Counselling Vignettes
A compilation of counselling and psychological information, book reviews, quotes, and featured articles of interest to counsellors and psychotherapists.
QUOTES
Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. Arthur Somers Roche.
If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it. George Burns.
There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it. Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)
Grief has limits,whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.Pliny the Younger. Letters. tr William Melmoth & W.M.L. Huthinson.
BOOK REVIEWS
Colleen Counselling recommends the following books, for both personal and educational enrichment
Anne's Song by Anne Nolan with Richard Barber.
No-one could have guessed when watching the Nolan sisters onstage that the vibrant Anne Nolan, exuding such energy and well-being, was a long-term victim of her father's child molestation. In this fascinating account of her life, Anne Nolan relates the psychologically traumatic repercussions of this child abuse.
Escape by Carolyn Jessop.
This is the harrowing memoir of the author's forced marriage to a man she neither loved nor liked, old enough to have been her father. As a member of an off-shoot of the Mormon religion, the author was told she had been granted a supreme honour by having been chosen as a wife in a polygamous marriage. In time, she escaped, with her by then eight children, from the psychological torture of this abusive household.
The Other Mrs Jordan by Mary Turner Thompson.
What is the impact of being phoned by the other wife of one's husband, especially when the man involved is also the natural father of one's two younger children and the only true Dad one's eldest child has ever known? The author, in this memoir of post-traumatic-stress syndrome, (PTSD), recounts her history, from her initial e-mail contact with her sociopathic "spouse" to the unravelling of his tapestry of lies. The book concludes with a series of warnings for those contemplating an internet-based relationship. In a larger sense, this advice pertains to anyone considering beginning any new, close interaction, including employment contacts.
Sun-bathing in the Rain by Gwyneth Lewis.
This is a frank, sometimes painful account of the author’s depressive episode, from its beginning, through all its anguish, to her gradual but complete recovery. Firsthand advice, both by Lewis and her husband, may assist others suffering through similar struggles. The image of a winter-flowering cherry tree, planted by the author’s husband to renew her hope, serves as an encouraging symbol both of the insights gained through depression and the renewal which often follows despair. Sun-bathing in the Rain is a must/read for anyone agonising through depression and those closest to them.
One Child by Torey Hayden.
This is the account of a special education teacher’s work with a highly gifted but profoundly troubled girl.
Wasted: a memoir of anorexia and bulimia by Marya Hornbacher.
In this agonisingly candid account, the author traces the progress of her obsession with weight loss and its impact upon those closest to her.
H: the Autobiography of a child Prostitute and Heroin Addict by Christiane F, translated by Susanne Flatauer.
A chronicle of the descent into drug addiction and prostitution of a young girl in the Netherlands.
The Damage Done: Twelve Years of hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows.
The author, convicted of drug smuggling, relates a dozen years of physical and psychological torture. Although he has been given his freedom, Mr Fellows continues to suffer from the scars imprinted on him by these abuses.
Ending up by Kingsley Amis.
This psycho-dynamically astute novel profiles five elderly people living out their final days in a cottage, where each often deals with disappointments in life and fears of impending death by wounding one another.
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver.
A Caucasian woman, raising a Native-American child who she found wandering near her home is forced to confront the psychological trauma of having to return her “daughter” to her family of origin.
As I lay dying by William Faulkner.
Through the voices of various characters, including that of the dying mother, we witness the psychological impact of a mother’s death upon a dysfunctional family.
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
A seemingly ideal couple, at the core of a social set on the Riviera, is haunted by inner horrors which menace their union. Dick Diver, a psychiatrist who fell in love and married a patient, Nicole, often feels overwhelmed by her continuing struggles.
A Secret Madness: the Story of a Marriage by Elaine Bass.
This is the vivid description of an idealistic young woman’s realization of her husband’s profound mental illness.
The World is Full of Laughter by Dolly Sen.
In this moving memoir, the author explores her struggle with, and ultimate acceptance of her psychological difficulties.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
In this autobiographical novel, this renowned poet who later committed suicide due to depression, describes her first mental breakdown.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Grene.
This novel delves into the schizophrenia of a young woman who, guided by her psychiatrist’s insights, moves towards recovery.
The Little Monster: growing Up with ADHD by Robert Jergen.
The author’s disability was not diagnosed until age twenty-four. Despite many hurdles, he has become a professor and international speaker. After detailing his years of perplexity, he suggests ways of overcoming the stressful aspects of ADHD.
My Mother’s Keeper : Growing up in the Shadow of Schizophrenia by Tara Elgin Holley.
This is the moving, honest account of the pain, anger, love, and ultimate acceptance of the limited extent to which a daughter can deal with her mother’s schizophrenia.
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: the Making and Breaking of Gymnasts and Figure-skaters by Joan Ryan.
The physical and psychological traumas experienced by pubescent girls are detailed in this account of the often horrific rigours of training.
We would like to thank the following users of and educational institutions for utilising our articles and recourses and wish their students every success in their studies.
Swansea Institute of Higher Education. Cardinal Hume Centre.The Russian Centre of Social Sciences.The New College Nottingham. The Barry College of Glamorgan. The South Trafford College. Surrey University.
Featured Article
Person-centred counselling
‘Does humanistic, person-centred counselling effect enduring change?’
Carl Rogers first presented the method of person-centred counselling in the 1950’s as a reaction against psychoanalysis. Both perspectives viewed the human being in an holistic way, concentrating upon individual subjectivity, however, they differ greatly in their ideologies.Rogers believed that the greatest power for personal change through therapeutic intervention lay in the conscious awareness of subjective experience presented in the here and now.
Fritz Perls of the humanist tradition famously quoted “loose your mind and come to your senses” further indicating a move from the interpretation and intellectualisation of psychoanalysis to an experiential and autonomous approach. However, how far are people genuinely aware of their subjective experience all of the time, and if there is awareness how accurate is it? If change is effected on the basis of inaccurate or even irrational representations then how can such a change be lasting or of help to an individual?.
Our perceptions of self are important (Rogers) yet our perceptions have been evidenced by quantitative research as being biased and based upon need and motivation rather than upon reality (Ruscher et al, 2000). Person-centred counselling encourages an environment of positive regard for a client to open up and explore their biases and incongruent beliefs between self-image and a socially constructed image, this is beneficial but limited. Without taking into consideration repressed experiences from the past and concentrating upon the here and now, a clients focus remains upon the ego and creates illusions of personal autonomy. How many times do people consider themselves to be self-aware and in control of their destiny just to find themselves repeating the same patterns? Conscious awareness of subjective experience is reflective and re-constructive, concentrating upon a small area of existential belief. It is empowering yet misleading and serves to create well-being and self-esteem without tackling the deep unconscious issues needed to effect lasting change.
A balance between approaches is therefore required called ‘human-analysis’ to address the current behaviours and their possible unconscious motivations.
Mrs Sinead Spearing 2006. Psychologist and writer.
www.sineadspearing.com
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