Counseling Questions

Cross-cultural limitations of person-centered approach to counselling
Person-centered approach lacks structure and largely depends on the characteristics of
the therapist and the client (Yalom & Josselson, 2019). This is a strength in some situations
and a weakness in others. One area where the approach has limitations is in cross-cultural
counseling. One of the core conditions for successful person-centered approach to
counselling is congruence. Congruence means that the therapist’s inner experience and
outward expression should match. When a therapist counsels someone who is culturally
different from them, there are many factors that may interfere with the therapist’s ability to
create congruence. For instance, the therapist may misinterpret some of the norms and
traditions of client. Some of the client’s issues may be of delicate social context and,
therefore, may completely escape the therapist’s understanding even in cases where the
therapist is cross-culturally educated. Thus, the difficulty of establishing congruence in cross-
cultural settings may limit the effectiveness of person-centered approach to counselling for
situations where the client and the therapist come from different cultures.
Another core condition for a successful person-centered approach is empathy of the
therapist. Empathy is the therapist’s ability to understand in an accurate and sensitive manner
the feelings and experiences of the client. For the therapist to be empathetic to the client’s
feelings and experiences, there is need for openness and self-disclosure on the part of the
client. There are, however, cultures where people do not express themselves directly.
Disclosing of personal circumstances or situations is also frowned upon. When working with
such a client, it is difficult for the therapist to be empathetic to their experiences or feelings
because the clients go to great lengths not to reveal them.
Das’ four steps of Logotherapy

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Meaning is one of the key themes of counselling that deals with existential thoughts
(Spinelli, 2014). Logotherapy is one of the approaches that help clients to achieve meaning in
their lives. According to Schulenberg et al. (2008), meaning impacts both human behavior
and health. Thus, by helping clients to find meaning, logotherapy helps them to change their
behaviors and improve their health. In applying logotherapy to clients, Das (1998)
recommends following of four steps to make the process more relevant and concrete to
clients. The first step is de-reflection. This step involves the counsellor diverting the attention
of the clients from the symptoms of their problems through acts such as humor. The second
step is attitude modulation or modifying of attitudes (Das, 1998). Clients are made to
understand that attitudes are not a matter of circumstance but choice. Thus, this second step
helps the clients to develop a different attitude towards their situation.
The third step is openness to new meanings. At this stage, the counsellor helps the
client to explore different meanings of their situation using Socratic dialogue (Das, 1998).
There is close connection between the third and second steps because they are both meant to
help the client to develop new meanings about their situation.
In the fourth and last step, the counsellor helps the client to introduce form and
structure to their lives through setting short- and long-term goals for the clients to pursue.
Such goals give clients new meaning to life through forcing them to develop new
relationships with other people and nature, and to promote more creative pursuits (Das,
1998).
Application of Gestalt empty-chair technique a hypothetical situation
The empty chair technique is one of the most common gestalt therapy exercises
(Frew, 2016). In the exercise, the counsellor places a person in therapy in front of an empty
chair and asks them to imagine the person that they are having trouble with sitting in the
empty chair (Wagner-Moore, 2004). The Gestalt empty-chair technique would appropriately

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be applied to a woman whose male partner regularly abuses her physically and sexually when
drunk.
In the counselling session, I would ask the woman to face an empty chair a few feet
away from her and imagine that her abusive partner is sitting on the chair. I would then ask
her to tell the partner everything that she feels about his drinking, physical and sexual assaults
that he subjects her to, and how she is affected by those acts. I will also ask her to direct all
her unresolved emotions, such as anger and frustrations towards the partner on the empty
chair. According to Wagner-Moore (2004), the approach helps clients to more fully express
feelings that were previously interrupted.
Through the address to the empty chair, I will be able to understand what the woman
is going through and the feelings that she has about her situation. Once the address is
complete, I will have a sit-down with the woman where we will discuss various alternative
solutions to her problem. Resolution to the problem will be achieved when the woman
intensifies her emotions, openly expresses her needs, and changes her view of her partner.
When this happens, the woman would have experienced relief and would be in a position to
better manage her situation.

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References

Das, A. K. (1998). Frankl and the realm of meaning. Journal of Humanistic Education and
Development, 36(4), 199-212. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid
&db=a9h&AN=776921

Schulenberg, S. E., Hutzell, R. R., Nassif, C., & Rogina, J. M. (2008). Logotherapy for
clinical practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 45(4), 447-

463. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
     com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid
     &db=pdh&AN=2008-19012-003

Spinelli, E. (2014). An existential challenge to some dominant perspectives in the practice of
contemporary counselling psychology. Counselling Psychology Review, 29(2), 7-14.
Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid
&db=a9h&AN=97266018

Wagner-Moore, L. E. (2004). Gestalt therapy: Past, present, theory, and
research. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 41(2), 180-189.
Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid
&db=pdh&AN=2004-15932-011

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Yalom, I. D., & Josselson, R. (2019). Existential psychotherapy. In D. Wedding & R. J.
Corsini (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (11th ed.) pp. 273-308. Boston, MA:
Cengage.