Counselling advice

[kayblack1986]

Hi, I have a few questions:

If someone is in counselling for depression, is it reasonable that

That person concludes the counselling with the resolution that their behaviours and problems are down to someone else, and have been for the past 30 years. This idea is supported by the counsellor.

The counsellor diagnosis their patients daughter as sociopathic and psychotic - they have never met her

The patient relays their wife's viewpoint (getting it wrong) causing the counsellor to form an opinion of the wife as a liar and the problem.

Is any of this acceptable? I though counselling should be mainly about the patient.

From my experience of councelling the councellor helped me to work through issues and come to my own conclusions mostly without offering their own oppinions, occasionally offering differing view points. Certainly I don't remember my views or beliefs ever being directly challenged. And I always felt the councellor supported my views on things. Seeing a psychologist was much more challenging.

I always think its unproffesional for anyone to diagnose someone they haven't met. My GP once diagnosed DH with a MH condition based only on my description and printed me out loads of info. His own psychologist has never diagnosed him with this condition. They only context I could see it being appropriate in is that when someone is psychotic they generally have no idea they are ill, and need someone else to intervene to get help. If what the councellor was told worried them I suppose they would be within their scope to advise the person to get help for their daughter in the way of proffesional assessment.

Much of councelling is about validating the persons own thoughts and feelings and there viewpoint from my personal experience.