Key Theories and Approaches of Counselling
Senior 6 · Psychology (Languages)
Key Theories and Approaches of Counselling
Lesson 2 of 4
25 min
In 1924 the American psychologist Mary Cover Jones worked with Peter, a boy of almost three who was terrified of rabbits, rats, fur coats and feathers. Each day, while Peter sat eating a favourite snack, a rabbit in a cage was brought a little closer, never so close that he became upset. At other times Peter watched other children play happily with the rabbit. Over several weeks, Peter moved from crying when he saw the rabbit across the room to letting it nibble his fingers and holding it on his lap.
Four years earlier, John Watson and Rosalie Rayner had shown that fear could be learned, by frightening a baby known as “Little Albert” with a loud noise whenever he touched a white rat, a study that would be forbidden today and in which the fear was never removed. Jones showed that fear could be unlearned. She is often called the mother of behaviour therapy.
Definition
Behavioural approach: counselling based on the idea that problem behaviours and fears are learned, and can therefore be unlearned, using principles of conditioning.
Systematic desensitisation: gradually exposing a client to a feared situation, step by step up a hierarchy, while they stay relaxed (Joseph Wolpe, 1958).
Reinforcement: any consequence that makes a behaviour more likely to be repeated.
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT): an approach that changes unhelpful thoughts and behaviours together, based on the idea that how we interpret events shapes how we feel and act.
Cognitive distortion: a habitual error in thinking, such as catastrophising or all-or-nothing thinking.
In systematic desensitisation, the client (1) learns a relaxation technique, (2) builds a fear hierarchy from least to most frightening, and (3) works up it step by step, moving on only when each step feels manageable. Wolpe argued that a person cannot be relaxed and anxious at the same time. Modern exposure therapy keeps the gradual steps but puts less emphasis on relaxation.
Figure 1. A fear hierarchy (illustrative). The client starts at the bottom and climbs only when each step feels manageable.
| Technique | How it works | School example |
|---|---|---|
| Positive reinforcement | Reward a desired behaviour | Praise a shy student specifically each time she speaks in class |
| Shaping | Reinforce small steps towards a goal | First reward one sentence in English, then two, then a short answer |
| Extinction | Stop reinforcing an unwanted behaviour | Not reacting to attention-seeking interruptions |
| Token economy | Tokens earned for target behaviours are exchanged for rewards | Points for punctual homework, exchanged for a class privilege |
| Behaviour contract | A written agreement on targets and rewards | A student agrees to attend all lessons for a week in return for a chosen activity |
Albert Ellis (from 1955) proposed the ABC model of rational emotive behaviour therapy: it is not the Activating event that causes the emotional Consequence, but our Beliefs about it. The counsellor helps the client Dispute irrational beliefs and arrive at an Effective new belief.
| Step | Example |
|---|---|
| A: Activating event | A test comes back marked 45%. |
| B: Belief | “I’m stupid. I’ll never pass the national exam.” |
| C: Consequence | Hopelessness; the student stops revising. |
| D: Dispute | “Where is the evidence? I scored 70% last month. One test is not my whole ability.” |
| E: Effective new belief | “This mark shows I need to revise algebra.” The student feels disappointed but motivated. |
Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy (from the 1960s) similarly targets automatic negative thoughts and cognitive distortions such as catastrophising (expecting the worst), all-or-nothing thinking (“if I’m not top, I’ve failed”), overgeneralisation (“I always fail”) and mind reading (“they all think I’m foolish”). Clients test their thoughts with homework and behavioural experiments.
Therapy in a Nutshell: “The Exposure Hierarchy: How to do Exposure Therapy for Anxiety”. A licensed therapist explains how to build and climb a hierarchy; compare her steps with Figure 1.
Important
Evaluate behavioural and cognitive-behavioural approaches. They have the strongest research base of any counselling approach: a 2012 review of 269 meta-analyses by Stefan Hofmann and colleagues found strong support for CBT for anxiety disorders, and exposure therapy is among the most effective treatments for specific phobias. Goals are clear and progress is measurable. Critics argue that they can focus on symptoms rather than causes in a person’s history or social situation, such as poverty or conflict at home; that they depend on the client doing homework; and that techniques developed in Western settings need cultural adaptation. The founding case studies, Peter and Little Albert, were single children studied without today’s ethical safeguards, so modern confidence rests on later controlled trials, not on them.
Warning
Common mistake: thinking negative reinforcement means punishment. Negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant to make a behaviour more likely (for example, a student studies to stop a parent’s nagging). Punishment makes a behaviour less likely.
Tip
Memory hook for Ellis: A–B–C–D–E: Activating event, Belief, Consequence, Dispute, Effective new belief. Change the B and the C changes.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the text, the tables, Figure 1 (illustrative) and the exercises.
