counsellor to come up
with a solution.
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What is Non-directive Counselling?
• Non-directive counselling, also known as client-centered therapy, or
Rogerian therapy, is an approach to the treatment of mental disorders
that aims at personality growth by helping individuals gain insight
into and acceptance of their feelings, values, and behavior.
• The essence of non-directive counselling is to listen, support, and
advise, without directing a client's course of action.
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Steps in Non-directive Counselling
• The counsellor identifies the problematic situations.
• Places the client in a healthy environment, where they can express
themself freely.
• The counsellor reorganizes and clarifies the client’s positive and
negative thoughts.
• As self-realization occurs gradually, the counsellor goes on validating
the client’s emotions.
• At the end, the counsellor puts the faith in the client and believes in the
outcome.
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Merits of Non-directive Counselling
• This process provides a stress-free environment.
• The approach lets the person seeking counselling have their own freedom.
• The client is not dependent on the counsellor for finding solutions, and
therefore, works towards self acceptance.
• It is easier for the client to confront their weaknesses.
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Demerits of Non-directive Counselling
• Time consuming process, as the client wouldn’t be able to find the solution
immediately.
• Since the process is client-centered, the solution to the problem may not be
as accurate because the judgement and wisdom of the client cannot be
favored entirely.
• It relies on discussion of problems with the counsellor and then finding a
solution. However, every problem cannot be addressed through discussion
and may need other tools and techniques.
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What is Eclectic Counselling?
• Eclectic counselling is a form of psychotherapy that combines
different approaches and techniques to best fit a client's needs. It
is a combination of directive and non-directive counselling,
where the counsellor is neither too active as in directive
counselling nor too passive as in non-directive counselling.
• The use of different therapeutic approaches is based on the
effectiveness in resolving the patient's problems, rather than the
theory behind each therapy.
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Steps in Eclectic Counselling
• The counsellor studies the needs and personality of the client.
• Counsellor selects the appropriate technique after the discussion of
problem with the client.
• The technique is applied to come up with a solution.
• Then, the counselling process is evaluated to analyze whether the
therapy has been effective or not.
• The counsellor seeks the opinion of the client for efficiency
regarding the techniques used and makes amendments accordingly.
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Merits of Eclectic Counselling
• Eclectic counselling is a combination and synthesis of direct and non-direct
counselling, where both the counsellor and the counselee co-operate and work
actively to solve the problem jointly.
• It helps the counselee to become independent and self-reliant, to attain emotional
integrity, and to attain more sustainable adjustment to their situation.
• It is less time-consuming, best for less matured and less intelligent clients, and best
at lower levels where the client is not in a position to analyze their own problem.
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Demerits of Eclectic Counselling
• The approach is vague and opportunistic.
• It is neither counsellor-centered nor client-centered, and it has no fix
structure, which can lead to inconsistency when dealing with clients
that have similar characteristics and face similar situations over time.
• It is not suitable for a less matured and less intelligent counselee, and
the counsellor's passive attitude might irritate the counselee so much
that they might hesitate to express their feelings.
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THANK YOU!
