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Chapter 5. Helping Theory
CHAPTER REVIEW
Chapter 5 presents an overview of the major traditional theories of helping. The chapter begins
by stressing the need to become aware of one’s personal theory of helping. One must consider
one’s assumptions about the nature of human beings, including motivation, ways people learn
and change, personality development, gender differences, diversity, and notions of deviance.
One’s personal theory of helping will inevitably influence one’s perception, interpretation, and
MAJOR TEACHING OBJECTIVES
2. To enable students to understand the formal helping theories from an historical perspective.
(It is helpful, for example, to discuss these theories in historical context, taking into account
1. Ask students to discuss their personal theories of helping. How did they develop their
theories-of-use? What differences are there between their personal theories and their
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4. Discuss the impact of Freud on our society, including music, books, and movies.
5. Ask students to think about what their reactions might be, if after the first 20 minutes of a
7. Have students discuss the term “existential crisis” and what they think it means.
8. How effective do students think person-centered therapy would be with someone with
some of the “shoulds” they have imposed in their own lives and in the lives of others?
11. Have students give examples of each of the six systematic logical errors postulated by Beck
COMMENTS ON EXERCISES IN THE BOOK
There are three exercises in this chapter. Students are asked in the first exercise to think about
INTERNET ACTIVITIES
1. Dr. John Suler, Department of Psychology, Rider University, has developed a useful exercise
2. Have students provide information about one of the following associations or institutes. Can
they find other institutes or associations for theories discussed in the chapter but not listed
below?
Society for Gestalt Theory and Its Applications www.gestalttheory.net
BOOKS AND FILMS THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR THIS CHAPTER
1. When viewing films showing different therapists in action, ask students to consider how the
therapist’s actions do or do not reflect the theory he/she is presenting. Use such films as
2. Encourage students to read Love’s Executioner: And Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS.
1. Our personal theories have been influenced by:
2. Current psychodynamic approaches include all of the following except:
3. According to Freudian theory, anxiety:
4. In which stage do the Oedipal and Electra complexes occur?:
5. Neuroses:
6. According to Jung’s concept of collective unconscious:
7. Basic concepts of Adlerian theory include all of the following except:
8. Contemporary psychoanalytic thinkers believe that the basis of personality development is:
9. Countertransference is:
10. Phenomenological approaches:
11. Phenomenological theory focuses on all of the following except:
12. In which form of helping are there no “techniques”?
13. Which of the following best describes the person-centered counselor?
14. According to person-centered counseling:
15. A sense of self made up of all of one’s experiences within the environment is Roger’s
definition of:
16. Which of the following best describes Gestalt therapy?
17. According to behaviorists, maladjustment is a result of which of the following:
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18. Which of the following is true of rational-emotive behavior therapy?
a) a warm personal relationship must exist to bring about personality change
b) insight into the helpee’s situation is essential to bring about personality change
c) the helper vigorously attacks the client’s irrational beliefs while still supporting the
helpee as a person *
d) the counselor uses the past to examine “unfinished business” (pages 139-141)
19. In person-centered counseling, when the helper accurately senses the helpee’s feelings and
personal meaning, the counseling is displaying:
20. Criticisms of the person-centered approach include:
21. Gestalt theory/therapy:
22. All of the following are true of rational-emotive behavior therapy except:
23. A key focus of reality therapy is:
24. An example of an evaluative question asked in reality therapy is:
25. Meichenbaum’s cognitive-behavior modification is based on the belief that:
26. Managed care companies seem to prefer:
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the impact of the unconscious in human behavior according to the Freudian theory.
2. According to Freudian theory, what is the impact of early psychosexual development on
4. How is transference an integral part of the therapy process in psychodynamic theory?
6. Discuss the therapist’s role in Freudian, person-centered, and behavioral therapy.
7. How are the basic assumptions of existential theory a reaction to psychoanalysis and
10. What is the current view of the role of the helping relationship in the behavioral approaches?
11. Have behavioral approaches moved counseling from the “science” end of the continuum
15. The helping relationship is seen as the key vehicle for change in which of the theories
explored in this chapter? Describe the nature of the helping relationships proposed by these