is counselling a rather superficial problem solving exercise?

Question

is it just a head nodding and mirroring of what you have just said

Answer 1

NO, counseling is the way of life now. If you say you are going to a counselor it's not longer looked down upon.
You go so you can learn how to talk out your problems...someone to be there to tell you how to go about facing what you need to face.

Answer 2

In the hands of a bad counselor, sure, “therapy” can just become aimless and misleading self-affirmation.

When I was younger, I used to imagine a therapist to be someone who simply reveals insights during the counseling session, and since I felt like I already understood a lot of what was wrong with me, I didn’t see the point in going.

Having changed somewhat since then, and having been in therapy with two different therapists, I would say this instead:

1. Therapy does provide affirmation, but only of you as a person, not necessarily to what you feel like doing. And this affirmation is not delivered blindly or without purpose; it is a response to real areas of doubt about oneself and one’s value as a human being.

2. Therapy provides “another pair of eyes.” No matter how smart you are, someone else has a different personality and can offer a viewpoint you might not have considered… even if it’s just a LITTLE different. Sometimes that little difference is enough to lead you to a new important insight into yourself.

3. Therapy encourages you to try to change. Your therapist cannot make you change, but their seeming to value you as a human being is encouraging, and you feel a positive desire to figure things out and change, just to become more healthy.

4. Therapy involves your therapist guiding YOU to realize the truth. Good therapists have a method to their madness, and they do not simply tell the patient what the truth is. They know that they cannot MAKE you change, and that you need to see the NEED to change before you will… you need to personally come to these conclusions about your life yourself and thus “own” them. So they STEER you with their questions and comments, exploring your inner and outer life WITH you… so that you might come to see the truth for yourself.

Therapists really end up filling the role of friends, coaches, mentors, and sages, to name a few things. Sometimes they even fill the role of "parent," if a person had a destructive family atmosphere growing up.

Really bad therapists will just parrot you, sure; but the good ones are actually steering you and opening your eyes to new possibilities.

Answer 3

I really cannot see the point of counselling. Ok it may help some people to a degree. But do counsellors really help. They are not allowed to give out advice. Like you say, they only ever really nod their heads and ask questions, eg: Why do you think that you get so angry at times? This would only lead me to get angry with them and say: why the hell do you think I get angry, youre supposed to be the expert. I really feel that counsellors are just glorified listeners. They are just a quick fix while you are talking to them. They can possibly make you feel better at the present time you are with them. But its all down hill again, once you leave.

Answer 4

NO. Counsellors undergo a rigorous training involving clinical work placements. It is not about giving advice, nor is it just having a cosy chat. Counselling is a way of talking about your issues and then, together with the counsellor, looking at ways you can find to work through those issues or problems. Sometimes there is no solution, no 'fix' but you can find a way of coping better with things by talking them through.

Counselling helps many thousands of people with the stresses and complexities of modern life.

Answer 5

The Bible has every answer you will ever need. Cry out to God and He will answer, He is just waiting for your cry. God sees your faith when you cry out to Him because you are saying I believe in you. That is the only help you need. Do not look to people who are just like you for help. How can they help you if they need help, the same kind of help you need? If you are lost do not follow someone else that is lost too. You will only go deeper into the lost situation. Jesus is the only Way, The only Truth, The only Life. He is all you need because everything you need is in Him. Go to publishamerica.com and get that book "FINALLY! The Amazing Secret About Life that very few know." It will help you tremendously. Read, Hear and obey the Bible which is your God given instruction book for this life but if you are not going to live the way it says to live do not read it. You will be worse off. Only someone with the Holy Ghost can properly help you. You can not be helped in the natural realm. Your help is in the spiritual realm. You are spirit and so your spirit must be born and it will follow God. Cry out to Him now.

Answer 6

Well it shouldn't be. It should be an attempt by the listener to get in to the speakers frame of reference. It takes time to build up trust and to ensure congruent feedback is given. And counselling shouldn't be about problem solving. It should be about empowering the person to solve their own problems by offering them support and understanding and bu facilitating them to look at themselves!

Answer 7

Its a good FAD. But at the end of the day after counselling you still have to make a decision, so why not just make it before all that rubbish?

Answer 8

Counselling I a waste of time, if you have nobody to speak to it can be valuable sure. Otherwise you are just listening to a person who thinks they are Mother Theresa but does not understand your problems.

Its modern day medicine for doctors with no idea what else to suggest.

Answer 9

"Talk therapy" has been shown to have positive and helpful results. Some people just need to be able to express what's going on with them, and need some gentle guidance to solving their own problems.

Answer 10

You need help mate.