Page 186 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Guidance and Counseling

Notes Differentiating psychotherapy from school counselling is more easily done on paper or in academic
discussion than it is in an active counselee-counselor relationship. Knowing when to refer is not the
province of an outsider. The counsellpor must know his own strengths—and weaknesses. Experience
in work with clinic teams and with psychiatric consultants will improve the comfort of making the
decisios but the difficult decisions will still persist.
We have previously stated that the counselor’s skills define his role. Those who are inadequately
prepared must necessarily seek comfort in those conceptualizations which limit the range of their
counselling activities. Those who are well prepared in theory and laboratory experience find it
difficult to limit their work to an information-giving role similar to that of a classroom teacher. Their
perception of the bearing which the counselee’s attitudes, prior conditionings, and personal self-
defeating behaviours have on all decision-making makes it difficult to avoid their assumption of
psychotherapeutic roles.

17.4. Formal Individual Counseling

17.4.1 Clinical Procedures
The clinical approach is employed as a guidance teachniqe for those cases of emotional disturbance
which are serious in nature, in which many maladjustive factors both within and outside the
individual appear to be operating. The study and treatment of these cases may require a relatively
long period of time.
Method of Approach
Clinical procedures involve the following activities :
(1) Recognizing the presence of an apparently serious adjustment difficulty,
(2) Gathering extensive data on the client and recording them in the form of a case history,
(3) Interpreting and evaluating the data in relation to observed symptoms,
(4) Recommending appropriate treatment,
(5) Applying therapies, and
(6) Following up the case for the purpose of determining the kind and extent of adjustment effected.
The client is referred to the psychiatrist or the clinic when it is believed by the person or institution
making the referral that his maladjustment is such as to require expert care. It is usually the
responsibility then of a social worker to accumulate relevant data on the immediate situation and
background history.
The reliability of the materials included in the case history depends, honesty of the reports on the
part of parents, teachers or other persons who are interviewed concerning the client; the validity of
the tests that have been administered to the client; the degree of co-operation by the client, and the
objectivity of the social worker who is constructing the case history.
If the study is being made by a clinical staff, the psychiatrist, pediatrician or physician, psychologist,
and social worker hold staff meetings at which the findings are discussed. Expert interpretation and
evaluation of available data is extremely important. Usually it is found necessary to supplement
data resulting from the administration of tests, scales, and inventories with the utilization of evaluating
techniques peculiarly suited to clinical purposes.
Appraisal Techniques: The techniques of appraisal include individually administered measurements
of sensory acuity and muscular co-ordination, mental capacity, learning achievement, and personal
qualities. One of the most valuable techniques of evaluation for clinical purposes is the projective
method mentioned earlier, through the utilization of which one may gain insight into the individual’s
unconscious or fantasy life. The Rorschach method of ink-blot interpretation and thematic
apperception tests are widely used by clinicians. Another approach to the study of young children

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