Essay on Clinical Psychology

Introduction

Counseling plays an important part in the contemporary clinical psychology and provision of patients with counseling services is essential to facilitate their rehabilitation after serious physical injuries as well as psychological traumas. The development of counseling is essential for the provision of effective health care services and maintenance of patients’ psychological stability.

The background of counseling in clinical psychology

The development of counseling dates back to the mid-20th century, when soldiers involved in World War II needed the recreation and training. To meet their needs, first counseling services were provided. In this regard, counseling services were rather occasional than systematic. However, as the need of soldiers in counseling services increased as they returned from battlefields, the counseling service had started to progress. In the late 1940s – 1905s, the counseling service kept growing, whereas the involvement of soldiers in other military conflicts increased the demand on counseling services ().

In this regard, the military campaigns conducted by the US in Korea and Vietnam contributed to the considerable progress of counseling. At the same time, the development of counseling in terms of the provision of the military with counseling services was accompanied by the development of counseling services for civilians. In such a context, the development of counseling contributed to the intensive progress of psychological services to patients, who needed the assistance of professional assistance.

On the other hand, the provision of counseling services to patients raises a number of challenges because patients had different needs and counseling services should be delivered respectively to needs of patients. In actuality, the provision of counseling services has started to challenge traditional clinical psychology practices to the extent that by the 1970s – 1980s the contradiction between traditional clinical practices and counseling services made to growing contradictions to the extent that counseling and clinical psychology arrived to the point, when they started to deny each other. What is meant here is the fact that supporters of counseling services viewed them prior, whereas traditional clinical psychological methods were considered to be ineffective, when patients needed counseling and rehabilitation.

However, in the course of time, the contradiction between counseling and clinical psychology came to the point, when they stared to interact with each other and to improve their methods and approaches. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact the development of counseling focused on the development of effective approaches, which could provide patients with counseling services that provide them with the possibility to recover and rehabilitate fast. In such a situation, counseling services were specialized on specific industries and spheres of human life.

At the same time, by the end of the 20th century, counseling services expanded and they provided for patients with different services. In actuality, counseling services are still extremely important and popular that makes the development of effective approaches to counseling particularly important. At this point, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that counseling services have become closely integrated in the clinical psychology and, today, counseling comprises an integral part of the clinical psychology.

The current development of counseling in clinical psychology

The development of counseling today focuses on the provision of patients with counseling services of the high quality. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the current development of counseling focused on the development of the client-centered approach, which has proved to be very efficient because it implies the close focus on the needs and wants of patients. In such a situation, counseling opened larger opportunities for the provision of patients with counseling services of the top quality.

On the other hand, the client-centered approach raised the problem of the detailed study of needs of patients and causes of their problems. Counseling traditionally involved the detailed analysis of the background information of patients because the background information allowed counselors to elaborate effective treatment of patients. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that, in the contemporary clinical environment, the development of effective counseling services became extremely important and counselors should focus on the improvement of existing counseling methods. In such a situation, counselors need to conduct the detailed study of methods they apply because they have little room for error. In fact, their counseling services aim at the assistance to patients, who need the rehabilitation after physical injuries or psychological trauma. In this respect, counseling has proved to be particularly effective in relation to patients after September 11 and other events which caused serious psychological problems in patients.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the fact that the development of counseling is the long-lasting process. In fact, counseling needs to keep progressing because the clinical environment changes. Therefore, counseling should meet challenges that arise in the contemporary clinical psychological environment. Consequently, counseling needs to keep progressing using the existing achievements and new methods, which should be tested and implemented in practice. In such a situation, the development of new methods, being very important, passes through testing because counselors have no room for error because their failure may lead to the failure of a successful recovery and rehabilitation of patients.

Conclusion

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that counseling plays an important in the contemporary clinical psychology. At the same time, it is worth mentioning the fact that counseling may be very important for patients, who have suffered different health problems as well as psychological problems. In the course of its development, counseling contributed to the emergence of different strategies and techniques, among which it is possible to single out the client-centered approach and the cognitive-behavioral approach. Both approaches may be efficient, if they are applied properly. Therefore, professionals providing counseling services should be very careful and find the approach, which is the most appropriate for a specific client they are working with to maximize the effectiveness of counseling.