Triad Clinical Summary and Assessment paper Essay

I watched two sessions conducted by two well-known psychotherapists, Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis.

I chose these two sessions because of their client, Gloria. I found Gloria to be an interesting subject and because she was interviewed by the two psychotherapists, I believe that it would be easier to compare and contrast the two approaches by the psychotherapists. In order to get a better understanding of the approaches of these two clinicians, I will first give general identifying information about the clinicians and the client. Second, I will give an idea of what the overall theme of the sessions.Third, I will discuss the types of questioning the interviewer used in order to draw out the interviewee’s story, while being mindful of any micro-skills the interviewer used in the session. Fourth, I will discuss any strengths and weaknesses I noticed during the interview process. Fifth, will be a discussion of any multicultural components to the process between the interviewer and interviewee. Sixth, I will then compare and contrast the two skills both psychotherapists had.

Seventh, I will discuss what skills I found helpful and not helpful, that I would incorporate in my own interviewing style.Finally, I will conclude with how I will continue to support the growth of my clinical skills as I move along at Pacific Oaks College. General Identifying Information The client, Gloria, is a middle aged Caucasian woman who is about 35 to 40 years old. She was just recently divorced with one child, a young daughter. The two psychotherapists who interviewed Gloria are Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. Carl Rogers.

Dr. Albert Ellis is a male Caucasian who is about 45 years old. Dr. Carl Rogers is also a male psychotherapist who is about the same age as Albert Ellis and is also Caucasian. Both men are respected in the ield of psychotherapy and have both written a book, which Gloria has read prior to the session. The Overall Theme of the Session The first interview with Dr. Carl Rogers, the overall theme of the session was Gloria’s need for acceptance and her need to tell her daughter the truth about her sexual life. Gloria lied to her daughter when her daughter asked her the question if she had been sexually active with another man since her separation from her father.

Gloria is troubled with the fact that because she is recently divorced, she is now starting to date men and she is afraid that it will affect her children.She wants to be honest with her child, but she is afraid of how her child will perceive her if she was honest with her. She wants Dr.

Rogers to tell her what do with telling her daughter the truth. She wants Dr. Rogers to tell her that her daughter will be all right if she were to be honest with her about her sex life. I believe that the whole session, Gloria was ambivalent about being honest and portraying herself as a perfect mother, while at the same time, she feels that she isn’t a perfect mother.

The second interview with Dr. Albert Ellis the main theme to the session was men and the types of men she is attracted to.Gloria has a certain criteria for the type of men she wants to date; however, she feels that she attracts the wrong type of men. She feels shy and embarrassed being with men.

She is afraid that she does not have enough qualities to attract the men she wants to attract. She wants to present herself to the men as being strong, but when she meets men, she ends up messing up by being flippant and she feels that she is misunderstood. She feels that she is the type of woman who only attracts men she does not want to attract. The Types of Questioning Asked by Both PsychotherapistsThe questions asked by a psychotherapist are essential in drawing out the client’s story. The questions are an important part of the therapy, which will allow the client to open up and tell their story. In the session with Gloria, Dr.

Rogers asked questions like, I would like to know what concerns you, or Is this concern about your daughter really what’s bothering you, or is that what you are trying to say. I noticed that Dr. Rogers did not really ask many questions, he mainly made statements, which Gloria elaborated on. Dr. Ellis asks questions like, would you like to tell me what’s bothering you most.

Just like with Dr. Rogers, Dr. Ellis’ questions were limited, but he made many statements in which Gloria responded to. Both psychotherapists’ questions were very limited and they both just made statements about what Gloria was discussing. Both psychotherapists used micro-skills that I have learned from the book.

One such micro-skill used was attending behavior, which included eye contact, body language, vocal qualities and verbal tracking. An example of both psychotherapists’ attending behavior was as Gloria spoke, both therapists would nod their head, make mm mm sounds, and their voices were at a level of Gloria’s voice.If Gloria’s voice went higher, their voice also got higher. Both therapists asked open ended questions in the beginning when they both asked what would Gloria like to talk about.

Another micro-skill used by both therapists is encouraged, paraphrased and summarized what Gloria had to say. They both used words like I hear you say, what you are saying then is, I did catch what you are trying to say, and I guess I hear you saying too that… Both therapists used encouragers by saying “uh-huh” during their session as they both listened to Gloria talk about her issues. Another micro-skill used by Dr.

Ellis is confrontation.Dr. Ellis confronted Gloria with her shyness and what she felt was the reason she was shy. He almost seemed like he was demanding that she tell him an answer as to why she felt she was shy. Another micro-skills used by Dr.

Rogers was reflection of feeling. Dr. Rogers repeated some of the feeling words that Gloria has said, like, you feel confused, you feel angry, you feel scared. Strengths and Weaknesses I felt that both therapists did a great job encouraging Gloria to talk about her story. Dr.

Rogers’ person centered therapy approach was great at drawing Gloria’s story out and was able to get Gloria to relate to him.Even in the beginning of the session, Gloria indicated that she felt relieved and comfortable at the fact that Dr. Rogers’ voice was quiet and calm.

I felt that this was the strength of Dr. Rogers, his ability to relate with Gloria about her issues and problems. A weakness I found was that Dr. Rogers is that I felt that he was too lax in his approach. When I was watching his session with Gloria, I sometimes wanted to reach across the screen and grab him so that he can answer Gloria’s questions and concerns. The questions and concerns were eventually answered, but I guess I wanted them answered quicker.

His round-a-bout way of interviewing Gloria was frustrating. I felt that Dr. Ellis’ strength was his ability to just jump into the session and delve into Gloria’s problem. He was straight forward about what he wanted her to say and was confrontational when I felt that he did not like what he heard her say. I thought Dr.

Ellis’ strength was his ability to cut through the chase and get Gloria to talk about her issue from the start without deviating from the story. But I also found that this is a weakness because I felt Gloria was guarded when he spoke with Dr. Ellis. I think that Gloria felt judged by Dr. Ellis because of her story. Dr. Ellis’ tone of voice was not very empathetic. His tone of voice was very direct and at times standoffish.

There was no emotion in his tone of voice. This made Gloria feel defensive and anxious. So anxious in fact, that she started smoking in the middle of the session.

Gloria actually raised her voice a couple of times in the session because she felt attacked by Dr. Ellis. Multicultural Components The most obvious multicultural component to both psychotherapist sessions with Gloria is that fact that both psychotherapists are men and Gloria is a woman.All three were Caucasian and around the same age, although Gloria I believe is a couple of years younger than both psychotherapists. Compare and Contrasts the Skills Both psychotherapists did an excellent job in drawing out Gloria’s concerns and story. Although I felt that Dr. Rogers did a better job at drawing out Gloria’s story and was able to relate more to Gloria, than Dr. Ellis.

Both the psychotherapists’ skills differ from each other. Dr. Rogers’ person centered therapy dealt more with the person itself. His main concerns were whether or not he will be able to relate and care for the client.He also felt that he wanted to understand the inner world of the client so that he can better understand the client. Dr.

Rogers’s person centered therapy is, I feel, more geared to taking the client by the hand and walking them through the process of therapy to get to the answer. Dr. Ellis’ approach is much different from Dr. Rogers. Dr. Ellis practices rational therapy which the ultimate goal of this type of therapy is to deal with the here and now and to ignore the past and future. There were three insights that Dr. Ellis believed in, first, these were that all behaviors, especially negative behavior has a clear cut ideological antecedents; Second, a person is disturbed because the person continues to live in the past; Third, action is necessary to change.

Dr. Ellis’ session with Gloria was about how he was going to change her mentality. He was going to change her way of thinking so that she understood why she was doing what she was doing. Unlike Dr.

Rogers’ approach of holding the hands of the client, I felt that Dr. Ellis’ approach was to throw the client in the middle of the pond so that they can learn how to swim on their own.He wants them to come to the answer themselves.

In the end, both psychotherapists were the same in that they were both going after an answer from Gloria, but each of their approaches was very different from each other. Dr. Roger’ approach is more humanistic and client centered and dealt with what is happening with the client’s past, present and future, while Dr. Ellis’s approach is more rational emotive therapy and dealt more with the here and now. Skills I found Helpful After watching the videos of Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. Carl Rogers interviewing Gloria, I found that the most helpful skill was Dr. Rogers’ approach.

I really like his take the client’s hand and walk them through the therapy process approach. Although I found that at times I felt frustrated watching him with Gloria, she seemed to relate to him more. Even to the point that she commented how she felt nervous, but after hearing his low and calm voice, she felt calmer and is able to talk to him more.

I felt that Dr. Rogers’ approach more accepting because I want to be the type of therapist that my clients can relate to. We may not share the same experiences, but I want to convey to my clients that I understand and I can empathize.I found Dr. Rogers’ use of attending behavior, use of encouragers, paraphrasing and summarizing, and use of reflection of feeling to be very helpful.

It is great to see these micro-skills put to use. I was able to understand them more that I have seen how they were used. Growth When I started this class, I felt very unsure of what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact, I even commented during the introduction that this class was the stepping stone for me in deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up.

I must say that after taking this class, a therapist is what I want to be.Although I found the journey to be scary and daunting at times, I have to say that I have enjoyed the journey. I enjoyed learning about my other colleagues and their struggles with their lives and am glad to have found that they feel comfortable enough to share their stories with me. As this class ends and I continue on to other classes, I will continue my growth by doing the readings, researching the different theories and theorists and hopefully learn more about them to the point that I can come out and say, this is the theory I closely relate to and just learning more from my colleagues.I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey in this class and I look forward to future classes and hope for the same experience in them. Dr.

Carl Rogers and Dr. Albert Ellis are both wonderful psychotherapists. It was great watching them and seeing the micro-skills in action. It was quite interesting that while watching the two different videos, I noticed that both psychotherapists did not use many questions in their sessions, but instead choosing to use paraphrasing and encouragers to get Gloria to tell her story more.

I noticed that Dr. Rogers’ strength is that he related to the client, whereas Dr.Ellis, I felt did not relate as much as Dr. Rogers related to Gloria. The skills I found helpful were the use of the micro-skills.

I was able to understand the micro-skills better by seeing them in action. I will continue my growth at Pacific Oaks College by learning more about the theories and the theorists and applying their approaches to my classes. I as daunting and scary this class had been to me, I learned a lot of skills, which I will take with me when I start practicum next year.Referenceshttp://www.

youtube. com/watch? v=m30jsZx_Ngs http://www. youtube.

com/watch? v=2cOLJBPQZRA