Challenges To Counseling

Challenges to Counseling

Shame, Labeling and Stigma: Challenges to Counseling Clients in Alcohol and Other Drug Settings

Introduction

It has been estimated that as many as one-third of all patients who consult a doctor do so because they have a 'personal problem', or real physical symptoms, causing them distress and reflecting an underlying psycho-social problem (Pereira Gray, 1988). Often patients first present with such 'life-problems' or psychosomatic symptoms during a medical consultation lasting a matter of minutes. If the doctor has no psychological training, the 'life-problem', or psychosomatic symptoms may well be medicalized, i.e. treated solely or principally as an organic complaint (Mcleod 2004). Treatment then tends to take the form of psychotropic drugs. The consequence may well be that the condition becomes chronic, or fails to improve, resulting in yet more frequent consultations and further prescriptions.

Many observers have commented on the enormous amount of personal distress that this scenario causes to patients and the huge resulting costs to healthcare providers (Maguire & Pitceathly, 2002). Counselling, among other forms of psychological help, may well be beneficial for patients presenting with such problems. The counsellor working with people in medical settings can provide time in which patients may express feelings about loss of abilities, roles and self-esteem and assist them in coming to terms and/or coping with these and other changes (Bond 2004). In addition to the psychological benefits of counselling, there are at least some indications that the presence of a counsellor in the primary healthcare team leads to a reduction in patients' psychosomatic symptoms, a consequent reduction in drug prescription rates and a reduction in the demand for the time of medical staff. Other claimed benefits include a better shared understanding of the role of counselling in the work of the therapeutic team; fewer inappropriate referrals and investigations; and fewer hospital admissions. Moreover, it appears that the division of workload leads to increased satisfaction for GPs and greater mutual respect within the primary healthcare team. Therefore, counselors must appreciate their role in improving the health outcomes of their clients through development of understanding of the challenges they face in their practice. One way to do so is to critically analyse presented empirical research.

Comprehensive critical analyses of research articles are needed to identify the research findings that should be used in psychological, clinical and counseling practices. In this paper, we will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the title, abstract, purpose, literature review, conceptual framework, hypothesis or research questions, research design, and sample of the study. It should be noted here that we are critiquing a qualitative research here and as such our critiquing framework will be made according to the standards, guidelines and methodologies defined in medical research models for qualitative methodologies. The research dealing in qualitative terms have different evaluating frameworks for the diverse techniques used.

Discussion

One of the clear implications of the stress on self-determination is that in counselling, the patient, or client, is involved in an active and to a large extent autonomous, process of exploration, ...