Psychology

This is a paper on theories of counseling that will focus on the theories of motivation, addressing obstacles in therapy and the counselor variables that bring about change. In the paper, there will be an attempt to answer a variety of questions that revolve around the various theories of counseling. The first question to be addressed will be the factors that motivate people in general followed by the reasons for personal stagnation. It will then focus on the things that keep people in unhealthy or unfavorable situations regardless of the consequences before looking at instances in which counseling can make people to remain stuck. After that, it will take the perspective of a counselor and that of a client and make a critique of the process of counseling in bringing personal growth.

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This is a paper on theories of counseling that will focus on the theories of motivation, addressing obstacles in therapy and the counselor variables that bring about change. In the paper, there will be an attempt to answer a variety of questions that revolve around the various theories of counseling. The first question to be addressed will be the factors that motivate people in general followed by the reasons for personal stagnation. It will then focus on the things that keep people in unhealthy or unfavorable situations regardless of the consequences before looking at instances in which counseling can make people to remain stuck. After that, it will take the perspective of a counselor and that of a client and make a critique of the process of counseling in bringing personal growth. The main theories of counseling that are used in this paper are stages of change by Prochaska, reversal theory by Hebb and Apters trans theoretical model, while the main book of reference will be Susan Days 2nd edition of the book title Theory and design in counseling and psychotherapy.

General Motivators
There are many theories that have been developed to explain what motivates people. Some of the theories provide very good insight on the ways people are motivated while others have provided superficial information on the issue of motivation dynamics (Day, 1986). Most theories about motivating employees at work state that people would be motivated if they earned a lot of money from their work. But does this mean that money motivates everyone Giving one million dollar to a multi billionaire would not elicit any kind of motivation. It cannot make him to start doing something neither will it energize him to change. The question about what motivates people should have an additional phrase so that it becomes what motivates people to change. This is because whenever one is motivated, he or she does not remain the same, he or she acts towards a certain motive and that is why motivation and change go hand in hand. People are different meaning that they do not have the same motivating factors. They have different needs, different wants and are triggered by different things. If someone needs money, then the money will motivate him but this motivation wont last long because the moment he or she has more than he needs, the money will no longer have a motivating effect on him (Apter, 2001). People who have failed to be successful will do anything to attain success and anything that brings success will motivate them. Those that have failed to get recognition will be motivated by anything that brings fame. This means that generally, what motivate people are their needs. For motivation to take place there must be needs and wants. This means that if you want to motivate someone, you must understand their needs and wants and then tie them to the change that you want to take place in that person.                                                                      

Stagnation  
There are people who have stagnated in their lives, never moving forward, never moving backwards. From a psychological point of view, remaining stagnant is worse than even going backwards in life because in most cases, going backwards motivates people to work harder in order to move out of a sorry situation. However, stagnation gives a false impression of satisfaction. There are people who have held the same position in their career for 30 or more years without making personal career advancement initiatives so that they can climb the ladder.  There are those that been living in a rental house for more than two decades without making efforts of owning a home, while others have remained with the same bachelors degree they got decades ago and they have not made attempts to further their education.

The aforementioned groups of people have remained stagnant in their lives. They have remained in one position without going backwards or forward and there seems to be a false sense of satisfaction in their lives. The main reason why people remain stagnant in their lives is die to lack of motivation. This occurs when people are satisfied with the less that they have meaning that they do not work to change their lives. They may have some needs they want to meet but they want to operate at an optimum level. When there is nothing to trigger this people to change some aspects of their lives, they tend to remain at the same position. Why would people not be motivated to change some aspects of their lives Why would a person live in a rental house for four decades without making an initiative to own a house or why should a person remain at the same lowly position in a career for decades.

Psychological theory of the stages of change explains that motivation brings change however, change does not occur by default. There are some sacrifices to be made and some cost implications in the process. This means that people who remain stagnant, in most cases fear the discomforts that are inherent in the process of change (Day, 1986). They like to remain in their comfort zones meaning that they are not motivated to make sacrifices that will bring that change. This indifference towards change brings lack of motivation and that is why they remain stagnant in their lives. Secondly, procrastination is another factor that causes people to remain stagnant in their lives. Procrastination is one of the most negative aspects in life because it steals the opportunity to make the desired change. People who procrastinate have a need that they want to be fulfilled but they do not have enough motivation to trigger instant action that would lead to an immediate fulfillment of the need in a way that would bring change to the life of that person.

Why People Remain in Unpleasant Situations
There are people who remain in unpleasant situations, unhealthy situations or adverse environments despite the consequences.  For examples, there are spouses who opt to remain in very abusive relationships or relationships that are not fulfilling, while they can opt for divorce or the separation way so as to escape the harsh consequences of such a relationship. There are people who work in abusive and cruel environments where their rights abused and freedoms curtailed, but they opt to remain in such environment while there is an option of walking away. Why do people remain is unpleasant situations, unhealthy situations and adverse environments that have dire consequences.  To explain this, it is important to look at the Tran- theoretical model of health psychology that examines the readiness of an individual to act in a new behavior that is healthy and rewarding (Day, 1986).

According this model, there are five stages of change. The firsts one is the pre contemplation where there is no intention to changer behavior and at this change, people are not aware that they have a problem (Day, 1986). The second stage is contemplation where people are aware that there is a problem and they are thinking critically about addressing it, though there is no commitment to take action. The third stage is the preparation stage where the people combine intention with behavior. The fourth change is where there is action that involves behavioral change and timeenergy investments while the fifth stage is maintenance where people work to prevent sliding back into their former situation. In the case of the people who remain in unfortunate circumstances, they are aware that they have a problem and they have made preparations that are geared towards bringing change in their lives.
 However, these people rarely go into the fourth stage of change, which is action. They fail to act in a way that will change their situation or the nature of their environment. This failure to cat may be caused by various factors which include the fear of the unknown, the fear of loss or complacency. The spouse win an abusive relationship may fear the loss of income that used to come from the moneyed spouse or the reaction of the people and the children towards separation. The worker in an abusive workplace may fear the consequences of the uncertainties in life should he or she quit the job.

Counseling and Getting Stuck
Counseling is considered to be the most effective way of solving various issues that afflict human beings but there is a negative side to counseling. In some cases, counseling can leave people stuck or in a worse position than before. One of the most unpopular forms of counseling that leaves people stuck is credit counseling. It is documented that 60 percent of those who sign for this counseling service drop out before the completion of the program while a big number file for bankruptcy (Day, 1986). This is because this counseling program is too rigid and hard and many people find it difficult to stick with it and those who stick it have perennial monetary problems. This can happen to any counseling program that is rigid and difficult, any counseling programme that hides the inner details of the consequences of an action or any counseling programme that is out to exploit the sorry state of the client. Not every one has benefited from counseling. Others have remained stuck in their woes because the counseling is not flexible enough to allow the clients to exploit their options. Others have remained stuck in their positions and situations when the counseling services that they have sought do not give them way forward or alternative methods of action that would remove them out of the situation that they are facing.

Critique
From the perspective of a counselor, it is important to note that counseling helps people to solve the challenges in personal growth. There is a realm of counseling that is called the personal growth counseling and it is one of the most helpful areas of counseling (Day, 1986). It solves the problems mentioned previously in this paper, the problems that make one to remain stagnant in life. Some of the ways in which counseling helps in personal growth is by helping people to discover themselves and exploring all the possibilities of personal growth. This kind of counseling eliminates all the barriers that are in the path of personal growth and developments and provides a wide range of alternatives that the client can choose from in bid to better his or her life. This kind of counseling is motivational in nature and starts by establishing frameworks that can be used to understand all the factors that can motivate personal growth. These factors include spirituality, confidence, networking and aggressiveness in ones undertakings.

It can also be used to tackle relationship and marital strategies and ensure that the parties in the marriage or the relationship experience personal and mutual growth that will enable the union to change. Those people that find themselves challenged by some emotional issues that make life difficult ought to go for personal growth counseling and this will alleviate most of thee emotional problems that are impeding growth. Those people who are struggling against odds that are insurmountable and the personal growth counseling can help them to focus on what is important for one.

From the perspective of a client, counseling really helps people to get better. It is like a medical or a therapy session that seeks to address the challenging problems of life in a more humane and logical perspective. There are many problems that afflict people in life, however, very few people who are able to address these problems in a responsible way. Counseling is a more logical, and responsible way of addressing the problems that afflict people ensuring that they move out of the counseling session better than at the time they started.

Most marriages have been saved from imminent collapse by counseling, very many lives have been saved by counselors and very many career choices have been influenced positively by counselors. Counseling itself does not solve the problem, but it acquaints the clients with adequate coping skills and sober ways of responding to the problems that afflict them in life. Counseling is also an educative activity that provides knowledge and information. It is also a socially constructive activity that restores order, harmony and sobriety in troubled individuals. In most cases, people come out of counseling sessions satisfied and feeling better than before.