Nelson-Jones’

Theory and Practice of

Counselling and
Psychotherapy
Sixth Edition
Richard Nelson-Jones

nelson jones_nelson jones's 6ed_aw.indd 5 30/05/2014 14:57

00_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Prelims.indd 3 21/10/2014 11:25:07 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND
PSYCHOTHERAPY APPROACHES 1

Theoretical approaches to counselling and psychotherapy do not spring fully

formed out of the heads of their originators. Rather their creation is a process
in which many personal, academic and professional factors interact.
Furthermore, the theorists covered in this book tended to refine and rework
their ideas. In addition other people have contributed to the development of
their theoretical positions. Thus theory creation and development is an
intensely human and ongoing process combining both subjective experiencing
and objective information.
As a counselling and psychotherapy trainee, you too are engaging in a pro-
cess of trying to make sense of numerous personal, academic and professional
factors to create and develop a way of seeing the therapeutic world that has
validity for you and gets results for your clients. Just like the major theorists,
you are likely to find yourself continually refining and reworking your ideas.
Working with a theoretical approaches text, such as this one, is an early step in
the exciting and life-long endeavour of creating, developing and refining your
theory and practice.

COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

The word therapy is derived from the Greek word ‘therapeia’ meaning healing.
Literally psychotherapy means healing the mind or the soul. Nowadays, most
commonly the meaning of psychotherapy is broadened to become healing the
mind by psychological methods that are applied by suitably trained and quali-
fied practitioners. However, as illustrated in this book, there are different
approaches to psychotherapy and, consequently, it is more accurate to speak of
the psychotherapies rather than a uniform method of psychotherapy. Moreover,
there are different goals for psychotherapy including dealing with severe men-
tal disorder, addressing specific anxieties and phobias, and helping people find
meaning and purpose in their lives. Each of the different therapeutic approaches
may be more suitable for attaining some goals than others.
Does counselling differ from psychotherapy? Attempts to differentiate
between counselling and psychotherapy are never wholly successful. Both
counselling and psychotherapy represent diverse rather than uniform knowl-
edge and activities and both use the same theoretical models. In 2000, the
British Association for Counselling acknowledged the similarity between

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 3 21/10/2014 11:28:32 AM

 4 PART I  INTRODUCTION

counselling and psychotherapy by becoming the British Association for

Counselling and Psychotherapy. In 1998, the Psychotherapy & Counselling
Federation of Australia was established.
Nevertheless, some people such as Corsini (2008) try to distinguish counsel-
ling from psychotherapy. For instance, psychotherapists may be more thor-
oughly trained; psychotherapy may focus more deeply on uncovering
unconscious influences and be longer term; and psychotherapy may be more a
medical term that characterizes the work of psychiatrists and clinical psychia-
trists, whereas counselling relates more to activities in non-medical settings: for
example, college counselling centres. All of these distinctions can be refuted:
for example, there are psychodynamic counsellors; both counselling and psy-
chotherapy can be either brief, medium-term or long-term; and much counsel-
ling is performed both by medically and non-medically qualified people inside
and outside of medical settings.
Though some perceive different shadings of meaning between counselling and
psychotherapy, when it comes to the offering of professional as contrasted with
voluntary services, similarities outweigh differences. Frequently the terms are used
interchangeably and most theorists view their work as applicable to both counsel-
ling and psychotherapy, Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis being prime examples.
Counselling and psychotherapy also overlap with coaching. Life coaching
involves coaches using their skills to help generally adequately functioning peo-
ple improve and maintain how they perform and live in different aspects of their
lives – personal, relationships, business and sports. Though a relatively recent
phenomenon, coaching is undoubtedly here to stay. In varying degrees, much of
this book is relevant to coaching as well as to counselling and psychotherapy.

DEFINING TERMS
Throughout this book, for the sake of consistency, for the most part I use the
terms psychotherapy or therapy, therapist and client. Psychotherapy refers both
to the theoretical approach and to the process of helping clients. It is notable that
the originators of most psychotherapeutic approaches include the word therapy
in their approach’s title: for instance, person-centred therapy, gestalt therapy,
rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy. Therapist refers to the
providers of therapy services to clients, be they psychoanalysts, psychiatrists,
clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists,
social workers or other suitably trained and qualified persons. Client refers to the
recipient of therapeutic services whether inside or outside of medical settings.

OVERVIEW OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY APPROACHES

A useful distinction exists between schools of counselling and psychotherapy

and theoretical approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. A theoretical

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 4 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 5

approach presents a single position regarding the theory and practice of coun-
selling and psychotherapy. A school of counselling and psychotherapy is a
grouping of different theoretical approaches that are similar to one another in
terms of certain important characteristics that distinguish them from theoreti-
cal approaches in other counselling and psychotherapy schools
Probably the three main schools that have influenced contemporary indi-
vidual counselling and psychotherapy practice are the psychodynamic school,
the humanistic school, and the cognitive behaviour school. Sometimes the
humanistic school incorporates existential therapeutic approaches and then
can get the broader title of the humanistic-existential school. A fourth school,
the postmodern school, comprises some more recent approaches. In addition,
there are other recent theoretical approaches that do not fit neatly into this
school heading, for instance positive therapy. Be careful not to exaggerate the
differences between counselling and psychotherapy schools, since there are
similarities as well differences among them. Box 1.1 briefly describes some dis-
tinguishing features of the psychodynamic, humanistic-existential, cognitive
behaviour and postmodern schools.

BOX 1.1  FOUR COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY SCHOOLS

THE PSYCHODYNAMIC SCHOOL

The term psychodynamic refers to the transfer of psychic or mental energy between the
different structures and levels of consciousness within people’s minds. Psychodynamic
approaches emphasize the importance of unconscious influences on how people func-
tion. Therapy aims to increase clients’ abilities to exercise greater conscious control over
their lives. Analysis or interpretation of dreams can be a central part of psychotherapy.

THE HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL SCHOOL

The humanistic school is based on humanism, a system of values and beliefs that
emphasizes the better qualities of humankind and people’s abilities to develop their
human potential. Humanistic therapists emphasize enhancing clients’ abilities to
experience their feelings and think and act in harmony with their underlying tenden-
cies to actualize themselves as unique individuals. Existential approaches to psycho-
therapy stress people’s capacity to choose how they create their existences.

THE COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR SCHOOL

Traditional behaviour therapy focuses mainly on changing observable behaviours by
means of providing different or rewarding consequences. The cognitive behaviour
school broadens behaviour therapy to incorporate the contribution of how people

(Continued)

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 5 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 6 PART I  INTRODUCTION

(Continued)

think to creating, sustaining and changing their problems. In cognitive behaviour

approaches, therapists assess clients and then intervene to help them to change
specific ways of thinking and behaving that sustain their problems.

THE POSTMODERN SCHOOL

The postmodern therapies adopt a social constructionist viewpoint, assuming that
how people process and construct information about themselves and their world is
central to their existence. Rather than conceptualizing progress as a departure from
and rejection of the past, postmodernism draws on the past to serve the present.
People’s experience of emotions depends on the names that they give to these emo-
tions. People’s beliefs about their relationships affect how they interpret the reactions
of others and how they respond to them. Personal behaviour results from these
cognitive processes and is therefore open to change.

Box 1.2 introduces the theoretical approaches, grouped as closely as feasible

according to counselling and psychotherapy school, included in this book. The
postmodern school therapies have been listed under more recent therapies. So
that readers can obtain a sense of the history of the development
of ideas within counselling and psychotherapy, I have included the dates of the
originators of each approach. The descriptions provided in Box 1.2 reflect the
position of the originators of the different positions, rather than developments
within a theoretical approach stimulated by others.

BOX 1.2  OVERVIEW OF COUNSELLING AND

PSYCHOTHERAPY APPROACHES

PSYCHODYNAMIC SCHOOL
Classical psychoanalysis Originator: Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
Pays great attention to unconscious factors related to infantile sexuality in the develop-
ment of neurosis. Psychoanalysis, which may last for many years, emphasizes working
through the transference, in which clients perceive their therapists as reincarnations of
important figures from their childhoods, and the interpretation of dreams.

Analytical therapy Originator: Carl Jung (1875–1961)

Divides the unconscious into the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious,
the latter being a storehouse of universal archetypes and primordial images. Psychotherapy
includes analysis of the transference, active imagination and dream analysis. Jung was
particularly interested in working with clients in the second half of life.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 6 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 7

HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL SCHOOL
Person-centred therapy Originator: Carl Rogers (1902–87)
Lays great stress on the primacy of subjective experience and how clients can become
out of touch with their organismic experiencing through introjecting others’ evalua-
tions and treating them as if their own. Psychotherapy emphasizes a relationship char-
acterized by accurate empathy, respect and non-possessive warmth.

Gestalt therapy Originator: Fritz Perls (1893–1970)

Individuals become neurotic by losing touch with their senses and interfering with their
capacity to make strong contact with their environments. Psychotherapy emphasizes
increasing clients’ awareness and vitality through awareness techniques, experiments,
sympathy and frustration, and dream work.

Transactional analysis Originator: Eric Berne (1910–70)

Transactions between people take place between their Parent, Adult and Child ego
states. Psychotherapy includes structural analysis of ego states, analysis of specific trans-
actions, analysis of games – series of transactions having ulterior motivations, and
analysis of clients’ life scripts.

Existential therapy Originators: Irvin Yalom (1931–) and Rollo May

(1909–94)
Draws on the work of existential philosophers and focuses on helping clients deal with
anxieties connected with four main ultimate concerns of human existence: death,
freedom, isolation and meaninglessness. Psychotherapy focuses on clients’ current situ-
ations, with different interventions used according to the nature of clients’ enveloping
fears.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR SCHOOL

Behaviour therapy Important figures: theory, Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) and
B. F. Skinner (1904–90); practice, Joseph Wolpe (1915–97)
Emphasizes the learning of behaviour through classical conditioning, operant
conditioning and modelling. Psychotherapy consists of learning adaptive behaviours by
methods such as systematic desensitization, reinforcement programmes and behaviour
rehearsal.

Rational emotive behaviour therapy Originator: Albert Ellis (1913–2007)

Emphasizes clients re-indoctrinating themselves with irrational beliefs that contrib-
ute to unwanted feelings and self-defeating actions. Psychotherapy involves disput-
ing clients’ irrational beliefs and replacing them with more rational beliefs. Elegant
or profound psychotherapy entails changing clients’ philosophies of life.

(Continued)

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 7 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 8 PART I  INTRODUCTION

(Continued)

Cognitive therapy Originator: Aaron Beck (1921–)

Clients become distressed because they are faulty processors of information with a
tendency to jump to unwarranted conclusions. Psychotherapy consists of educating
clients in how to test the reality of their thinking by interventions such as Socratic
questioning and conducting real-life experiments.

Multimodal therapy Originator: Arnold Lazarus (1932–2013)

Clients respond to situations according to their predominant modalities: behaviour,
affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal and drugs/biology. Based on a mul-
timodal assessment, therapists are technically eclectic, using a range of techniques
selected on the basis of empirical evidence and client need.

RECENT THERAPIES
Solution-focused therapy Originators: Steve de Shazer (1940–2005) and
Insoo Kim Berg (1934–2007)
Theories of causation are irrelevant to the process of achieving goals and resolving problems.
The therapist is responsible for directing the conversation towards the client’s goals and
acknowledging their difficulties. Specific uses of language and styles of questioning are used
to encourage creativity and flexible thinking around the relevant issues.

Narrative therapy Originators: Michael White (1948–2008) and David

Epston (1944–)
Images and concepts of past and present by which people define and give meaning to their
lives derive from selective memory strongly influenced by their social, cultural and historical
contexts. Psychotherapy principally consists of assisting persons to escape the dominance
of ‘problem-saturated’ self-stories by encouraging them to narrate and discuss the meaning
of ‘thicker’ or ‘richer’ self-stories more fully representing their concrete experience.

Positive therapy Originator: Martin Seligmann (1942–)

As well as leading directly to suffering, emotional distress constrains people’s lives, cutti-
ing them off from many of the personal and social resources that would help to alleviate
their symptoms and to enable them to maintain a good quality of life. Positive therapy
focuses on promoting wellbeing, resilience and personal strengths, thus weakening the
negative factors that maintain symptoms and distress.

Mindfulness in therapy Originating with the Buddha (around 2500 BC)

An integrative approach to therapy with a theoretical background drawn from Buddhist
psychology. Mindfulness meditation supports the therapist in bringing an embodied,
attuned presence to the therapeutic relationship and short meditation practices may be
brought into therapy. There is an emphasis on cultivating moment-to-moment aware-
ness of experience as it arises and on bringing a reflective enquiry process to experience.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 8 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 9

So far I have presented the different schools and theoretical approaches as

though they are separate. In reality, many counsellors and therapists regard
themselves as working in either eclectic or integrative ways. Though addressed in
the final chapter, a detailed discussion of eclecticism and integration is beyond
the scope of this book. Suffice it for now to say that eclecticism is the practice of
drawing from different counselling and psychotherapy schools in formulating
client problems and implementing treatment interventions. Integration refers to
attempting to blend together theoretical concepts and/or practical interventions
drawn from different counselling and psychotherapy approaches into coherent
and integrated wholes.

WHAT IS A COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY THEORY?

A theory is a formulation of the underlying principles of certain observed phe-

nomena that have been verified to some extent. A criterion of the power of a
theory is the extent to which it generates predictions that are confirmed when
relevant empirical data are collected. The more a theory receives confirmation or
verification, the more accurate it is. Facts strengthen rather than replace theories.

FUNCTIONS OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY THEORIES

What do counselling and psychotherapy theories do? Why are they useful?
Therapists cannot avoid being counselling and psychotherapy theorists. All make
assumptions about how clients become and stay the way they are and about
change. Three of the main functions of counselling and psychotherapy theories are:
providing conceptual frameworks, providing languages, and generating research.

THEORIES AS CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

Therapists are decision makers. They continually make choices about how to
think about clients’ behaviour, how to treat them, and how to respond on a
moment-by-moment basis during therapy sessions. Theories provide therapists
with concepts that allow them to think systematically about human develop-
ment and the therapeutic process.
Counselling and psychotherapy theoretical approaches may be viewed as
possessing four main dimensions if they are to be stated adequately. In this
context behaviour incorporates both observable behaviour and internal behav-
iour or thinking. The dimensions are:

1. a statement of the basic concepts or assumptions underlying the theory;

2. an explanation of the acquisition of helpful and unhelpful behaviour;
3. an explanation of the maintenance of helpful and unhelpful behaviour; and
4. an explanation of how to help clients change their behaviour and consolidate their gains
when therapy ends.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 9 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 10 PART I  INTRODUCTION

When reading about the different counselling and psychotherapy approaches,

you may observe that many if not most have significant gaps in their con-
ceptual frameworks. They are partial rather than complete or comprehensive
theoretical statements. Arguably, some of the missing concepts in the theo-
ries are implicit rather than explicit. Theorists select for more thorough treat-
ment those dimensions of a theory that they consider important. For
instance, Ellis’ rational emotive behaviour theory has a wider variety of
explanatory concepts concerning how behaviour is maintained than how it
is initially acquired.

THEORIES AS LANGUAGES

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung used to stress that, since all clients are different indi-
viduals, therapists require a different language for each client (Jung, 1961). Another
function of theories is similar to that provided by languages. Languages are vocab-
ularies and linguistic symbols that allow communication about phenomena. Like
the major spoken languages of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, the differ-
ent theorists develop languages for the phenomena they wish to describe: for
instance, cognitive, psychoanalytic or person-centred languages. Language can
both unite and divide. It can encourage communication between people who
speak the same language, but discourage communication if they do not. Each
theoretical position has concepts described in unique language. However, the
uniqueness of the language may mask common elements among theories: for
example, the meaning of conditions of worth in person-centred therapy overlaps
with that of super-ego in Freud’s psychoanalytic therapy, though you would not
know this from the language!
The psychotherapy process is a series of conversations requiring languages. In
any therapeutic relationship there are at least four kinds of conversations going
on: namely, therapist and client inner and outer speech. All therapists who oper-
ate out of explicit theoretical frameworks are likely to talk to themselves about
clients in the language of that framework. In varying degrees their therapeutic
practice will match their language. Therapists do not always act according to
how they think. Furthermore, in varying degrees therapists share their theoreti-
cal language with clients. For example, unlike in rational emotive behaviour
therapy, the language in which person-centred theory is expressed tends not to
be shared with clients. Instead, person-centred therapists try more to reflect and
match clients’ outer speech.
Clients are also theorists, though usually without the sophistication of their
therapists. Approaches like rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive
therapy actively try to influence the language in which clients talk to them-
selves so that it becomes helpful rather than harmful. In a sense the therapist’s
language is being exported to and imported by clients so that they can better
assist themselves once therapy ends.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 10 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 11

THEORIES AS SETS OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Theories can be both based on research and stimulate research. For example,
cognitive behaviour therapy is based on research into how people think and
into how both people and animals behave. Furthermore, cognitive behaviour
approaches, such as rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy,
have stimulated research into their processes and outcomes.
Theories also provide therapists with frameworks within which to make pre-
dictive hypotheses during their practice of psychotherapy. Whether acknowl-
edging it or not, all therapists are practitioner-researchers. Therapists make
hypotheses every time they decide how to work with specific clients and how
to respond to single or series of client utterances.
Clients are also practitioner-researchers who make predictions about how
best to lead their lives. If valid theories of counselling and psychotherapy are
transmitted to clients, they may increase the accuracy with which clients can
predict the consequences of their behaviours and, hence, gain more control
over their lives.

LIMITATIONS OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY THEORIES

All counselling and psychotherapy theories should carry the psychological
equivalent of health warnings. They can be used for ill as well as for good. A
criticism of many theories is that they present partial truths as whole truths.
For instance, Rogers posits a unitary diagnosis of all clients’ problems, namely
that there is incongruence between self-structure and experience, and sees six
relationship conditions as necessary and sufficient in all instances (Rogers, 1951,
1959). Ellis focuses on irrational beliefs at risk of paying insufficient attention
to other aspects of thinking, for instance perceiving accurately or using coping
self-talk. Freud emphasizes uncovering unconscious material through the
analysis of dreams, but says little about developing specific effective behaviours
to deal with everyday problems.
Some theories may lead to focusing more on what is wrong rather than on
what is right with clients, a criticism which positive therapy specifically
addresses. They can make clients’ problems out to be more severe than they are.
For instance, psychoanalysts can view aspects of learned ineffective behaviour
as symptomatic of deeper underlying conflicts.
The different languages of theoretical approaches can disguise similarities
between them. Theoretical rigidity is also fostered when language differences
lead therapists mainly to talk with those speaking the same language rather
than to a broader sharing of knowledge and experience. The language of theo-
ries can also create a power imbalance between therapists and clients. Therapists
who think in a special theoretical language that they do not share can put
themselves in superior–inferior relationships with clients. Furthermore, the
language of some theories does little to empower clients once they end therapy.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 11 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 12 PART I  INTRODUCTION

Ideally, the language of therapy is that of self-helping. Clients unable to articu-

late what to think and do when faced with problems after therapy are less likely
to maintain gains than clients who can instruct themselves appropriately.
Possibly all the theorists in this book insufficiently take into account cultural
differences. In addition, theorists can either ignore or underestimate how
socio-environmental conditions like poverty, poor housing and racial discrimi-
nation may contribute to explaining ineffective behaviour. Though feminist
and gender-aware theorizing is attempting to redress the balance, most theo-
rists insufficiently take into account the influence of sex-role conditioning. In
addition, theorists tend to assume heterosexuality and often insufficiently take
into account the needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual clients.

ORIGINS OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY APPROACHES

Theoretical approaches to counselling and psychotherapy are created by human

beings. To a large extent these theories reflect the historical context and per-
sonal and intellectual life histories of their founders. All theorists are influenced
by their families of origin and by previous writers and thinkers. The following
section suggests some important factors that have influenced the creation and
development of counselling and psychotherapy theory and practice.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS

Theoretical approaches do not incubate and emerge in vacuums. Theorists are
influenced by the historical and cultural contexts in which they live. For exam-
ple, the prevalence of sexual repression in turn-of-the-century Austria influ-
enced Freud to develop a theoretical position in which unacknowledged
sexuality plays a large part. Another example is that, during the first half of the
twentieth century, parents tended to dominate their families more than they
do now. Carl Rogers was brought up in the first quarter of the century. His
person-centred therapy reflects the need for individuals to have nurturing and
accepting relationships within which to work through the effects of judgemen-
tal family upbringings so that they can ‘become persons’ (Rogers, 1961, 1980).
Whereas Rogers reacted against certainty, the popularity of existential therapy
partly represents a reaction to the lack of structure of much of modern society
(Yalom, 1980). Old certainties provided by institutions like family and church
no longer exist to the same extent and many people are faced with a more obvi-
ous need to create their own meaning.
Culture also influences how theoretical approaches develop. For example,
ideas of desirable behaviour differ greatly between Western and Eastern cultures.
Western psychotherapies attach a high value to individualism that people from
Eastern cultures, with their greater emphasis on group harmony, may find
uncongenial (Laungani, 1999). Distance from Europe and the USA combined

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 12 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 13

with the authority-suspecting ‘bloody-mindedness’ of white Australian and New

Zealand cultures emboldened White and Epston in their narrative therapy to
draw from disciplines outside the mainstream of traditional psychiatry and also
to incorporate concepts from indigenous sources. Seligmann may have been
partly motivated to develop positive therapy because of the American cultural
context of getting ahead and making the most out of life.
The topic of cultural considerations in psychotherapy theory and practice is
developed in greater detail later in this book.

WOUNDED THEORISTS
The origins of behaviour therapy are more in the animal laboratory than in the
personal experiences of behavioural theorists. However, many of the other
theorists whose work is described in this book encountered periods of signifi-
cant psychological suffering in their lives. Box 1.3 illustrates this point. Jung’s
observation that ‘Only the wounded physician heals’ might be amended to
become: ‘Only the wounded healer creates a counselling and psychotherapy
approach’.

BOX 1.3  WOUNDED THEORISTS

Sigmund Freud (Psychoanalysis) suffered for many years from periodic depressions,
mood variations and anxiety attacks. Freud also had occasional attacks of dread of
dying, some psychologically induced fainting spells, and became very frightened about
train travel.

Carl Jung (Analytical therapy) was a solitary child who, at one stage, used fainting spells
to get out of going to secondary school. In his late thirties and early forties Jung expe-
rienced schizophrenic-like symptoms.

Carl Rogers (Person-centred therapy) was an extremely shy and solitary child who grew
up considering his parents as masters of subtle emotional manipulation. Rogers felt it
unsafe to share much of his personal feelings at home for fear of being judged
negatively.

Fritz Perls (Gestalt therapy) grew up in a distressed family where his parents had many
bitter verbal and physical fights. Perls’ mother beat him with carpet-beating rods. He
hated his father’s pompous righteousness.

Eric Berne (Transactional analysis), when eleven, experienced the death from tubercu-
losis of his beloved physician father, leaving his mother to support him and his sister.

(Continued)

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 13 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 14 PART I  INTRODUCTION

(Continued)

Irvin Yalom and Rollo May (Existential therapy) Yalom grew up spending many hours
hating his mother’s vicious tongue. May grew up in a discordant and unhappy family
atmosphere. He described his mother as a ‘bitch-kitty on wheels.’

Albert Ellis (Rational emotive behaviour therapy) was a sickly child who was unusually
shy and introverted during his childhood and adolescence. Ellis’ mother was self-
involved and neglectful and his father was often physically absent. Aged 12, Ellis dis-
covered his parents had divorced.

Aaron Beck’s (Cognitive therapy) mother was deeply depressed. She could also be moody,
inconsistent and excitable. While growing up Beck developed many anxieties, including
fears related to abandonment, surgery, suffocation, public speaking and heights.

Arnold Lazarus (Multimodal therapy) was the youngest of four children and grew up
feeling ignored and unimportant at home, which contributed to his feeling shy, inad-
equate and hypersensitive. Lazarus was also a skinny kid who was bullied a lot.

If one accepts that many originators of counselling and psychotherapy theories

experienced more than their fair share of psychological suffering, the question still
remains how this affected their theorizing. For some leading theorists, shyness
with people may have stimulated a desire to communicate through words. In addi-
tion, early feelings of inferiority may have fuelled their ambition to make their
mark. Furthermore, having suffered themselves, theorists may be motivated to
develop theories that can alleviate the suffering of others.
Some theorists seem to have been motivated to develop theoretical
positions that would help not just clients, but themselves. Freud’s self-analysis
helped him address his personal suffering at the same time as providing
important insights for his main work, The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1976;
Jones, 1963). Jung’s confrontation with his own unconscious archetypes and
primordial images provided a rich source of ideas for helping both himself and
others (Jung, 1961). Rogers’ person-centred therapist has the attributes of
empathy, respect and non-possessive warmth that Rogers found missing in his
parents and required for his own growth.
Albert Ellis, in his late teens, regularly went to the Bronx Botanic Gardens in
New York and forced himself to sit next to women on park benches and strike
up conversations with them so that he could learn to control his shyness and
build his relating skills. Here, early in life, Ellis was trying to think and behave
more rationally in one of his problem areas.
A final word is that Michael White (narrative therapy) suggested that seeing
therapists as ‘wounded healers’ might be less helpful for understanding the
development of theories than honouring their consciously achieved values,
beliefs and commitments.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 14 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 15

INTEREST IN WRITING AND COMMUNICATING IDEAS

As well as a talent for theorizing, theorists need the ability to write passably
well in order to get published. When researching the theorists’ biographical
sketches for this book, I was struck by how many early in life showed an inter-
est in writing. Furthermore, some theorists, for instance Jung and Yalom, were
avid readers right from their early years.
In his teens, Lazarus helped edit a bodybuilding magazine and then entered
university with a view to becoming a journalist and a writer. Beck was editor of
his high school newspaper and an undergraduate English major. Skinner
majored in English and planned to become a writer. Ellis too envisaged a writ-
ing career and wrote reams in his quest to become the Great American Novelist.
May’s main interest at college was English literature. Berne studied English
along with psychology and pre-medicine as an undergraduate and his mother
was a journalist. Later in life at least two theorists, Skinner and Yalom, branched
out to write novels (for example, Skinner, 1948; Yalom, 1992; 1996, 2005;
2012).
An ambition to communicate distinctive ideas, become known and, possibly,
reap the financial rewards of successful authorship may also fuel theorists’ pro-
ductivity. However, readers should be circumspect about attributing commer-
cial motives to theorists. For example, for over forty-five years, Ellis donated all
his royalty, client and workshop income to the Albert Ellis Institute. Furthermore,
when theorists start writing books they have no guarantee that their time and
effort with be remunerative.
All theorists think they have something of value to offer and want to share
it. For instance, throughout his professional life Rogers was very concerned
with making an impact on others. Though motivation is complex, probably
altruism, social interest and enjoyment are among the primary factors shaping
theorists’ willingness to generate and share ideas.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES AND FRUSTRATIONS

Though behaviour therapy owes much to experimental psychology, for the
most part major counselling and psychotherapy theories emanate from peo-
ple who were practitioners as well as scholars. Frustration, creative insights,
clinical experimentation and careful observation can each contribute to
developing a theory. Beck, Berne, Ellis, and Perls were trained in psychoa-
nalysis. Their negative experiences practising psychoanalysis challenged
them develop their own positions. Each used their work with clients to
develop and experiment with different ways of helping them.
Lazarus was stimulated to develop his multimodal therapy approach as a reac-
tion to the restrictiveness of traditional behaviour therapy. Rogers developed his
person-centred approach from discovering the limitations of existing ways of
working. He recalls that, when in the 1930s he worked at the Rochester Child
Study Department (later renamed the Child Guidance Center), he obtained far

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 15 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 16 PART I  INTRODUCTION

better results with clients from listening to them than from diagnostic under-
standing and advice (Rogers, 1980). Michael White and David Epston developed
narrative therapy partly as a reaction to the hierarchical and dehumanizing
ways they perceived people were treated in psychiatric hospitals.

RESEARCH FINDINGS
Research can both influence the initial development of theory and test its use-
fulness. Behaviour therapy theory is based on the findings of experimental
research: for instance, Pavlov’s classical conditioning is based on experiments
with dogs; Skinner’s operant conditioning on experiments with pigeons and
rats; and Wolpe’s counter-conditioning by reciprocal inhibition on experi-
ments with cats.
Theory can also be developed and validated from researching the processes
and outcomes of psychotherapy. Theorists are practitioner-researchers
generating and testing hypotheses in their psychotherapy practice. Thus pro-
fessional experience can act as informal psychotherapy process and outcome
research. Theorists and their adherents differ in the extent to which they either
engage in or generate more formal psychotherapy research. On the one hand,
the processes and outcomes of approaches like cognitive therapy, rational emo-
tive behaviour therapy, person-centred therapy and behaviour therapy are
heavily researched. On the other hand, there is a paucity of research into
approaches like transactional analysis, gestalt therapy and existential therapy.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION
A group of theorists whose work is presented in this book were or are psychia-
trists: for example, Beck, Berne, Freud, Jung and Yalom. Many of the remainder
trained as clinical psychologists: for instance, Ellis, Lazarus, May, Rogers and
Seligmann. Of the clinical psychologists, only Lazarus and Seligmann were
affiliated in academic psychology. De Shazer, Berg, White and Epston were
social workers and counsellors.

SEX AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Probably most readers have noticed that, with the exception of Insoo Kim Berg,
all of the major theorists presented in this book are men. However, women
have been prominent in psychodynamic approaches to therapy: for instance,
Anna Freud, Karen Horney and Melanie Klein. In addition, Perls’ wife Laura is
considered by some to be the co-founder of gestalt therapy (Yontef and Jacobs,
2014). Furthermore, women have contributed to the development of other
approaches presented in this book as well as being the driving force behind
feminist therapy. All the major theorists appear to have been heterosexual, at
least as far as their public personas.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 16 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 17

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND RACE

The countries of birth of the theorists are as follows: America – Beck, de Shazer, Ellis,
May, Rogers, Seligmann and Yalom; Austria – Freud; South Africa – Lazarus and
Wolpe; Canada – Berne and Epston; Switzerland – Jung; Germany – Perls; Korea –
Berg; and Australia – White. Of the non-American born theorists, Berg, Berne,
Lazarus, Perls and Wolpe spent the bulk of their professional lives in the United
States. A proportion of the theorists in this book are Jewish: for example, Beck,
Berne, Freud and Yalom. In addition, Ellis had a Jewish mother.

LONGEVITY
If you are going to be a major counselling and psychotherapy theorist, it helps
to have good genes. Longevity helps major theorists to develop, refine, proselyt-
ize and defend their work. Ellis lived into his nineties, Freud, Jung, May, Rogers
and Lazarus lived into their eighties, and Perls lived to over seventy-five. Probably
Berne’s premature death at aged sixty robbed transactional analysis of many use-
ful developments and insights. Of the living theorists Beck (b. 1921) is over
ninety, Yalom (b. 1931) is over eighty, and Epston (b. 1944) and Seligmann (b.
1942) are over seventy. Another aspect of longevity is that many, if not most,
major theorists did not publish original work until they were over forty.

CREATING YOUR OWN THEORETICAL APPROACH

Each of you reading this book is engaging in the process of creating your own
theoretical approach. Theory creation is both a subjective process of making sense
of material as well as an external process of reading, learning, researching and
practising psychotherapeutic skills. How can you make yourself a better theorist
and hence a more effective therapist? The following are some suggestions.

WORK WITH THIS BOOK

Though largely based on the writings of the original theorists, this book is a
secondary source. Nevertheless, it should provide you with a faithful overview
of some of the main counselling and psychotherapy theories. To understand
any theory you need to master its basic concepts. It is insufficient just to read
about them. You will need actively to work on understanding and memorizing
them. At the end of each theory chapter I, and other authors, provide review
questions that test your knowledge of basic concepts.

GET PERSONAL
Jung observed: ‘My life is a story of the realization of the unconscious’ (Jung,
1961, p. 17). What about your life’s story and what are you trying to realize

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 17 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 18 PART I  INTRODUCTION

through your interest in counselling and psychotherapy? Applying the differ-

ent theories to your own life is one way to make learning more personal,
involving and interesting. What do the theories say that seems applicable to
you and why? Another way to understand the theories is to think how appli-
cable they are to past, present or future clients. What in different theories
might prove useful in your practical work and why? You can also compare and
contrast different theories in an attempt to critically evaluate their strengths
and weaknesses for you as a person and as a therapist. At the end of each chap-
ter I, and other authors, provide personal questions so that you may apply your
learning and insights to yourself.
Another way to learn about the theories is to try to develop a theoretical
approach of your own. For over twenty-five years I asked counselling and coun-
selling psychology trainees taking my theories classes to write a paper present-
ing their current theoretical approach.

READ PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources are books and articles written by the theorists themselves.
Ultimately, there is no substitute for reading primary sources. You will get a
much broader and deeper impression of the different theories if you read
widely the works of their originators. You can also learn about how the origina-
tors applied their counselling and psychotherapy theories by reading case stud-
ies of their work. A section on case material is provided towards the end of each
chapter on the different therapies. In addition, after describing the work of
each theorist, there is a brief annotated bibliography plus other primary source
references.

READ SECONDARY SOURCES

You can read secondary sources other than this book. Some secondary sources
are counselling and psychotherapy textbooks and here you should always look
out for the most recent editions. Current Psychotherapies is a widely respected
edited therapy textbook containing a mixture of primary and secondary
sources (Wedding and Corsini, 2014). All major therapy approaches beget
many secondary source books: for instance, Mearns and Thorne’s Person-
Centred Counselling in Action (2013) and Clarkson with Cavecchia’s Gestalt
Counselling in Action (2013).
Here is a warning about reading secondary sources. Choose carefully because
some secondary source writers do not really understand the theoretical posi-
tions they present. Following are three more traps into which secondary source
textbook writers can fall. One trap is to mix the writings of the original theorist
together with recent developments in theory, so the student has difficulty in
knowing which is which. A second trap is to merge the writings of different
theorists into the same chapter: for example, to have a chapter combining

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 18 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 19

either psychodynamic theories or humanistic theories. A problem with this

approach is that no theory gets presented thoroughly. If you doubt this point,
look at the next two chapters on Freudian psychoanalysis and Jung’s analytical
therapy and see how well nigh impossible it would be to combine them so that
readers obtain a good introduction to both Freudian and Jungian theory and
practice, let alone of recent developments in each approach. A third trap is for
the secondary source writer only to present case examples of their own work.
A risk here is that this secondary source case material does not truly reflect how
the originator practised or practises therapy.

WATCH AND LISTEN TO AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIAL

You can obtain a further insight into the different theorists by watching films,
CDs and video and also listening to audio-recordings of them discussing their
theories and working with clients. For instance, audio-visual material is avail-
able for theorists like Beck, Ellis, Perls and Rogers.

ATTEND TRAINING COURSES AND WORKSHOPS

You may expand your knowledge and skills in the different theories by attend-
ing training courses and workshops run by competent adherents of the differ-
ent approaches. Introductory theories of counselling and psychotherapy
courses are likely to be limited in presenting different approaches both by time
constraints and by lecturer preferences. You may get a much more thorough
introduction to any single approach if you attend workshops and courses run
by specialists in it. However, when considering training courses and workshops,
be careful about spreading yourself too thinly.

UNDERGO SUPERVISION
A good way to learn about the theory and practice of a psychotherapy approach
is to be supervised by a practitioner skilled in it. For instance, you can learn the
theory and practice of one psychotherapeutic approach more thoroughly by
being supervised by someone knowledgeable and competent in that approach.
Then you can broaden how you work by obtaining supervision from practition-
ers of one or more different approaches. Many consider that supervision for
those practising counselling and psychotherapy is essential throughout their
careers.

UNDERGO PERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

If a counselling and psychotherapy approach particularly appeals to you, one
way to learn about its theory and practice is to become a client of a skilled

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 19 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 20 PART I  INTRODUCTION

practitioner in the approach. For some approaches, for example psychoanalysis

and analytical therapy, a training analysis is an integral part of learning the
approach. Where personal psychotherapy is not a requirement of a particular
approach, the need to develop self-awareness and reflective skills about your
practice is important.

EVALUATE THEORETICAL APPROACHES

In creating your own theoretical approach you will undoubtedly undergo a
process of evaluating the existing theoretical approaches. Many considerations
go into evaluating theoretical approaches: for instance, how well you under-
stand the theoretical approaches you are trying to evaluate, how thoroughly
each approach is researched, and how their goals differ. I leave a more detailed
discussion about evaluating counselling and psychotherapy approaches to this
book’s final chapter.

REVIEW AND PERSONAL QUESTIONS

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How would you define the terms counselling and psychotherapy?
2. To what extent do you consider the terms counselling and psychotherapy describe dif-
ferent activities and why?
3. What is a theory?
4. What are the functions of counselling and psychotherapy theories?
5. What are some potential limitations or disadvantages of counselling and psychotherapy
theories?
6. What factors are influential in creating counselling and psychotherapy theoretical
approaches?

PERSONAL QUESTIONS
1. Do you consider yourself a prospective counsellor and/or a prospective therapist and
why?
2. Describe your present preferences regarding counselling and psychotherapy theoretical
approaches?
3. How can you best learn about counselling and psychotherapy approaches?
4. How can you best develop a theoretical position to guide your counselling and psycho-
therapy practice?

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wedding, D. and Corsini R. J. (eds) (2014) Current Psychotherapies (10th ed.).

Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 20 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM

 CREATING COUNSELLING AND THERAPY APPROACHES 21

This book is a mixture of primary and secondary sources. For instance, chapters
on cognitive, existential, person-centred and rational emotive behaviour psycho-
therapies are written by their originators, sometimes with co-authors. Secondary
source chapters include those on psychoanalytic, Adlerian, behaviour, gestalt,
family, contemplative and integrative psychotherapies.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Clarkson, P. with Cavecchia, S. (2013) Gestalt Counselling in Action (4th ed.).

London: Sage.
Corsini, R. J. (2008) Introduction. In R. Corsini and D. Wedding (eds) Current
Psychotherapies (8th ed., pp. 1–14). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Freud, S. (1976) The Interpretation of Dreams. Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Penguin Books. Original edition, 1900.
Jones, E. (1963) The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. New York: Anchor Books.
Jung, C. G. (1961) Memories, Dreams, Reflections. London: Fontana Press.
Laungani, P. (1999) Culture and identity: Implications for counselling. In
S. Palmer and P. Laungani (eds), Counselling in a Multicultural Society
(pp. 35–70). London: Sage.
Mearns, D. and Thorne, B. with McLeod, J. (2013) Person-Centred Counselling in
Action (4th ed.). London: Sage.
Rogers, C. R. (1951) Client-Centered Therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1959) A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal rela-
tionships, as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (ed.),
Psychology: A Study of Science (Study 1, Volume 3, pp. 184–256). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Rogers, C. R. (1961) On Becoming a Person. Boston, MA: Houghton Miflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1980) A Way of Being. Boston, MA: Houghton Miflin.
Skinner, B. F. (1948) Walden Two. New York: MacMillan.
Wedding, D. and Corsini R. J. (eds) (2014) Current Psychotherapies (10th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Yalom. I. D. (1980) Existential Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
Yalom, I. D. (1992) When Nietzsche Wept. New York: Basic Books.
Yalom, I. D. (1996) Lying on the Couch. New York: Harper Perennial.
Yalom, I. D. (2005) The Schopenhauer Cure: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins.
Yalom, I. D. (2012) The Spinoza Problem. New York: Basic Books.
Yontef, G. and Jacobs, L. (2014) Gestalt therapy. In D. Wedding and
R. J. Corsini (eds). Current Psychotherapies (10th ed., pp. 299–338). Belmont,
CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

01_Nelson_Jones_TPCP_6e_Ch-01.indd 21 21/10/2014 11:28:33 AM