The Elements of Counseling

by Scott T. Meier, Susan R. Davis

Master the qualities of a skilled therapist with THE ELEMENTS OF COUNSELING! Brief and practical, this handy guide focuses on relationship building, the counseling process, and self-exploration, and presents information that is essential for beginning counselors to know and for experienced counselors to remember. Designed to give you immediate access to information without having to read pages of commentary, this counseling text serves as a quick reference for both counselors in training and practitioners. Topics and issues covered include what counseling is as well as what it is not.

Genres: Counselling, Psychology, Nonfiction, Reference, Textbooks

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 1988

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while you come across something, a book, a movie, a song, a technical skill, an idea, a way of doing things, and you wonder how could you have spent so many years in the profession and only now be coming across this. Finding this book was like stumbling into a desert oasis. Well, maybe that's not the best example, as my survival was not on the line, and furthermore because it was lended to me (and so not entirely chance I came across it now). But nonetheless it was as welcome as a cool glass of water on a hot day.

Scott T. Meier stated that this was his attempt to do for counseling what Strunk and White did for writing with their classic The Elements of Style. That's an ambitious goal. The Elements of Style is one of my personal favorites, not only as a reference for good writing, but as an example of an excellent reference and educational book: clear and concise. One thing that aggravates me to no end is the ocean of wasted paper printed every year for embarrassingly low-grade text books, reference books, general interest books, technical books, etc. that runs the gamut from totally useless to marginally valuable - all printed just to make a quick buck off an unwitting consumer. These books are just packed with useless, cluttered content only too increase the prima facie value. Strunk and White went in the opposite direction and created a paper-thin masterpiece that has been getting its due respect ever since. So how did Meier's attempt measure up?

This thin volume sets the standard for both introducing new counselors to the field and reminding experienced counselors of the basics. Of course, people are complicated and helping them work through problems is naturally a complicated process. Problems vary as personalities vary, and there never a one-size-fits-all solution. Unfortunately, beyond just doing the work, it can be even harder to put it all into words that will make sense to an unseen reader. Some writers share their professional experience with long-winded explanations that only fellow professions can understand (and that few will agree with, as is often the case); others assume too much familiarity with the topic so they don't provide enough explanation, and even I am left wondering what they're saying. Generally the examples are too opaque, too vague, or aim to illustrate/explain too much. In general you don't understand much more by the end than when you started.

Meier's approach is to use five brief chapters, each with a single theme. Each chapter is then broken down by bullet-points "lessons," each with a one-liner header and about a page of explanation. Examples are as rule kept to a few lines of dialogue. Normally I would dismiss this method and cynically assume that nothing so brief could ever be clear or practically informative. However, just the opposite is true. Meier is successful expressly because he keeps it simple. Reading this book made me realize that the reason why so many manuals, introductory books, and such are not successful is because they aim to do too much (and perhaps don't want to be left apologizing for what they left out, or why the chose example x over y). Meier is upfront that this is far from a summary of what every counselor would ever need to know, and that it is not intended to be. And that, I believe, is why it he successful. Another writer who deserves mention on this topic is Jacalyn Duffin for her masterpiece History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction, as she also did excellent work by choosing quality over quantity.

So in the reading list of students, fledgling counselors, and veterans of the field, just where does this book belong? May I start by saying that the Goodreads summary to "Master the qualities of a skilled therapist with THE ELEMENTS OF COUNSELING!" is beyond ridiculous. For starters, most states require a minimum of a master's degree (in social work preferably, but sometimes in related degrees) followed by two years of supervised fieldwork in that same state before they grant a full license for independent practice. Could you imagine a book that said "Master the art of carpentry" or "auto mechanics" in a 150 page introductory volume? I'd rather live in house and drive a car with the assurance of professional work behind them (I mean, there's nothing guaranteed in life, but seriously). That being said, this book trumps all others as an friendly welcome to the field. I remember one of my first supervisors suggesting I read Where to Start and What to Ask by Susan Lukas. It wasn't a bad book, but since I was plunged directly into intake and day treatment counseling, I didn't have time to leisurely read it cover to cover, didn't finish it, and didn't find it terribly informative. Maybe it's due a second look, but just reading it earned my a few looks, laughs, and comments from the older staff. Okay, laugh it up, guys, but next time can you offer this one instead? Experienced counselors will probably also enjoy the clarity and simplicity of Meier's style and his examples. It certainly stirred up some lively conversation with my peers at work and everyone could relate to something.

My only hesitation with praising this book is that a quick search on Amazon show the average price around $50.00. That's a shame. The edition I read came out in the early 1980's and had a retail price of a whopping $8.95, which is about right. I just put that out there because I wouldn't want anyone to drop that kind of money and feel totally cheated for what you get. Just like The Elements of Style, half of what makes it so practical is the price tag.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short but concise book, the purpose is clear: present the essential information necessary to know and remember about the counseling process. This purpose makes the book an indispensable aid for experienced and beginning counselors alike. Further, the book’s usefulness is not solely limited to the counseling profession. The rich information on basic counseling techniques, skills of listening, and interpersonal communications, should find equal utility amongst diverse professionals such as educators, law enforcement officers, business leaders, and medical personnel.

From my perspective, this is a book that will remain in my permanent collection; albeit, I will certainly update it when newer editions become available. Some of the more interesting ideas I found useful in this book are as follows:

The importance of looking for the Big Four words about feelings: joy, fear, anger, and sadness. (p.13).

There is empirical support for the narrative approach. (Pennebaker, et al., 2003) found that writing about cataclysmic personal disturbances can have a positive effect on both psychological and physical health. (p. 76).

How engaging in the methods of deconstruction, the Narrative Therapists can facilitate a client’s perception of their dominant story and begin to question its composition to determine whether or not it is one of many possible viewpoints of the self. Moreover, how deconstruction can aid the client in integrating additional events into their life story thus allowing them a more dynamic role in the understanding of self. (p. 23).

Written expressions of emotions have been shown to surpass controls on a broad spectrum of measurable outcomes, including GPA, Immune system, the number of visits to the doctor, affect, and most importantly, reemployment status (p. 45).

How to keep the focus on the client: Although I could launch into a tangentially related philosophical inquiry into the meaning of justice, the main point is that the counselor keeps the focus on the client and avoids “idle talk” about the “other”. Or, more precisely, the “Other” seems to be commonly portrayed as the problem. Suppression, deflection, projection, sublimation, and so on, and so forth, etc… My favorite quote of Martin Heidegger fits nicely into this idea, “Everyone is the ‘other’ and no-one is their self.”

Assumptions:

“Agreement does not equal empathy” (p. 29). You must find a meaningful understanding of the subjective world of the client in order to truly be empathetic.

You really don’t know how a client will react to their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors (p. 33). Perhaps you can teach the client that the experience of all feelings is okay. However, it becomes problematic when action is taken on all feelings. “Feelings are our psychological states, not the sole determinant of our behavior” (p. 29).

“Brief therapy is now the norm in most settings…Essentially, the majority of managed care companies have demonstrated by their behavior that they value profit over quality care, in diametric opposition to the values of most counselors and health care professionals” (p. 52).

The research indicates that those clients with the most severe problems will often have poorer outcomes and change will be slow (p. 57).

Permanence of Change. I have finally found a name for my biggest question surrounding behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapy. “If we change behavior without attention to the underlying feelings or beliefs, will the problem resurface elsewhere?” (p. 63). However, “behavioral methods appear more effective with impulsive clients who are depressed and anxious” (p. 64). Further, as indicated above (p. 57), the more severe a client’s symptoms, the less likely improvement will be made (p. 64).

The most important section for me was the information on Integrative Approaches (p. 74). It helped me to distinguish between technical eclectism and theoretical integration. I do think that a singular theory is apt to fail when applied to all “known” issues. Hence, the importance of understanding the best intervention method, based on the client, seems to be the most rational practice.

Empirically supported or validated treatments (ESTs or EVTs) show that diverse approaches to counseling, perform better than the control groups, but not better than each other (Wampold et al., 1997) (p. 79).

Finally, a couple of “one-liner” quotes, and an important quote summing it all up and putting it together:

“Listening helps…sometimes it’s all the help clients need” (p. 9).

“Remember, you must talk with your clients, not to them” (p. 11).

The current research on psychotherapy generally operates from the assumption that fundamental principles and laws that govern human behavior exist. However, it is painfully axiomatic that as beings, humanity does not fit so nicely into that preconceived box. It is important to have a good theoretical grounding when planning to counsel; nevertheless, each client should be looked at from the perspective of the client; each approach to counseling should be individualized. This is ultimately what probably determines the success or failure of change. (p. 79).

Happy Reading!

[Carey Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great overview of the the counseling process and also lists hundreds of other resources for further reading. This would be a good read for anyone going into a therapeutic discipline, as well as a helpful resource for anyone wanting to learn more about human behavior and how we relate to each other.

[Michael Silverman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the 1st Edition of this book in graduate school. I thought it was an absolutely terrific primer for someone learning how to be a therapist. Almost 30 years later, I still find myself going back to it. Last week I decided to see if the 5th edition (with the added authorship of Susan R Davis) was considerably different. I would say it's been updated (e.g. web based therapy wasn't around when I was in graduate school, e-mail was in its infancy as "bitnet"), but the "basics" definitely haven't changed. And truthfully, why would they?

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing primer on counseling as a field, skills, and different kinds of therapies utilized to help clients

[$aint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Briefly covers basic psychotherapeutic approaches while providing a wealth of references for further study.

[Kipi (the academic stitcher) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As my first textbook in my MMFT program, I found this book to be just as the description says, brief and practical. It certainly isn't meant to be the definitive text on marriage and family therapy, but it a very good introduction.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for a basic review of essential aspects of counseling. This is primarily intended for beginning practitioners, but it’s also a nice little review after entering into the greater complexity of the counseling relationship. There is also a great section at the end of the book that gives resources for particular counseling techniques and theories.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very practical handbook on the components of counseling. Designed for practitioners more than pastors, but good stuff to know. Way way way to expensive though, and it's impossible to find a cheap used copy.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty basic and a lot of common sense but it was a great, simple overview about the entire thought process behind actually practicing counseling.

[Margaret Metz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good info - used for research for my book.

[Danny Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of good advice and wisdom for counselors

[Jess Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read on the general ideas of counseling.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

reading for my MSW