A Hodge Podge of Theories

Our discussion in our crisis intervention course this week asked us to identify a theory we felt we most aligned with (Adlerian was not a choice!) and thought might be useful in crisis counseling. Many students chose one or two theories but a few didn't want to choose and this got me thinking . One student went so far to say that she thought selecting only one theory was unethical because it was a disservice to your clients....so I thought about this for a bit. Is it? Or is having a  hodge podge of theories running around in your head in which you haven't truly mastered being unethical? Unethical in the sense that you are not providing the best service you can for your client. So let's look at both sides (very briefly) shall we?

For those who only practice using one theory be Adlerian, Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, CBT or a number of others feel mastery of said theory gives them a hand up. Many also believe that using one means they learn all their is to know about said theory and this is what is best for their clients. You also have counselors/therapists out there who believe so wholeheartedly in a theory and believe all others are wrong or do no fit with their own worldview. 

On the other side of the coin you have eclectic counselors/therapists who know a little about a lot of theories but yet truly haven't mastered one. These counselors believe knowing at least something about all of the major theories gives them a hand up because they feel they can help anyone by tailoring their method of treatment to the client. This all sounds good in theory but reality might be a different story in my opinion.

So where am I at? Glad you want to know :) I am in the middle of course. I don't believe only knowing one theory is best for my future clients, it is to narrow minded and limiting for me personally. However I also don't believe you can truly know/master the significant number of counseling theories that are out there. For me personally I plan to pick 3-4 theories and focus on learning any and everything I can about them so that I have at least 4 in my tool bag for use with a variety of clients. The sheer amount of information about each theory makes it impossible I believe for a new counselor to master them all...so for me pick a few now and maybe add a few later and roll with it while being ready to refer to another counselor that might know a theory I don't.

We can't help all clients....let me say that again...we can't help all clients. We are humans and our ability to really know/learn counseling theories both by learning and practice takes time. There is no need to believe you need to know all theories right out of the gate. Not possible nor will it  be serving your clients best in my opinion.

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