Constructing a Genogram

In this particular activity, we were tasked to contruct a genogram of our partner. One will first relate the details of own family as the partner notes necessary information. It is important that the interpretation be done by both members of the dyad. The following are the thoughts and insights gained:

As a counselor:

To know the person thoroughly, it is not proper to focus only on one particular aspect. The person is more than his/her past, present, and futuristic goals. It is important to look at his/her family background or generational patterns. The dyad realized how family therapy is applicable to the Filipino culture. Sometimes, people are so prone to neglecting and overlooking important factors such as their family of origin, not knowing how their relatives' lives have influenced them. Although it is not proper to generalize, we think that Family Therapy, particularly constructing a genogram, can really help a client discover the details of his/her life. This particular therapy is very useful in understanding the self at a deeper sense. However, one should always be cautious not to go blaming life's circumstances to the discovered generational patterns. In conclusion, the therapy should be able to help the client gain awareness and be able to address the dominant issue of their family and decide for him/herself to bring about change.

As a counselee:

Sharing details of own family is not as easy as we think it is. There are certain things that are difficult to disclose especially if you are not that comfortable sharing to your counselor. With this we learned that it is important to try to be spontaneous while sharing life stories. Family therapy, from a counselee's point of view is one very exciting type of therapy since information about the family is almost always available at hand and that you can always have something to say about your own family. It is really amazing how drawing one's genogram can bring out neglected issues in families and other patterns. Also, we learned that we have to be truthful to every words that we say, and that we should always be careful not to exaggerate stories and other details. In this way, there can be a meaningful interpretation and clear understanding of how our family affects our lives.

Behavior Therapy Dyad Activity

Pia’s anxiety - not being able to meet personal expectations.
Majoy’s phobia – lizards

The behavior therapy dyad activity we had is useful because during and even after the processing we realized and found a way to release stress and anxiety that is applicable in our daily lives. What we did was we thought hard, drew back our anxieties in the past, and used them for this activity. It felt awkward doing the therapy in the beginning because we had to do it seriously and it was just too hard to concentrate because a lot of external factors came into play; we did the activity on a very tiring afternoon after a whole day class and deadlines of projects and thesis distracted us from keeping an eye on the activity. Majoy did not have a hard time thinking or remembering an anxiety or phobia because she knew exactly what she is anxious about. She is very much afraid of lizards and she can say that it really hinders her to do things at home especially that lizards are considered house animals. Pia had quite a hard time thinking of an anxiety because she has no phobia whatsoever with animals, things or situations. She just remembered that she is very much anxious about not being able to meet personal expectations and it sometimes cause her to get depressed or to even doubt her capabilities when she fails to do what she expects of herself.

The succeeding instructions were hypothetical and it really was a fun part since it’s more like “what would you do if you were given a chance to do things in your own way or make things, which you think is impossible, to happen?” We had the craziest ideas and it felt good to share experiences and situations that hindered us from doing some things because of those anxieties and phobias.

As we ended with the activity, we realized that it was intended to make us feel powerful. It would really be empowering to imagine that our particular anxieties are so small and they can be something that can just be placed in a container and we can watch them from afar- far enough that they can no longer affect us. However, the need to focus is really important. We lacked that particular element and it really affected the outcome of the designed activity. Also, as we learned from our discussion of Behavior Therapy in our class, dealing with the anxiety (or doing a behavioral therapy) moves from simple to complex and from less threatening to more threatening and we can’t expect an abrupt change after doing one activity like this. During our reflection/ sharing of insights after the activity, Majoy, on one hand, stressed out that the activity is good but it did not even lessen her fear of lizards. She very well knows that her fear of lizards causes her so many hindrances, and though she sometimes wants to face her fear, or thinks that she wants to solve that anxiety, she still can not. Many people tried to explain to her that lizards are harmless and even give facts about lizards but they’re just of no use. She said someday when she’s really ready to face her fear, she might seek professional help because she admits that she won’t be able to do it even if she’s willing enough. She is aware that there are some patterns of her thinking that is maladaptive and there are beliefs and experiences that underlie such thinking. And even though a part of her is willing to face the fear, she is a person in distress and she is likely to hold her beliefs about lizards with great conviction. She feels that with a therapist’s help, she might be enlightened with it and her biases in thinking (or irrational beliefs about lizards) might be resolved. On the other hand, Pia’s anxiety occurs when she fails to meet the expectations she set for herself, which is not a very frequent occurrence since she knows her capabilities and she won’t set goals that are not attainable. She said this activity gave her an idea, a way rather to release her anxieties whenever she feels depressed for not accomplishing a goal that she has set for herself.

FIRST PRACTICAL EXAM INSIGHT

Our first practical exam, we must say, is really nerve wracking! We were the first dyad to take the exam and we had no idea on how it was going to be. But the task was given prior the said exam and it helped us a lot in preparing for it. The task assigned to us was to give an activity to the sexually and physically abused girls in a shelter and to use the psychoanalysis as a design for our activity. We had so many questions in mind prior the exam like do the girls know each other already? Is it their first time to meet each other? Or are their ages the same or does the group have very young or very old members? Since we weren't sure about the answers to these questions, what we did was we created a design for three age groups - young girls, adolescents to young adults and adults. We had to admit that we really had a hard time thinking of a psychoanalytic inspired activity because we had just finished discussing the client centered therapy by Carl Rogers and this therapy is still very fresh in our minds. Maybe we didn't have careful thoughts or probably not enough resources because during the exam, our activity for the adolescents turned out to be very client centered in approach. We felt bad but we've had significant learning about it. And though the second activity didn't turn out so well, we were commended for the first and third activities - the activities for the young girls and adults. For the young girls, we designed a game called Trust Building Maze Game, we designed this game in order to build trust among the young girls because as we all know abused girls, especially the young ones, experienced trauma and are more likely to have trust issues (Jaberghaderi, N., Greenwald, R., Rubin, A., Zand, S. O., & Dolatabadi, S. (2004) Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 11, 358-368). The activity we used for the adults was the Word in a Jar activity; this is one form of free association that helps release their anxieties.

It was so nice that Mr. Saplala made the necessary considerations despite the fact that we leaned towards Client Centered therapy instead of the original Psychoanalysis. We focused too much in looking for a free association activity that we neglected to consider Erik Erickson’s contribution to Psychoanalysis. We should have designed an activity that tackles Erik Erickson’s psychosocial stages for adolescents (crisis: Identity versus Identity Confusion) or probably dream analysis. We are happy though that he still noted on the positive things about the activity we made and how we presented the activity. This is a very good experience and learning for us as counseling students and this would surely help us further improve and prepare more for our next practical exams.

Links for further reading:

http://www.efficiencyandeducation.com/faqs.php
This link is the top ten links on how to become a good school counselor

http://www.br.cc.va.us/techprep/counselors/counselors.htm

Tips for counselors and teachers

http://www.goer.state.ny.us/Train/onlinelearning/EC/siteMap.html
Using effective counseling to improve employee productivity

http://www.goer.state.ny.us/train/onlinelearning/EC/201.4.html
Counseling process for employees / people at work

http://webserve.govst.edu/trauma/crisis.html#9
Counseling tips from University of Iowa Counseling Services - This link provides an overview of what counseling is all about and the major responsibilities and tasks of a counselor

http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/whats_counseling_about.htm
Tips for counseling children

http://www.assuredcounseling.com/personal.html
Counseling for personal concerns

http://www.umich.edu/~msjrnl/backmsj/012797/counselor.html
Counselor PerspectiveTop 10 List For Interviewing: Don't Do Any Of These Things by Paula Grimes and Indrani Mallik

http://www.calvarychapelcostamesa.com/onestep/english/PurposeandUse/3-CounselingGuidelines.html
Keys to Good Counseling

First Dyad Activity Insight

Based on our class discussion in our subject Counseling, we really find Psychoanalysis a very important therapy to help counselors HELP their clients, though we are aware how difficult it is to apply it in actual practice. We felt really grateful when we had the chance to practice one of Sigmund Freud’s famous psychoanalytic techniques called Dream Analysis. Freud referred to dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. Some people are almost always eager to know what their dreams mean, and some people neglect the possibility that their dreams are trying to say something about their situation or present lives. In whatever way we view it, it would not hurt if we give Freud a chance and see if there's really something else behind our simple dreams.

We were tasked to write our recent, most frequent,most memorable dream and associate words until we were able to come up with a single word or idea related to that dream. During class, we were asked to discuss it with our partners with the help of the guide questions given by our professor. We were able to analyze the things, persons and events present in our dreams in relation to the specific experience or feelings we had during the time that we had that dream. One of us tried to censure during our dream interpretation but as our professor reiterated during the discussion, it is very much important not to censure so we can have a clearer perspective of what dream was trying to convey to our conscious states. In the process, we became more aware of our own biases in interpreting our dreams. At the same time, it came to our realization that it is important that we be sensitive and objective as we discern its meaning.

This activity helped us realize that dreams are unique; no other individual can have our back grounds, emotions and experiences. Every dream is connected with our own “reality” thus, in interpreting it, it is very much important to draw from our personal life and experiences. We believe that dream unifies our body, mind and spirit. It provides us with insight into ourselves and it serves as a means for self exploration. Thus, understanding our dreams leads us to a better understanding and discovery of our “true self”.

Other people's insights and experiences about counseling:

http://www.4uman.info/seiten_en/interviews/interviews1.html

http://lifecoachchristiancounseling.com/Experience/

http://www.alcounseling.com/indexd.php?pagename=brucesbio&img=1

Case Study about Psychoanalysis:

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/case_study.html

Dreams and Psychoanalysis:

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/key_of_dreams.html

Enjoy!