Counselling

Counselling with another, as a means to achieving self understanding and the solution of internal conflict or of some external problem, is an ancient technique although not always referred to under this name. Simply by listening to the other's problem, encouraging him and giving time for a train of thought to be considered, the counsellor acts as a mirror to reflect the other person, who will be able to see himself from previously unconsidered angles. As the counselling process develops, the focus tends to become less and less self-centred, this change in perception being followed by changes in choice and action so that behaviour becomes more reasoned. The "image" mirrored by the counsellor which the client perceives as superior to previous pictures is eventually enacted and a more objective approach permanently adopted.

Counselling is the basis of [client-centred therapy]

and of [re-evaluation counselling]

, the former normally being directed by a therapist with the aim of curing some abnormality and the latter as a formal extension of counselling for some specific problem.