to wonder where the belief that counselling is helpful at best/harmlessly ineffective at worst comes from?

[MightyNice]

not just on MN, you see/hear it everywhere - and some people are genuinely shocked by the idea that talking therapies can be damaging, even though that Emory study found about 10% of patients get worse after starting therapy and even though it is now quite widely accepted that debriefing after traumatic events actually causes PTSD

reallytired - My DP is qualified in Human Givens and really rates it - has other counselling qualifications too. One of the things this model of counselling says is that you should feel better after every session - they reject the idea that you will feel worse before you feel better.

CBT helps some issues and some types of people, but not others.

Fiona, no client should have blind faith in a counselor. Counseling is the opposite of blind faith. It is about learning, knowing, experiencing, challenging and working out what is best for you.

ReallyTired
Active listening is an invaluable skill, however I don't know of any theory or model where it is in itself sufficient to bring about change.

Transference is recognized as a risk and an asset and is explored at length in training and supervision. Indeed the issue of transference and counter-transference is one of the most frequently addressed in supervision.

Asking a client to relive the past is something that should only be done in order to help that client make sense of things, not just to make them remember.

"Active listening is an invaluable skill, however I don't know of any theory or model where it is in itself sufficient to bring about change."

Person centred councelling is very common, infact its one of the most common approaches. Its what health visitors are trained to do.

Person centred councelling can be useful in some situations, but damaging in others. It can deepen depresssion or exasabate trauma. Its a matter of having someone qualifed to know which approach is best.

I don't think suggesting that somebody go for counselling implies a blind faith that everybody will be helped. I don't have a blind faith in my GP either (though actually he is pretty wonderful as doctors go). I don't have a blind faith in the medication he prescribes, either in its curative effects or in its lack of side effects. Medication tends to come with a long list of potential problems. It's a risk you take when a problem is too big to be ignored. You weigh the chances.

Dh nearly died from taking a couple of paracetamols and developing Reyes syndrome. It doesn't mean I never advise anyone to take a painkiller.

ReallyTired, active listening, even in PCT is only part of the therapy. It is used alongside Unconditional Positive Regard and Therapist Congruence to bring about change.

It is not in itself considered enough.

It would be helpful to have more information readily available about types of counselling and also the importance of finding someone you feel comfortable about.

My xh went to counselling at my request because of his drinking but after 4 sessions the counsellor told him that she suspected he was a paedophile and she would report him unless he signed up for one year's fully paid up therapy.

It was the craziest thing ever and of course he refused but he was so angry, rightly so, that he started drinking even more.

"I don't think suggesting that somebody go for counselling implies a blind faith that everybody will be helped."

It can mean that, if you don't know what you are talking about, whic many of us don't.

I think like leBOF suggested, for many people presented with an issue they don't feel competent to deal with the obvious solution seems to be that it should be taken to a "professional", without much (or any) understanding of what that means.

It seems to make sense that there is someone better, someone trained, someone specialised that can offer help where you feel completely out of your depth.

This is a really thought-provoking thread. Thanks, OP :)

"My xh went to counselling at my request because of his drinking but after 4 sessions the counsellor told him that she suspected he was a paedophile and she would report him unless he signed up for one year's fully paid up therapy."

I hope you xh reported her for blackmail threats. It sounds like the woman should be struck off. If she had any morals and sincerely thought her client was a paedophile then she should report and be prepared to lose her client.

There is a world of difference between being and achololic and a paediophile.

That's interesting Lesley - I am a counsellor and I tell my clients at the beginning that it's quite possible they will feel worse before they feel better, not because I am crap, but because they are talking about incredibly painful issues that often they've been bottling up for years. Just getting them back out in the open can take you back emotionally to those places to an extent.

Having said that, I was trained to always be very, very careful when dealing with past trauma - I never force a client to talk about something if they don't seem ready to go there yet. I've also read articles (one definitely in the BACP journal) about how encouraging people to go over a recent trauma (which was until recently quite usual) can actually trigger/exacerbate PTSD.

It all depends on so many things - the skill of the counsellor, their theoretical base, if the client is actually ready and is fully coming of their own volition rather than being 'encouraged' by a partner/GP. The NHS loves CBT because it is cheap, and quick, but it's no cure-all.

No Reallytired he did not report her. I told a medical professional who encouraged us both to make a formal complaint but at the time we had so much to deal with, we let it go. I don't know if counsellors can be struck off, can they?

If they are members of BACP then BACP will investigate and take action as necessary - this may be withdrawing their membership privileges for a fixed period of time/permanently, depending on the circumstances. Usually the counsellor will be told they can't pick up their membership again until they have a) had their own counselling for the issue and b) can provide written evidence of how they would behave differently, how their thinking has changed subsequently, etc.
If such a counsellor were working out of e.g. a GP surgery then you would hope that they would also have their own review, procedures etc. but I don't think there's a standard for that.

Thank you minniebar

Minnie - I am not a counsellor. But as I understand it one of the things Human Givens tries to do is make everyone feel better every session. So somone may take about painful stuff, but you then leave time to do a technique that helps them cope better e.g. 7/11 breathing for anxiety.

Also they believe that in severe trauma actually talking about it can worsen the trauma. They do a technique called rewind which roughly speaking is getting the person to imagine the traumatic scene backwards as if in a DVD and pausing at traumatic bits.

Sorry this is a bit half arssed, but my DP really believes in the techniques and has used them successfully e.g. for refugees who have been tortured.

found it (am op, name changed)

is very very satisfying to read here pretty much what I was trying to articulate in this thread but I think have raised more questions than it addresses really - poss need to revrewad

what is revrewad! re read I meant

AThingInYourLife Sat 31-Mar-12 03:02:49
""I don't think suggesting that somebody go for counselling implies a blind faith that everybody will be helped."

It can mean that, if you don't know what you are talking about, whic many of us don't."

Is that any different from going to an ordinary doctor, though?

I am on the waiting list for an operation at the moment. Of course I understand that I could die under the general anaesthetic (happened to a friend of mine ). Of course I know I could end up with an incompetent surgeon who makes a mess of the stitching (like the one who sewed me up after having dd). Of course I don't really have the medical know how to be sure that my doctor is right when she says this problem won't go away of its own. Or even to know that she hasn't misdiagnosed the problem in the first place.

The best I can do is weigh those risks insofar as I do understand them against my conviction that I can't really go on as I am at the moment.

Which was exactly the stage we were at when we asked for dd to have counselling. And then Prozac. We knew big risks were involved with both, but felt she couldn't go on as she was.

At least with counselling you can say "this isn't working for me, can I see another counsellor please". Which I did when I was having counselling. But I won't be able to say that halfway through my op.