Page 330 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Guidance and Counseling

Notes 32.2 Counseling the Delinquent

Delinquency is a symptom of emotional immaturity leading to socially unacceptable or reprehensible
behaviour of the youth. Delinquency is one of the most common problems reported among the post-
puberty or early adolescent children. One of the common symptoms of delinquency is truancy.
Delinquents commit petty offences like thieving, shoplifting, and so on. Most delinquents are
emotionally immature and their behaviour is a compensatory reaction. Sometimes it becomes an act
of gangsterism. The emotional upheaval and brittleness resulting from rapid physical growth and
accelerated endocrinal functioning result in extra energy seeking expression in suitable outlets.
There is also a greater need for recognition. Horror, crime and other movies as well as story books
provide the adolescent with a convenient form for day-dreaming and self-identification. Most
adolescents limit themselves to day-dreams. But a few also resort to socially unacceptable means of
expressing their energies to seek recognition. They fail to adapt and adjust to social norms. Counseling
of such people is not easy.
The following case illustrates the need for counseling assistance. Mr. Dever is a 19-year old first
year degree student. He is well-built and of robust health. He hails from a medium-sized town and
belongs to the middle class socio-economic group. He is very much interested in athletics and is
popular with his friends. He appears to be very well adjusted. He has a good social life and enjoys
it. He is the elder of two brothers. His parents are greatly concerned about his future. Dever feels
that somehow he is not given sufficient freedom at home and believes that he is treated as a child
by his mother. His marks are below average and he does not appear to be worried about doing any
better. He believes that somehow the good points in him are not getting due recognition. Therefore,
he feels there is no need to work any harder. Under the grab of his hard-working, cautious and
ambitious nature there is a strong undercurrent of nervousness, self-consciousness, discouragement,
unhappiness and anxiety. He takes a very aggressive posture to impress his personality upon his
poers,. He is known to indulge in petty offences and has been apprehended and left off with warning
but he persists in his behavious and there is no sign of relenting.

32.3 Counseling Reluctant Clients

Counseling, we have observed earlier, is help voluntarily sought by the client. But this is not always
the case. Occasionally counselors have to work with clients who are reluctant to discuss matters
with the counselor. Such clients can be identified in different situations like the school, home and
work situations. Reluctant clients are usually those who are the referral cases. They may show open
defiance or express their reluctance in more passive ways. They do not take any responsibility and
exhibit an unwillingness to communicate. The counselors find that they exhibit non-facilitative
emotions.
Counselors also sometimes become highly anxious and feel inadequate when dealing with non-
communicative clients. Some counselors may become angry with clients owing to a feeling of
frusration or a sense of loss of status and prestige. In most situations the counselor should learn to
deal with himself non-defensively to be able to successfully cope with reluctant clients. Let us take,
for example, the case of a tenth grade pupil. His academic achievement was in the range of superior
to very superior. Suddenly something went amiss and he started scoring lower grades. He also
became a regular defaulter in submitting home assignments. This exhibition of a kind of indifference
to class work persisted for some time and was noticed by his teacher who was surprised and shocked
that such a bright pupil should progressively deteriorate in this way. The pupil was referred to the
counselor. The counselor assured the student that there was no question of punishing him for
anything. All that was planned was to have a free and friendly chat with him. When the pupil felt
sufficiently at case, the counselor opened the records and slowly read the pupil’s grades, term after
term, making sure to impress on him how fast his grades had declined. The pupil appeared to agree
with the situation but believed that gradually the marks would improve. The counselor asked the

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