Assignment 2: Humanistic Approaches
Yorkville University
PSYC 6153
Counselling Methodologies - Psychodynamic and Humanistic Modalities
December 16, 2020
Cross-Cultural Limitations of the Person-Centred Approach to Counselling
Carl Rogers’ person centered approach (PCA) is not free of cross-cultural limitations
common to many historically white, euro-western psychological ideologies and theories. The
PCA falls in line with individualistic cultural standards calling its effective use in collectivist,
authoritarian, and hierarchal type cultures into question (Hett, 2014). If a PCA therapist lacks an
understanding of the clients’ culture then there is a greater chance for cultural norms, habits, or
traditions to be pathologized or misinterpreted as resisting growth, therefore hindering
congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathetic understanding important to the
therapeutic alliance in PCA (Raskin et al., 2019).
An important concept to PCA is ones actualizing tendency which involves selfactualization and is based on encouraging individuals to strive for autonomy and independence,
in both thoughts and action from external influences, for example resisting conformity to societal
standards (Kim, 2018). This may create resistance, confusion, or unalignment within certain
cultures who deem dependence on authority figures, friends, and family appropriate and
necessary (Kim, 2018). Rogers’ concept of self-actualization embodies the idea that actualizing
the self is done outside of others thereby generalizing actualization of the self as being an
independent process for everyone, disregarding the various cultural perspectives of conception of
the self (Kim, 2018). For example, in Asian cultures, the self is typically conceived as
interdependent and embedded with others (Kim, 2018).
Rogers concept of congruence, embodying transparent communication and accurate selfawareness of the therapist may not be found useful cross culturally, and has been demonstrated
specifically as incongruent with Arab/Muslim customs. Rather than being used to express
emotions and attitudes, talk is a tool used to set demands, meet expectations, and please others; it
is not conceptualized as a mechanism to express genuine feelings and attitude, making
congruence difficult (Hett, 2014). These factors are some of which demonstrate the limits of the
PCA to therapy when used cross-culturally as failing to take culture into consideration can result
in unfavourable therapeutic outcomes, premature termination, and importantly, impedes the
progress of culturally responsive interventions (Day-Vines et al., 2018).
Das’ Four Step Process to Understanding Frankl’s Logotherapy in Counselling
Viktor Frankl believed individuals ultimately strive to find meaning within their lives,
and Logotherapy can be conceptualized as a four-step process with the intent to motivate clients
to discover such meaning.
The first step, called dereflection, has the purpose of diverting a client’s attention from
the presenting, current problem (Das, 1998). This step is intended to entice the client to search
for meaning outside of the self, for example through developing empathy, instead of remaining
in a self-absorbed frame of mind (Hill et al., 2017). Frankl believed dereflection represented the
human ability to self-distance and self-transcend in an effort to discover true meaning and what
is truly important (Wong, 2015). Dereflection is used so prevent clients from overidentifying
with a diagnosis and to show clients that they are more than a sum of symptoms or
psychopathology (Wong, 2015). Questions which embody dereflection include for example, if
there were no problems or complaints in your life, what would life be/look like?
The second step, namely attitude modulation, involves eliciting a perspective change in
clients, one that is shifted away from presenting symptoms (Das, 1998). Shifting attention away
from the symptoms leaves room for the client to focus their attention on developing adaptive
attitudes and exploring what options remain for them within their perception of personal life
meaning (Wong, 2015). In this step, clients are encouraged to take charge of their circumstances
and limitations to change their perspective of themselves as passive victims of drives, genes,
society, and their past (Wong, 2005). In this step a person is encouraged to consider the positive
aspects of otherwise bleak situations, explore alternatives, and acknowledge that behaviour
patterns can be changed.
The third step, creating an openness to new meanings, involves developing a new
understanding of concepts and actions that no longer serve a meaningful purpose, and exploring
new possibilities and their meanings (Das, 1998). Frankl suggested several ways to finding
meaning that include contributing something to the world, choosing to have a courageous
attitude when faced with unavoidable hardships, and experiencing something or encountering
someone (Wong, 2011).
The last step focuses on pursuing new goals and commitments through maintaining
mental health via remaining present and future oriented and sustaining awareness for life
meaning and personal goals (Das, 1998) (Schulenberg et al., 2008). The goal is to sustain wellbeing, encourage pursuit of new goals and maintaining a relationship with personal life meaning.
Gestalt Empty Chair Technique: A Hypothetical Counselling Scenario
Gestalt therapy holds the belief that one’s experience in the present moment is of
importance, along with one’s environmental and social context and has the goal of bringing to
awareness, through a healthy therapeutic relationship, ones behaviours, thoughts and actions as
the client has come to understand them (Yontef & Jacobs, 2019). The empty chair technique is
used to address interpersonal conflicts via the use of an empty chair in which imaginary role play
takes place (Yontef & Jacobs, 2019).
A woman, 30, had experienced a sexual assault in her early 20s and has since
experienced high levels of self-blame, negative ruminating thoughts, and an inability to form
close relationships due to self-isolating tendencies. The client is eager to heal from her
experience, and explains that she experiences internal conflict when trying to resolve emotions
regarding who she was before the assault, who she is now, and who she strives to become,
namely an individual who feels reconciled and at peace with the past.
The client takes on one role, in this case the role of the present and conflicting self and
communicates with her imagined self, which would assume an opposing or conflicting
perspective (Bird, 2020). Through the use of an empty chair as a conduit the client can, with the
encouragement of the counsellor, talk to her guilt ridden “self” in an effort to explore why she
feels she is to blame and resolve the blame she has put on herself. The client as she experiences
the present can resolve feelings with her past and explore striving feelings for her future self
through the use of a third chair. Because the empty chair technique targets three therapeutic
markers including conflict splits, self-interruptive splits, and unfinished business, the client
would be able to address these self-criticisms, the parts of herself which constrict emotional
experience and expression, and the lingering negative feelings toward the self (Bird, 2020). This
process fosters the processing of emotions in order to draw meaning from experiences (Bird,
2020).
References
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Day-Vines, N. L., Booker Ammah, B., Steen, S., & Arnold, K. M. (2018). Getting comfortable
with discomfort: Preparing counselor trainees to broach racial, ethnic, and cultural factors
with clients during counseling. International Journal for the Advancement of
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