Psychotherapy Interventions I

Week 5: Promoting Understanding and Insight

Introduction

When working to facilitate change, how necessary is a client’s insight into her or his presenting issues? Think about a time in your own life when you had a moment of self-awareness or self-understanding that fundamentally changed the way you viewed the world. Regardless of what (or who) promoted that insight, it probably affected how you viewed future situations. On the other hand, if someone had been pushing you to be more insightful or to make a change before you were ready, what impact would that have had on your situation? If you were not ready to change, were you simply “not ready,” or were you resisting? These two concepts are intertwined and difficult to interpret. This week, you will examine the use of confrontation, disputing beliefs, interpretation, providing information, giving feedback, silence, self-disclosure, and reflection of meaning to help your clients develop insight. You also demonstrate counseling skills in a video that will be submitted to your Instructor. Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

· Apply confrontation, disputing beliefs, interpretation, providing information, giving feedback, silence, self-disclosure, and reflection of meaning

· Demonstrate counseling skills