Prejudice and Ethics in Counselling Essay

If a counsellor finds herself drifting into judgemental thoughts upon listening to a lymph gland describe a purportstyle in which she eats all day, while attempting to lose weight, it bequeath be extremely difficult for me to keep the results of my emotional response to this judgemental mental attitude from reflecting in my voice and choice of wrangle in doinging with the client. Clients whitethorn be impaired, but they argonnt emotionally insensitive or unintelligent, and argon very in all prob king to hear the implied faceings of the healer.Obviously, this will do little to run aground or maintain the kind of trust necessary for effective counselling. I need to recognise this more in myself. I am authoritative that intellectually I try to chip in no wrongs however I know that I do because I prat tell by the tone of my voice or the little voice that whitethorn pop in my head. I know that I am hypocritical in several of these instances. For example, I may think that that discharged mess be lazy, and that fat people are lazy too, when I study been unemployed and non aspect for carry.Even though I dont often think in prejudicial cost I bottom do if under pressure and stressed, and looking for someone to blame. Therapists are ineluctably aware of and respect cultural, individual, and role differences, including those ground on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, content origin, religion, cozy orientation, disability, language, and socio-economic stead and consider these factors when working with members of much(prenominal) groups.Therapists try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone activities of others based upon such mischiefs. Because of the tendency to generalize, rather than be specific, it is quite a possible to encounter therapists who obviously dont see obesity as a disability, and thusly excuse themselves, internal ly, from their prejudice in this area, rationalizing that the person is not disabled, but barely lazy.There are therapists who within the privacy of their own thoughts, may quality the same way about intoxicantics or medicine addicts. These therapists may sack that their prejudice is counter-productive to the cure process, and may attempt to vitiate voicing their senseings roughly other therapists or in the movement of their clients, but while they may succeed in not overtly expressing these tinctures in front of their clients, they are usually unable to keep from letting them slip in the presence of their friends.If they are lucky, they will receive productive feedback, who may assist them in overcoming their own prejudices. This, in fact, is the idea behind supervision in the the breachutic process, wherein a therapist is monitored and overseen by another therapist who has more experience. This provides the probability for the therapist to be made aware of any limitati ons universe obligate on the therapeutic process due to prejudicial attitudes, judgements, lack of schooling with strike to a particular illness, and many other areas.Realistically not all therapists receive the benefits of adequate supervision, and it is quite possible to find those that are limited by the prejudices with which they, knowingly or unknowingly, view the world, of which their clients form a part. Specifically ad fertilisation areas Religious Affiliation Many of those who seek counselling find had atypical experiences in their upbringing. This often leads them into exploring areas of belief which most people with a more conventional upbringing would never consider appropriate, even if they were open to the opportunity.One example is Wicca which many people, out of ignorance, associate with devil-worship or something equivalent. If a counsellor is a devout Christian, with no exposure to the rectitude behind various forms of paganism, and if the clients belief in these things comes up in the course of therapy, it may be very difficult for the therapist to resist a little preaching or proselytizing, or to avoid associating the clients religious beliefs with their coincidentally different, and promising dysfunctional lifestyle. Obviously, if the client give outs a sense of this, they are likely to shut consume and be less forthcoming with their thoughts and feelings.Class This comes under the heading of socio-economic status. There are some therapists who firmly believe in dressing down when working with clients from a disadvantaged socio-economic background. This doesnt mean looking sloppy or wearing torn jeans, but exactly dressing simply as in trousers and a t-shirt, rather than a suit. opus at that place is some truth to the value of not unnecessarily emphasise a visual difference between the therapist and the client thither are other therapists who insist that they should dress according to status.I feel that a therapist should dr ess in whatever way mends them feel most comfortable, since it is this feeling of being comfortable that the client will notice. Of course, in that respect are other ways in which the therapist can rove in contrasting their social status with that of the client. The client may get them to talking about themselves, and the therapist may let it slip that they just bought a new car. This does little to assist the client, and may engender the feeling that sure, the ideas you talk about work for you, but thats only because your life and background is so much better than mine heyll never work for me in my situation. For this reason, therapists are trained not to indulge in disclosure of their personal life beyond what office be profitable in establishing rapport with the client. Ethnicity This is a prominent area in which prejudice is not tolerable. There is a difference between overcoming prejudice against someone, and being proactive for someone of a race with which you are not ni gh acquainted. It is one thing to avoid politically incorrect vocabulary, but quite another to be aware of appropriate role models for those of another race, based on a knowledge of their contributions to society.Of course a client of influence is very likely to pick up on such limitations on the therapists part. Age Ageism is one of the most novel entries into the area of prejudicial conscience. Factors contributing to this prejudice include fear of wipeout and loss of control, an almost worshipful regard for youth and beauty, a societal sense of self-worth based on productivity, and a stereotype of the elderly as being institutionalized and in poor health something which is simply not the case with the majority of seniors today.Counselling a senior in regard to their love life will obviously be a vitiate for the counsellor who is not age positive. Seniors are especially likely to be aware of, and sensitive to, any indication on the part of the therapist that they view them in some judgemental way as theyve learned a lot about reading people in their lifetimes. Gender Sexism can severely compromise the ability of a therapist to nurture the self-pride and independence necessary for a client to progress.A female therapist who is unable to get past her own expectations that a male should be the strong, responsible provider in a relationship is not likely to be of much value to a male client who need to take the time away from such responsibilities which will facilitate his ability to seek deeply repressed feelings. Also women who have had a enceinte experience with a certain type of chauvinistic male may then begin to see men as inferior and have difficulty dealing with an assertive male. A therapist who has herself experienced interior(prenominal) violence may feel uneasy or jeopardize by a male who divulges that he is or was a wife-beater.The therapist mustiness be able to compartmentalise her own feelings in order to contend the client. Sexual Ori entation and Practices Prejudice against a gay male may be inseparable from prejudice against the practice of anal sex. It is also equally possible for a male therapist to resent a gay female. Contempt is a difficult emotion to mask, and a client with an stand out orientation, or the practitioner of an unusual sexual lifestyle, maybe more likely to keep this quiet. If this information is never disclosed due to fear of repugnance, it may hamper the progress of therapy. Mental Health Diagnosis close therapists have been carefully trained to be cognizant of the very real sucker which a diagnosis of mental illness can cause in the experience of a client. When you consider that a large percentage of therapists initially enter the field of mental health either seeking to understand their own problems or out of the desire to help others which is based on having been raised in an emotional environment which promotes the dysfunctional beliefs of co-dependency, it is not onerous to under stand that they might a familiarity with the trauma of mental illness in the course of their own upbringing.Such a background can fall out during therapy as fear of, or repulsion by, certain symptoms or behaviours which might have been exhibited by family members during their own childhood, and caused them to experience their own traumas. If these feelings havent been lickd, the therapist may resist the very presence of the client whose behaviours gun trigger unresolved emotions from their own past. It is hardly therapeutic for the therapist to feel threatened by the client when they are at their worst in hurt of symptoms or behaviours.A therapist who is only comfortable with clients who are playing normal isnt much good. Physical Disorders Any disability which is not understood can engender fear and loathing, nervousness and uncertainty. A client with cerebral palsy in addition to a mental malady may have to work at finding a therapist who has the patience, compassion and edu cation about the physical condition needed to make any headway into the mental condition.In this sense it is also a responsibility of the client to interview the therapist to ascertain that the therapist is competent. Most therapists eventually realize that the nature of their occupation requires that they work on and resolve their own issues as diligently as they work on resolving the issues of their clients. Having removed the emotional blocks which might cause them to unconsciously stifle the feelings nd behaviours of their clients, they still need to educate themselves in the area of multicultural cognisance so as to be able to provide motivation and proactive guidance to the clients in their charge regardless of age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, socio-economic status, or any combination of these. Other things that may induce prejudice are Jargon the use of specialized language, creati ng barriers which reinforce power differences. Stereotypes terms used to refer to people from different groups, i. e. ripened people as old dears. Stigma terms such as mental hitch carry a prejudicial stigma. Exclusion this might be unwittingly asking a Muslim what his Christian name is, rather than his firstly name. Depersonalization this relates to terms such as the elderly rather than older people and the mentally ill rather than people with mental straiten Use of language with clients I believe it is critically important to explore our use of language as therapists.Mindful of some of the settings in which counsellors work and the specific difficulties clients struggle with, we need to be sensitive to some of the words in common use and which are deeply offensive. Working with people who have dependency problem we must be aware not to term suffers as drug user, drug abuser, drug pusher or recreational drug use, alcoholic, alcohol abuser/misuser It is only in recent y ears that we have developed a language to describe the phenomenon of child sexual abuse.Previously there was no discourse and childrens distress went often unheeded. Burstow (1992 202) refers to eating disorders as troubled eating. She says There is nothing more orderly than the punctilious regimen that women who are anorexic follow. We hear of date rape and somehow it is thought to be less traumatic or damaging than other rape. Burstow (1992) refers to psychiatric survivors having been psychiatrized by the system, and Wilson and Beresford (2000) use the term people with frenzy and distress rather than the more sanitized mental health gain users.It is important for the therapist to develop awareness of the social and political backcloth to their clients stories. Does this woman, for example, stay in a violent relationship because of her personal psychology, or do issues of poverty and powerlessness and lack of appropriate support function contribute to her problems. Is she a b lack woman? What would her (and her childrens) experience be of a refuge where all the other women, including workers, were white. And if she were a lesbian, how might she be veritable or understood by her heterosexual peers.