Approach

Major Theorists
View of Human
Nature

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud
Anna Freud
Heinz Kohut
Emphasis on early
childhood and
psychosexual
development;
importance of
unconscious and ego
defense
mechanisms; focus
on biological,
deterministic aspects
of behavior

Adlerian
Counseling

Alfred Adler
Rudolph Driekurs
Don Dinkmeye
Thomas Sweeney
Emphasis on
social interest as a
primary motivator;
focus on birth
order, family
constellation, style
of life, and
teleological
(future) goals as
major influences
on personal
growth and
development

Person-centered
Counseling

Carl Rogers
Angelo Boy
Gerald Pine
Emphasis on humans as
basically good, positive,
forward moving and
trustworthy;
phenomenological view of
self; person is selfdirected and growth
oriented if provided with
the right conditions

Existential
Counseling
Rollo May
Victor Frankl
Abraham Maslow
Irvin Yalom
Sidney Jourard
Clemmont Vontress
Belief in human
freedom and choice of
life-style; focus on
meaning of anxiety,
meaning of life, and
relevance of individual
experience

Gestalt Therapy

Rational-Emotive
Therapy

Transactional Analysis

Fritz Perls
Laura Perls
Irma Lee Shepherd
Joen Fagan
Emphasis on
importance of
wholeness and
completeness of
human life; stress on
inner wisdom of person
and importance of
affect;
phenomenological and
antideterministic;
stresses change

Albert Ellis
Maxie Maultsby
Janet Wolfe
Humans are both
inherently rational and
irrational; biological duality;
humans can disturb
themselves by what they
think; children are most
vulnerable; mistake for
people to use form of the
verb to be to describe
themselves

Eric Berne
Carl Steiner
Thomas Harris
Graham Barnes
Optimistic that people can
change; each individual is
composed of three
interacting ego states of
Parent, Adult, Child;
stresses importance of
intrapersonal integration
and analysis of
transactions, games, time,
and scripts for individual
health and growth

Behavioral and CognitiveBehavioral Counseling

John B. Watson
B. F. Skinner
Joseph Wolpe
Albert Bandura
John Krumboltz
Donald Meichenbaum
Aaron Beck
All human behaviors are
learned; old behaviors can be
extinguished and new
behaviors established;
respondent learning, operant
conditioning, and social
modeling are the three
primary ways of learning

Reality Therapy

G. L. Harrington
William Glasser
Robert Wubbolding
Health or growth force in
all individuals; problems
occur when people dont
take responsibility for
behavior; learning is a
life-long process; people
need to love and be
loved, feel worthwhile
and successful, and act
to control the world
around them for various
purposes

Role of the
Counselor

Counselor as expert;
encourages
transference and
exploration of the
unconscious; use of
interpretation

Counselor in
equalitarian
relationship with
client; models,
teaches, and
assesses clients
situation; shares
hunches; assigns
homework;
encourages

Stresses holism, I-Thou

quality; counselor
facilitates, focuses on
uniqueness of client;
counselor is the
technique; emphasis on
personal warmth,
empathy, acceptance,
concreteness, and
genuineness

Emphasis on
counselor authenticity
and understanding of
client as unique;
stress on personal
relationship, modeling,
and sharing
experiences

Counselor must be
authentic, exciting, and
energetic; emphasis on
the now; helps client
resolve unfinished
business; counselor
stresses verbal and
nonverbal messages,
congruence; use of I for
it

Active, direct counselor

teachers, confronts,
corrects; counselor
concentrates on ABCs of
self-talk and/or on rational
self-analysis

Counselor as teacher;
contracts with client for
change; instructs in
language of TA

Counselor as teacher,
director, and expert; active in
sessions; assists client in
clarifying goals and modifying
behaviors

Counselor as teacher
and model; focuses on
establishing a
relationship with client;
counselor is active,
direct, practical, didactic

Goals

Make the
unconscious
conscious; work
through unresolved
developmental
stages; help the
client learn to cope
and adjust;
reconstruction of
personality

Cultivate social
interests; correct
faulty assumptions
and mistaken
goals; develop
client insight; bring
about behavioral
change by acting
as if

Self-exploration;
openness to self, others;
self-directed and realistic;
more accepting of self,
others, and environment;
focus on the here and
now

Helps client realize

their responsibility,
awareness, freedom,
and potential; shift
from outward frame of
reference

Emphasis on
immediacy of
experience; making
choices in the now;
resolving the past,
becoming congruent;
growing up mentally;
shedding neuroses

Help clients live more

relational and productive
lives, stop thinking
irrationally; stress
elimination of oughts,
shoulds, musts, i.e. making
wants into demands;
elimination of selfdefeating habits; tolerance
and acceptance of self and
others

Transformation; attainment
of health and autonomy;
becoming more aware,
game free, intimate, and
OK

Help clients make good

adjustment, modify
maladaptive behavior, learn
productive responses;
establish and achieve specific
concrete goals and subgoals;
change thoughts (cognitivebehavioral)

Assist individuals to become psychologically

strong and
rational, take responsibility, clarify goals, formulate a realistic plan,
focus on behavior and
the present, eliminate
punishment and
excuses

Psychoanalysis
Techniques

Free association;
dream analysis;
analysis of
transference;
analysis of
resistance;
interpretation

Strengths

Emphasis on
importance of
sexuality and
unconscious in
human behavior;
supportive of
diagnostic
instruments;
multidimensional;
continued evolution
effective in select
cases; focus on
developmental
stages of human life,
especially childhood
Time-consuming and
expensive; a closed
system of practice,
limited mainly to
psychiatry; focus on
pathology;
deterministic; not
efficient method for
less-disturbed
individuals

Limitations

Adlerian
Counseling
Use of empathy,
support, warmth,
collaboration;
stress on client
strengths and
responsibility
through
confrontation;
examination of
clients memories,
dreams, and
priorities; focus on
interpretation,
asking the
question, spitting
in the clients
soup, catching
oneself, and task
setting

Person-centered
Counseling
Acceptance, clarification;
reflection of feeling; use
of empathy, positive
regard, congruence, selfdisclosure; active/passive
listening; open-ended
questions/statements;
summarization

Existential
Counseling
Counselor openness
and inquiringness;
acceptance of client
uniqueness; emphasis
on relationship;
working with
ambiguity;
confrontation;
borrowing of other
active techniques that
work, such as imagery
or awareness
exercises

Gestalt Theory

Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy
Counselor uses teaching
and disputing; clients learn
the anatomy of an
emotion; imagery,
persuasion, logical
reasoning, reminder
devices, homework
assignments,
bibliotherapy, shame
attacks, and rational selfanalyses

Transactional Analysis

Encouragement
and support of
counselor in an
equalitarian
relationship;
versatility; useful in
specific disorders;
contribution of
ideas to the public
and professional
vocabulary (e.g.,
inferiority complex)

Openness and evolution

of theory; applicable to a
wide range of human
problems; effectiveness
with specific disorders,
e.g. adjustment disorders;
short-term treatment;
effectiveness with
paraprofessionals;
positive view of human
nature

Humanistic emphasis;
focus on anxiety as a
motivator; use of
philosophy and
literature to
inform/direct; stress
on continuous growth;
effective in crosscultural counseling

Helps individual
incorporate all parts of
life, resolve past;
stresses doing and
being active;
appropriate for certain
affective disorders;
flexibility of techniques

Direct, clear, effective, and

easily learned; combines
well with other theories;
treatment is short-term;
centralized training
centers; theory continues
to evolve

Lack of firm
research base;
vagueness of
concepts/terms
and the how of
counseling;
narrowness of
approach

Lack of concreteness;
works best with verbal,
bright clients; ignores
unconscious and innate
drives; deals with surface
issues

Not fully developed;

lack of training
approaches to
learning theory;
subjective, lacks
uniformity; more
philosophical and less
functional than other
theories; avoids
diagnosis and testing

Lack of a strong
theoretical base;
gimmicky; does not
allow for passive
learning; eschews
testing/diagnosis; selfcenteredness of
approach

Not applicable to all

clients, especially those
who are mentally impaired;
associated with
unconventional theorist
Albert Ellis; still viewed as
primarily cognitive

Use of exercises and

experiments; exercises
include frustration
actions, fantasy, role
playing, and
psychodrama;
experiments grow out
of client/counselor
interaction; use of
dream work, empty
chair, confrontation,
making the rounds,
exaggeration, and I
take responsibility

Behavioral and CognitiveBehavioral Counseling

Use of reinforcement
positive/negative,
primary/secondary,
continuous/intermittent;
shaping, extinction, selfmonitoring, punishment,
environmental planning,
systematic desensitization,
implosion, flooding, time out,
overcorrection, imitation,
stress inoculation, thought
stopping

Reality Therapy

Easily understood and

clearly defined terminology;
easy to combine with other
theories; puts responsibility
on client for choosing; goal
directed

Focus on symptoms; focus on

here and now; abundance of
available procedures; based
on learning theory; wellorganized practitioners;
effective for certain disorders;
well researched; continually
growing in sophistication; can
be combined with other
theories, especially cognitive

Applicable to many different populations;

certain disorders; concreteness; short-te
training center; promotes responsibility a
without blaming; stresses here and now;
theory

Cognitive orientation
limiting; simplicity and
popularity dilute
effectiveness; lack of
emphasis on qualities of
the counselor

Doesnt deal with total person,

just behaviors; may be applied
mechanically; sometimes
difficult to replicate in actual
counseling conditions;
techniques getting ahead of
theory; ignores past history
and the unconscious; doesnt
consider developmental
stages

Ignores unconscious, personal history, m

theoretically simplistic; may become valu
supervised appropriately; ignores its own
evolution

Emphasis on treatment
contracts, specific and
concrete; use of techniques
such as interrogation,
specification, confrontation,
illustration, and
crystallization;
concentration on early
memories/stories; often
combined with Gestalt
techniques for action

Teaching, focusing, evaluating; helping c

and commit to it; not blaming, not giving
playing, using humor, confronting, role m
limits; involvement with client; feedback