How to be More Effective in Counseling Clients with Relationship Distress and Adjustment Disorder

Introduction

Counseling is among the most effective means in ensuring that clients encountering lower levels of functioning return to their normal lifestyle. Counseling is a useful tool in treating problems related to relationship distress and adjustment disorders stemming from relationship breakup. Relationship distress and adjustment disorders are among issues that have been associated with depression, anxiety, suicides, etc. The focus of this article is to address strategies to be considered in making counseling more effective.

Communication

One of the most important personal and professional characteristics of an effective therapist is communication. A therapist must be clear and effective in both oral and written communication. Active listening is also an essential tool which is used throughout the therapeutic relationship, as it enables the therapist to note issues that are affecting the client, thus enabling the therapist to form the best approach. Paraphrasing allows the client to feel heard, understood, and builds trust within the therapeutic process. Collaboration with the client will have a long-term impact on the path to treatment planning and working towards the client’s goals. To ensure the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship, a therapist should consider communication that features attentiveness to ensure an understanding of the presenting problem, as this impacts the therapeutic alliance.

Trust and Collaboration

Trust and collaboration starts being built upon from the moment the session begins. A counseling session cannot be effectuated, nor the goal of the session be achieved if there is lack of trust. Building trust is also associated with how therapists build rapport with their clients. Levels of trust from the client can be gauged through many aspects including boy language, how much a client reveals about themselves, and their willingness to share. It is also important to note that giving the client space to dictate the pace of the counseling session enables building the trust necessary for collaboration. The therapist should also note that this goes in line with allowing the client to focus on topics they welcome. This is significant in enabling clients to share sensitive content associated with the distress encountered within their relationship, in addition to the struggles in adjustment that may come with relationship breakup.

Multicultural Competence and Mindfulness

When working with clients, the need for multicultural emphasis is imperative. Therapists have an ethical responsibility to provide professional services they demonstrate respect for the cultural worldviews, values, and traditions of culturally diverse clients. To better serve clients after a relationship breakup and exhibiting symptoms of adjustment disorder, ascertain from your client what these things mean in their culture and what it means to them on an individual level.

According to a study by Caldwell (2012), mindfulness is a building block that facilitates change in the emotional realm. Despite being noted that therapists should have an array of skills, Caldwell (2012) noted that a therapist also should consider a more quality relationship than skills. In counseling, mindfulness has an important role in increasing selffocused attention and change in characteristics that feature flexibility and non-reactiveness.

Reassurance

In relationships, reassurance mainly focuses on confirming a feeling in a partner. Considering that counseling is a therapeutic relationship between a client and the therapist, reassurance is an important tenet that focuses on ensuring the relationship thrives and enables collaboration. Reassurance in a therapeutic relationship is an aspect that focuses mainly on the communication and actions of the therapist that reduces the feeling of fear, doubt, and stress associated with the distress within a relationship or relationship breakup and adjustment. In most instances, clients question the reasons for relationship distress or for the break up, what they or their partner may have done wrong, etc. In adjustment disorders, there is always the aspect of fear and anxiety. As such, in effective counseling, the therapist promotes efficacy by reassuring the client about their feelings and guides in reframing negative-self talk.

Grief and Relationship Breakup

Grief, seen on many scales, also manifests with the loss of certain relationships. Therapists must aide clients in their understanding of the grieving process, in addition to exploration and identification of stages in which the client has experiences thus far. With knowledge come more effective transitions from one stage to another. Generally, as an effective therapist, it is essential to consider different communication efficacy strategies that will impact the transition throughout the grieving process. Crying, a natural response to a range of emotions, has been scientifically proven to help process grief. According to research by Sharman et al. (2020), crying is associated with releasing stress hormones, including cortisol, which builds up in the body, causing emotional stress. A study by Allison (2022) also noted that crying has been proven to stimulate the production of endorphin, a hormone associated with positive feelings. In relationship and adjustment disorders, for instance, there is an accumulation of stress hormones which may have long-term impacts on the grieving and healing process. Therapists are recommended to allow and encourage their clients to cry, considering that this has a positive impact on the natural healing process. This can be achieved through the reassurance process and instances that bring about crying during the early stages of counseling.

Unsolicited Advice

Despite the role of counselors in enabling their clients to have a successful transition in grieving breakups and issues with adjustment disorders, there are additional stressors such as outside advise and unsolicited advice that may serve as stressors, which can minimize the chances of a successful therapeutic relationship. As noted in a study by Prass et al. (2021), in the study that considered the involvement of solicited and unsolicited advice, when unsolicited advice was used, there was a significant reduction in the cooperation of the client and the therapist, especially with those clients who were anxiously attached. When counseling clients grieving the loss of a relationship and show symptoms of adjustment disorder, considering the effects of unsolicited advice on clients in the therapeutic process may prove beneficial. Through the consideration of unsolicited advice, therapists gain a better understanding of the issue at hand before ensuring that the strategies considered in successful counseling are effectuated.

Conclusion

Conclusively, counseling clients that going through a relationship breakup or suffering from adjustment disorders can be challenging. As noted along the key considerations, the most effective counseling features are the therapeutic relationship with the client, and how the therapist guides the relationship. It should also be noted that skills and relationship efficacy are all relevant in enabling a smooth transition from grieving to a normal level of functioning. As such, therapists in counseling sessions should always be conversant on how to effectively maneuver each session. They should in conversant with the outlined aspects noted above, among others relevant to acting professionally troughout the process.

References

Allison, C. (2022). Dr. Stanton Capstone May 11, 2022 The Monopoly of Modern Medicine.

Caldwell, K. L. (2012). Mindfulness matters: practices for counselors and counselor education. American Counseling Association VISTAS Project, 1, pp. 1-9.

Prass, M., Ewell, A., Hill, C. E., & Kivlighan Jr, D. M. (2021). Solicited and Unsolicited Therapist Advice inPsychodynamic Psychotherapy: Is it Advised?. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 34(2), pp. 253-274. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2020.1723492.

Sharman, L. S., Dingle, G. A., Vingerhoets, A. J., & Vanman, E. J. (2020). Using crying to cope: Physiological responses to stress following tears of sadness. Emotion, 20(7), p. 1279. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0000633.

Written By: Alecia Rodriguez, PhD, MFT, MHC

Dr. Rodriguez is a mental health professional providing services in the Miami, Florida area. She utilizes a strengths-based, person-centered approach to help support clients on their personal journey. Dr. Rodriguez is also a published children’s book author. Her professional affiliations include ACA, AMHCA, FMHCA, and FCA.