There is no doubt that psychological counselors should have rich professional knowledge. The main difference between consulting interview and ordinary chat is that it is a structured process of consciously applying psychological theories, methods and treatment models. Structured? The cornerstone is the professional knowledge and experience of the interviewer. In the whole process of interview and treatment intervention, the professional knowledge of clinical psychology and other theories closely related to consultation and treatment constitute the basic interview framework and determine the direction of consultation. For example, a woman said to a counselor: I tell you, I hate my father, I hate him, there is no reason, I just hate him. He is a good man with a sense of justice. He never hits me, but I just hate him. But it is very unfilial to hate my father, especially when there is no reason to hate him. This feeling makes me uneasy, irritable and worried? . ? According to the visitor's statement, the counselor must use relevant psychological knowledge to make judgments, otherwise it will be difficult for him to answer a series of questions related to this and make clear explanations. For example:
? What are the inner conflicts and main problems of visitors? What kind of facts and psychological conflicts are hidden behind the emotion of hating father?
? What is the unconscious root of this emotion towards father? Obviously, there is no reason, as the visitor himself said.
? To what extent does this emotion of the visitor affect her life and normal interpersonal communication?
? Does the emotional state of visitors form symptoms, and what kind of psychological problems do they belong to, suggesting that you need differential diagnosis?
? How do you make a corresponding pathological explanation of the visitors' problems and be accepted by them? Which pathological explanation is more in line with the situation of visitors, and is there a better one?
? What kind of professional skills will you use to establish a good emotional coordination relationship with visitors to facilitate consultation and treatment?
? What kind of intervention measures do you use to make visitors realize themselves, so that your interview can help visitors realize their personality perfection and self-growth more effectively?
? Do you have any specific consultation and treatment plan for this kind of problem?
? What is the form, procedure, direction and course of treatment for visitors? What are the possible risks and coping strategies?
Finding the answer to each of the above questions requires systematic professional knowledge to guide. Generally speaking, the clinical knowledge of psychological counselors involves at least five aspects of humanistic knowledge:
On the one hand, knowledge is common sense and basic theory about the general laws of human psychology. Usually we can get the initial knowledge by studying general psychology, developmental psychology and social psychology. The content of these courses is more to let us know the general law of individual psychological growth and the psychological characteristics and subordinate behavior of individuals and groups under the interaction with the environment, which is professional knowledge with universal significance.
The second aspect of knowledge is the theory about the deep roots and unconscious process of individual personality growth and variation, including various theoretical assumptions and analytical models of personality and behavior improvement, which will help you to make a proper explanation of individual behavior differences. You need to be familiar with the viewpoints of various schools of personality theory systematically, whether it is behaviorism, humanism, psychoanalysis, gestalt theory, feminism, semiotics or phenomenology, you should be sensitive, valued and tolerant enough. You should not only be familiar with the theories of these schools, but also understand their similarities and differences, and be used to examining and integrating these theories from a clinical point of view, and comprehensively applying various theories to achieve the purpose of consultation and treatment. Although most interviewers will inevitably have specific theoretical preferences in their professional activities, thus forming their own consulting style, too narrow theoretical vision, especially in the beginner stage, too much preference for some theories, ignorance of other theories and paranoid academic attitude will undoubtedly restrict career development, because your narrow and thin theoretical foundation will not be able to undertake the construction of clinical interviews, nor will it provide more space for the comprehensive application of various treatment methods.
The third kind of knowledge is about psychosomatic medicine, psychopathology, neuropsychiatry and brain science, which is usually obtained from the study of personality psychology, psychiatry, abnormal psychology, neurophysiology, genetics, psychometrics and other disciplines. The understanding of the brain by human beings in the 20th century and the clinical research results of traditional psychiatry in the aspects of symptomatology and psychopharmacology are of great value for clarifying the definition of clients, clinical differential diagnosis, combined application of psychotherapy and drug therapy, psychogenic and neurological reactions, organic and functional diseases, etc. The application of various psychometric methods and tools based on various personality theories provides a multi-angle reference for psychological diagnosis.
The fourth knowledge is the related technical knowledge of consultation interview and clinical intervention, that is, consultation psychology. For example, you must know the relevant ethical principles and working principles of consultation interview, you must know the interview response methods (verbal, behavioral and emotional responses) you can use and their effects on visitors, you must understand the influence of various linguistic and non-verbal information on the consultation effect, and you must have a deeper and objective understanding of yourself. In other words, you must have a good understanding of the basic tools of this profession and be proficient in using them. The skills involved in counseling interview may be related to the application of psychoanalytic theory, but they are not purely theoretical in nature, but a specific interview strategy, which directly comes from the practice of counseling interview and clinical intervention. Therefore, the main way to master this knowledge is to accept systematic skill training and practical consultation and supervision. This process may be a long vocational training process.
The fifth kind of knowledge is about philosophy, anthropology, logical linguistics, semantic and behavioral analysis, national customs and religions, education and society, which are all related to people's psychology and life significance. This knowledge is the building material for building a consulting and interview building. It is impossible and unnecessary for us to list specific courses of study. I firmly believe that psychological counselors should be open and flexible in learning all kinds of knowledge, no matter where they come from. We need to remember that there is a lot of knowledge in this world that books can't learn, including the methods, ways and means of psychotherapy, as long as visitors can recover. You should also know that in the career of consulting and interviewing, it is often not the professional knowledge of psychology that determines your career prospects, establishes your professional authority and affects your consulting effect, but the quality outside psychology. One day you will find that psychology can't tell you more when you face a person in need.
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