Personal Responsibility Counselling And Therapy

First Published in 1988. All counselling approaches are means to helping people stand on their own two feet and assume effective responsibility for their lives. Thus personal responsibility becomes an obvious integrating focus. Though the concept gets implicitly or explicitly emphasized in all existing theoretical positions, none has provided the deserved coverage. Focusing on personal responsibility is almost like focusing on one's nose. Though right in front of the face, the concept is not always easy to observe. This book aims at integration in a number of ways. It rejects the narrow 'my theory right or wrong' approach to counselling. Theoretical concepts and practical interventions are derived from a number of different sources, including the research literature. The book does not take a one-dimensional approach to behaviour in emphasizing people's actions alone. Instead it takes a three-dimensional approach emphasizing feelings, thoughts and actions.

Richard Nelson Jones

Chapter 1 Why focus on personal responsibility? Chapter 2 Background: humanistic and existential Chapter 3 Background: cognitive, behavioural and Cognitive-behavioural approaches Chapter 4 Toward a theory: assumptions and acquisition Chapter 5 Toward a theory: perpetuation and change Chapter 6 Considerations for practice Chapter 7 Responsiveness: experiencing feelings Chapter 8 Realism: thinking, language and inner speech Chapter 9 Relatedness: self-definition and communication Chapter 10 Rewarding activity: meaning in occupation