Comparing Cct and Rebt a Case Study free essay sample

George is a 40-year-old senior executive in a large company, a position he has only recently taken up. He was referred to counselling by his general practitioner to explore his mood swings. He has been married for nearly 5 years to a ‘warm and wonderful person’. There were no children yet, and the couple was wondering about the right time for having children. This has been an area of disagreement between George and his wife and has led to a number of heated arguments between the two of them. George described himself as fairly conservative and not a risk taker, and said that sometimes he couldn’t believe he had accepted a job in such a large company. On questioning, George said that he sometimes felt OK and reasonably good about himself, but that these good feelings frequently gave way to incredible doubts and feelings of hopelessness, that he often felt ‘not good enough’ and ‘not worthy’. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparing Cct and Rebt a Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He had experienced these feelings before, but he felt they were more intense and more frequent since moving to his current position. He commented, â€Å"I’m not the person I thought I would turn out to be† and â€Å"I’m disappointed in myself†. He reports being able to keep it together at work and that his work is not suffering at this stage. He has become more restless and irritable with people, especially in social situations that he describes as excruciating and pointless. The next section discusses and compares Client-Centred Therapy (CCT) and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) as two theoretical approaches to the case study of George. Theoretical approaches Client-Centred Therapy (CCT) Client- Centred Therapy (CCT) was founded by Carl Rogers and originally developed in the 1940’s as a reaction against psychoanalytical therapy. CCT is grounded on a positive view of human nature and humanity and it is based on the premise that the client has an inherent capacity to move away from maladjustment toward psychological health (Corsini Wedding 2008). It is an approach to counselling and psychotherapy that places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, and the counsellor takes a non-directive role (Rogers, 1942). Rogers regarded the three core conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence as â€Å"necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change† (Rogers, 1957) these form the characteristics of the therapeutic relationship in CCT. Empathy – The ability to enter the client’s own world by stepping into their shoes and being with them from moment to moment, Rogers describes 3 mpathy as: â€Å"entering the private perceptual world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it†. (Rogers 1957). Unconditional Positive Regard Accepting and respecting the client with a non-judgemental attitude at all times and being warm and caring no matter what the client may disclose. The counsellor is genuinely open with the client and in touch with one’s own feelings and modelling that way of being. This allows the client to see the counsellor as a real person and this in turn can enable the client to be more honest with the counsellor. Nelson-Jones, 2010) Adopting these three core conditions during the therapeutic process, the client can tell their story in their way, and they can come to their own conclusions and reach decisions on how best to lead their lives. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) REBT was developed in 1950’s by Albert Ellis. He believed the cause of anxiety and stress aren’t necessarily the bad experiences rather it is the negative things that we tell ourselves repeatedly until we believe them to be true. Ellis developed an ABC framework to show people how their negative thoughts lead to negative behaviour (Ellis, 1996): Activating event Belief Irrational thought e. g. Aliens have landed in the garden, they are going to eat me; Consequence Irrational thought e. g. fear, anxiety, panic attack; Rational thought e. g. I’m going to go back to sleep 4 Rational thought e. g. its next doors cat Something happens e. g. you hear a noise in the night When an undesirable emotional consequence occurs, such as severe anxiety, usually the person’s irrational beliefs are involved. When these beliefs are effectively disputed, by challenging them rationally and behaviourally, the disturbed consequences are reduced (Corsini Wedding 2008). REBT is a direct and solution-orientated therapy that focuses on resolving specific problems. It offers the client and counsellor a structured approach, where goals are set to overcome the specific issue within agreed set of sessions. REBT also teaches the importance of the client practising all that has been taught in the session, in between their counselling sessions, usually homework is given based around the issue they are working on.