Introduction
A young man calls at the student counseling centre , he is tense and anxious .He has some problem or difficulty . Another young man calls as he has heard from his friends that psychological tests are administered at the centre , and he has keen and inquisitive to know about his personality , yet another calls at the centre for a different reason . He desires to know about efficient study kills . Thus different individuals at the centre for a different reason . He desires to know about efficient study skills . Thus different individuals have varying needs . Some of these needs may be fulfilled causing frustration , and clients may want to find techniques or methods of resolving their conflicts and fulfilling their needs.
Thus indivuidals seek the help of others in a c\variet yof situations the assistance sought may be as simple as asking for a small piece of information or as complex as asking for assistance for solving some crucial problem the latter type of problem , is encountered as requently as the former . When the problems are adjudged to be too difficult to be tackled with out side help , one can approach different individuals and agencies depending on the nature of the problem ,one is facing . for example , individuals approach lawyers , physician , psychiatrists , psychologists , clergy men , social workers , teachers and other for assistance to help solve different kinds of problems
Counseling and psychotherapy developed as methods of rehabilitation . the concern was to help those considered ‘off the track’ and unable to adjust to life . this popularized the view that psychotherapists and counselors were persons who helped individuals return to normal . gradually the counseling process came to be understood as a means of prevention as much as treatment . more recently counseling process came to be understood as a means of prevention as much as treatment . more recently counseling has come to be viewed as an instrument or technique of self actualization . it is no longer enough for an individual to be well and unsick , it is necessary that he becomes the best he is capable of and counseling must help him in this process
EXPECTATIONS OF DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS
Individuals have wide range expectations regarding counseling . they expect counseling to enable them to face their problems , find solutions for them help improve themselves and so on . the expectations a client has depends on several factors such as clients seeking external assistance to find solutions which are easy to accomplish , while in the case of others , they may have diverse sources . it is there fore necessary
In general , counselees usually expect counseling to provide solutions to their problems , the problems could be diverse –personal, social academic , vocational and so on . The expectations naturally could vary with the nature of the problems . for instance, students with study problems expect counseling to help them achieve better academic performance that could satisfy their parents and teachers . individuals experiencing anxieties expect to be relieved of their tensions , They expect counseling to bring relief from stress and to help the indesccive mal;e correct choices . Those seeking employement expect counseling to secure them quick placement and enable to attain job satisfaction and rapid rise . in brief , individuals expect counseling to secure them quick placement and enable them to attain job satisfaction and rapid rise . in brief individuals expect counseling to significantly better their life pattern and help them adjust to changing situations , parents believe that counseling has a persuasive function and expect it to help in the educational and vocational development of their children . Further , they expect it to remedy many of their children’s deficiencies . So far as counsellors are concerned , most of the parents expectations are naïve , unrealistic and highly exaggerated
Teachers expect counseling to reduce, if not eliminate , undesirable pupil behavior help improve , class room climate , reduce their inter-personal tensions among pupils and promote discipline . it is also not uncommon among teachers to assume that counseling identifies and fosters talent school and college administrators expect counseling services to help in the efficient functioning of their situations . they also expect counseling to remove inefficient learning practices among the pupils . they thus expect it to remedy each and every educational difficulty . this is evidently not only an unrealistic but also an un reasonable expectation
The experience as the student counseling centre , sri venkateswara university has been rewarding and revealing . students at the centre for different reasons . They include such problems as girl friends , finance studies , relations , with teachers etc., however most students complain about anxiety , nightmares , sleeplessness , inability to remember what was learnt , poor concentration , etc., . Yet others want to be equipped to take competitive examinations and to face interviews confidently
A few parents who frequently visit the center refer to the odd behavior , moodiness , listlessness etc., of their sons , parents of daughters yet have to visit the student counseling center . teachers have so far only referred cases of problem students and inquired whether any thing can be done for them , the experience at this centre has been quite limited but it is believed that the pattern of public attitudes to student maladjustment elsewhere in India would largely common to this picture
What emerges from this brief statement of expectations is that there is a certain amount of over lap in the expectations of students , parents , teachers and administrators , All are concerned with the improvement of academic performance and the reducing tension in campuses in
A major criticism leveled is that goals such as self actualization , actualizing potentialities etc., are too general and amorphous and hence not useful in actual practice , Krumboltz holds that an operational definition of terms would be a more useful approach . he suggests that a general concept could be reduced to specific objective and measurable variables . ultimate goals , owing to their very broad and general nature , can not be evaluated as immediate or mediate goals
Mediate goals may be considered as specific steps contributing to the realization of general goals , behaviorists place much emphasis on mediate goals
Improving personal effectiveness . this is closely related the preservation of good mental health and securing desirable behavior change . Blocher defines an effective person as as one who is able to commit himself to projects , investing time and energy and willing to take appropriate economic , physiological risks . he is seen as being able to to commit himself . he is seen as reasonably consistent out side and with in the typical role situation . His seen as being able to think in different and original , that is creative ways . Finally he is able to control impulses and produce appropriate responses to frustration to frustration , hostility and ambiguity counseling help change Blotcher adds two other goals . The first according to him , is that counseling should maximize individual freedom to choose and act with in the conditions imposed by the environment . The other goal is that counseling should increase the effectiveness of the individual responses evolved by the environment , Tiedeman holds that the goal of counseling is to focus on the mechanism of change
