Review Notes: Counseling and Psychotherapy – Definitions, Theories, and Historical Background

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering key terms, definitions, and historical concepts from the video notes on defining counseling and psychotherapy, their history, foundations, and contextual development.

Counseling (APA 2018)

Professional assistance in coping with personal problems across emotional, behavioral, vocational, marital, educational, rehabilitation, and life-stage areas; uses active listening, guidance, discussion, clarification, and tests.

Psychotherapy (APA 2023)

Any psychological service provided by a trained professional that uses forms of communication and interaction to assess, diagnose, and treat dysfunctional emotions, thoughts, and behaviors; also called 'talk therapy'.

Counseling (ACA) Definition

A professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to achieve mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.

Gary Collins’ Counseling Definition

A relationship where the counselor advises, encourages, or assists the counselee to deal more effectively with life problems; rarely aims to radically change personality.

Erford’s Counseling Definition

A positive, holistically oriented process for helping people cope with living problems and promoting healthy development.

Cormier & Hackney Definition of Counseling

A helping relationship with a seeking-student and a trained helper in a setting that permits give-and-receive assistance.

Grounded on Internal/External Resources

Counseling assumes individuals have internal and external resources to draw on when solving problems, which the therapist helps discover and build.

Counseling as Collaborative Process

Psychotherapy is a collaborative process in which client and therapist co-construct solutions to concerns.

Talking Cure / Talk Therapy

Common label for psychotherapy emphasizing verbal interventions and dialogue to modify thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Wellness Perspective (Remley)

Aim to relieve symptoms and help individuals reach their full potential, including health, spirituality, and values.

Developmental Perspective (Remley)

Problems are viewed as developmental; crises may be normal responses to change and timing of events.

Empowerment (Counseling)

Counseling builds skills and capacity of powerless individuals/groups to gain control over their lives.

Maslow’s Self-Actualization

Striving to realize one’s full potential and become the best version of oneself.

Carl Rogers’ Fully Functioning Person

A person who is self-actualizing, open to experience, and able to act congruently with inner feelings; central to client-centered counseling.

Client-Centered Counseling (Carl Rogers)

Therapeutic approach focusing on the therapeutic relationship and a safe environment for clients to work through difficulties.

Freud and the Talking Cure

Sigmund Freud founded psychotherapy and, with Breuer, developed the cathartic 'talking cure' as a primary method.

Hippocrates’ Contributions

Introduced homeostasis (balance) and prognosis; emphasized life history, diagnostic interviews, trust, dream interpretation, and awareness of repressed feelings.

Trephining

Ancient practice of drilling holes in the skull to release demons or relieve illness.

Descartes’ Mind-Body Distinction

Philosophical view that mind (thoughts, soul) and body are distinct substances.

Locke’s Tabula Rasa

Philosophical idea that the mind is a blank slate at birth, shaped by experience.

First Psychology Lab (Wilhelm Wundt)

Wundt founded psychology as a discipline with the first experimental laboratory in 1879.

William James

Early American psychologist who emphasized emotion, action, thought, and reason; helped establish psychology in the U.S.

Parsons’ Three-Part Model (Career Guidance)

Analysis of interests/abilities/aptitudes; exploration of occupations; systematic reasoning to find best career match.

Beers and Mental Health Reform

A Mind That Found Itself exposed abuses in mental institutions, contributing to the National Mental Health movement and later NAMI.

CACREP (1960s–70s)

Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; established standards and accreditation for counseling education.

Existentialism, Family Systems, Cognitive Theories (1960s–70s)

Major theoretical orientations developed or popularized during the 1960s–70s in counseling and psychotherapy.

First Psychological Clinic in the Philippines (1932)

University of the Philippines clinic founded by Sinforoso Padilla; often called the Father of Guidance in the Philippines.

Guidance and Counseling Act (2004, Philippines)

Policy declaring the state’s commitment to promote improvement, advancement, and protection of the guidance and counseling profession; aims for professional, ethical, relevant, efficient services.