Research Paper on Adlerian Techniques and Procedures

Introduction

Adlerian techniques and procedures are broadly divided into four: establishment of a relationship, exploration of the psychological dynamics that operate in the client-assessment, motivating the client to develop purposeful self-understanding and insight, and assisting the client to make new choices by re-orientating and re-educating.

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In the first phase of Adlerian techniques, establishing a relationship, the therapist is required to understand the client as a person. This is achieved through close collaboration between the therapist and the client in the therapeutic procedure. In order to build a robust therapist-client relationship, both the client and the therapist are required to collaborate in establishing the goals of the program prior to the start. Also, at this stage, the therapist should be aware of the goal discrepancies that the client may manifest. Following this, the therapist and the client re-align their goals, if necessary. Additionally, the therapist can improve the relationship by showing love, hope, and faith.

In the second phase of Adlerian techniques, exploring individual's dynamics, both subjective and objective interviews are conducted. In the subjective interview, the client is required to tell his or her story as the chief expert on his or her own life. The life stories should primarily focus and be linked to the issue at hand, the problem behavior. As the client narrates his life experiences, the counselor listens for clues to the client's coping and approach to life. On the other hand, in the objective interview, the client's lifestyle assessment is conducted. Four key areas of interest in lifestyle assessment include family constellation, early recollections, personality priorities, and integration and summary.

In the third stage, encouraging self-understanding and insight, the therapist explore the motivations that operate in the client's life. After examining the whys of client's life, the counselor is required to offer open-ended interpretations of client's life stories with the aim of bringing conscious awareness to unconscious processes, identifying and confronting resistance, and exploring the purposes of a person's behaviors, feelings, and symptoms. Lastly, in the fourth stage (helping with reorientation and re-education), the client is encouraged to change his or her behavior, attitude or perception and search for new possibilities.

Reality Therapy: Techniques and Interventions

Many different techniques are available to the reality therapist to use. Also, various resources can be utilized to change the client's behavior. The most common type of intervention employed in reality therapy is comprised of learning, practicing, and applying the skills needed to implement change. The process of initiating changes in client's behavior can be divided into six steps, each comprised of sub-steps. The first step is referred to as the acknowledge phase. In this phase, it is crucial for the therapist to recognize other individuals and their points of view. It is also vital for the therapist to acknowledge the concerns he or she has, the problems, and approaches that have earlier been proven to work. Lastly, in the acknowledgement phase, the emphasis is also placed on the use of action talk with the aim of avoiding labels or overgeneralization of the problem.

In the second step, the client and the therapist agree on the direction that the therapy should undertake. There are three essential sub-steps in this step. First, the therapist needs to paint a clear picture of the future by employing action talk. Second, both the therapist and the client build a consensus of the agreed future. This is important because it ensures that both the counselor and the counselee know where they are going and what needs to be undertaken so as to reach there. Lastly, possibility talk is used to open oneself about change.

The third step involves acknowledging barriers and identifying resources to overcome them. An example is physical or environmental barriers that deter or reduce opportunities for the process of the communication process to take place smoothly. Environmental barriers can be eliminated by choosing a room with privacy, proper lighting, without noise, without extreme temperatures, devoid of distractions such as visual aids, and without objects which can endanger the client. On the other hand, barriers related to differences in the social and cultural background if the counsellor takes time to know his or her client's cultural context prior to the counselling session. Also, the therapist should be well-acquainted with non-verbal communication skills to adequately understand the client's responses, especially the negative and positive reactions. Also, the therapist should eliminate barriers caused by the patient or the client before the beginning of the counselling session. Some of these barriers include the client's lack of interest in counselling, his or her impression, and his or her emotions. It is crucial that the therapist motivate his or her client and arouse the client's interest before starting the counseling session. This can be realized through the use of visual aids that are key in arousing the client's interest as well as that help to stimulate active thinking and learning. It is vital to stimulate the client's interest because failure leads to inattentiveness and biased thinking.

Fourth, it is necessary to prepare an action plan for what the client needs to accomplish within a particular time frame. For effective achievement of the set goals, it is crucial to break down the big goals into smaller, manageable ones. For instance, a patient can be given a small task of introducing himself in front of the imaginary patient, if he or she suffers from social phobia. Each of the goals should be specific, measurable, achievable/actionable, realistic, and time-oriented (SMART).

Fifth, the therapist should act. In this case, acting refers to the process of taking action based on the SMART goals, observing the results, and adjusting if necessary. That is, expected goals should be adjusted if they are too high or cannot be easily met by a client. Adjusting, in this case, can mean further breaking down of the goals to manageable levels. Additionally, in this phase, the therapist attempts to break non-helpful thought and action patterns. Moreover, it is necessary for the therapist to persist until the goals set are achieved by the client.

Lastly, in the sixth step, the therapist should acknowledge and celebrate every achievement or progress manifested by the client. This is useful in strengthening the client's resolving in attaining unmet goals.

How Clients Can Set Realistic Goals

It is also essential for the clients to learn to manage their expectations about achieving their goals. Four steps can help the clients manage their expectations. The first step involves defining reality. Three questions are vital to the client during this step: What have I done to develop my reality? What happened to me that led to the current reality? How do I experience the reality?

The second step is known as changing the reality. In this step, four set of questions are helpful in changing the client's current reality: What can I later about my current work, relationships, and situations? What resources do I need to make the changed I need? What are some of the things that I am incapable of changing? How can I change my responses to things I am incapable of changing to support myself better?

The third step involves defining one's expectation. Four set of questions can help the client to do this: What are my expectations regarding myself, my relationships, and the future? What are the expectations of my community? Where do these expectations originate from? I am capable of achieving these expectations, especially with my current skills and supports?

In the fourth step, the client modifies his or her expectations by asking himself or herself three key questions: What do I need to make my expectations match with my reality without necessarily setting the expectations too low or too high? What differences exist between expectations and hopes? Should I redefine my expectations?