Do you need to be self-aware for counselling to work?

[Sharonfruits]

I have a colleague, lets call him Jim, who suffers from depression and anxiety and associated low-self-esteem. Jim has a number of personality traits which I've always thought were linked to anxiety and low self esteem: the main issues that affect me at work are he's defensive, self-absorbed and never shows empathy.

Last year Jim had some time off work due to depression and then started seeing a counsellor. Our company has a great Occ Health provision so this can go on as long as required. Anyway, maybe naively, I thought that this might make Jim a bit easier to get on with. I've had counselling for low self-esteem in the past and I'm sure it had a positive impact on me as a person. But 6 months down the line, Jim doesn't appear to have changed at all. I know it's none of my business and I should just accept that Jim is who he is, but it got me wondering: if you're not self-aware enough to raise an issue in counselling sessions, then maybe it never gets addressed. Anyone with more indepth knowledge of how psycotheraphy works have thoughts on this?

Well you are right
Some people use counselling to genuinely improve themselves by reflecting realistically and some people use it as a way to have someone to validate all of their issues, complain at someone a lot and be economical with the truth.

A good counsellor will improve their clients self awareness.
Psychotherapy is longer term and will look at issues more in depth so can be benfecial to clients who are less aware of the causes of their problems .