Historical
lineage of the profession of counseling
psychology
This paper is a retrospective
analysis of the development of counseling
psychology as a profession. "In 1952 the
Division of Counseling Psychology (Division 17)
of the American Psychological Association was
formally established" (Gladding, 1988, p. 14).
In reviewing the establishment and growth of
Division 17, however, there is a necessity for
delving into the deeper origins of the field,
some of which are found in examining the
chronicles of clinical (abnormal) psychology.
In a review of the historical
background of clinical psychology, Sarason and
Sarason (1980) observed the following:
A review of the history of
abnormal psychology provides a context within
which the best of the modern can be
understood. This context is valuable because
historical antecedents are more than simply a
collection of names and dates. They are also
part of an evolution of ideas and a reflection
of the beliefs, hopes, and fears of people over
thousands of years. (p. 22)
Recognizing that the field of
clinical psychology shared in the eventual
conception and birth of the Division of
Counseling Psychology, one can hope for a
similar context for enlightenment by taking an
analogous look into the past and gaining a
broader perspective on the evolution of Division
17.
Tracing the roots of modern day
psychology, Sarason and Sarason (1980) continue:
The earliest writers about the
psychological and organic approaches to deviance
were the philosophers of ancient Greece. At the
height of their culture, ancient Greeks
emphasized the rational analysis of the natural
world in an amazingly modern way. They also
exhibited a high degree of curiosity about why
things are as they seem. The concepts of
motivation and intelligence were among those the
Greeks invented to explain the behavior they
observed in everyday life. (p. 23)
During the middle ages, the
Christian church played an important role by
fostering a spirit of charity toward the
severely mentally disturbed. According to
Sarason and Sarason (1980), Saint Augustine "was
perhaps the earliest forerunner of
psychoanalysis, writing extensively about
feelings, mental anguish, and human conflict"
(p. 25). Unfortunately, the efforts of Saint
Augustine, which resemble the psychoanalytic
method of today, were not pursued during the
later middle ages, because demonology and
superstition had made a powerful comeback. "By
the fourteenth century, the mentally ill came to
be seen as despised objects of scorn and
persecution" (Sarason & Sarason, 1980, p. 27).
Gradually, the idea that
irrational behavior could be explained
rationally became prevalent during the
Renaissance. Johann Weyer, a physician, was a
major contributor in saving countless mentally
ill people from being burned at the stake, by
vigorously asserting that these people should be
treated medically (Sarason & Sarason, 1980).
By the end of the eighteenth
century, superstition was being replaced by a
commitment to rationality and observation as a
pathway to scientific advancement. "By the
middle of the nineteenth century, increasingly
accepted humanitarian ideas led to a broad
recognition of the need to reform social
institutions" (Sarason & Sarason, 1980, p. 31).
McMahon and McMahon (1982)
recount the history and methods of psychology:
One of the most formidable tasks
facing the early scientist was just how to go
about studying this incredibly complex creature,
the human being. The earliest clear-cut
scientific attempts at such a feat occurred
with the founding of the first psychology
laboratory in 1879 by a German, Wilhelm Wundt.
(p. 16)
Wundt is remembered as the father
of psychology and "spearheaded psychology's
effort to pattern itself after physics,
chemistry, and physiology" (McMahon & McMahon,
1982, p. 17). Although Wundt's approach was a
failure, he did succeed in emphasizing the need
for objectivity and showed that attempts at
categorizing people were not completely
fruitless (McMahon & McMahon, 1982).
According to Atkinson, Atkinson,
and Hilgard (1983), a major advocate of Wundt's
approach in the United States was a psychologist
at Cornell University named E. B. Titchener, who
introduced the term structuralism to
describe Wundt's psychology, which focused on
mental structures and introspection. Yet, there
was strenuous opposition to the utterly
analytical nature of structuralism. William
James, a distinguished psychologist at Harvard
University, grew impatient with the restrictions
placed upon psychology as it was developing
under the structuralists. Atkinson et al.
(1983) reported: "Because James asked how
consciousness functions (particularly in the
adaptive process), his approach to psychology
was named functionalism" (p. 595). Both
structuralism and functionalism played
significant roles by providing systematic
approaches to the study of psychology, but by
1920, three new schools of thought were
emerging: behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, and
psychoanalysis.
Behaviorists discussed
psychological phenomena as beginning with a
stimulus and ending with a response. John B.
Watson, reacting against the tradition of an
era, founded a new form of psychology without
introspection. In studying the behavior of
humans and animals, Watson made no assertions
about consciousness and described behavior as
public and consciousness as private.
Stimulus-response psychology was
the study of independent and dependent variables
and was not a theory but a language that
was both explicit and communicable. As such,
this outlook is widely prevalent in psychology
today (Atkinson et al., 1983).
About the same time behaviorism
was surfacing in America, Gestalt psychology was
appearing in Germany. Gestalt psychology, which
wholeheartedly rejected introspective
psychology, also rejected behaviorism.
According to Atkinson et al. (1983),
Gestaltists believed that: "What we see is
relative to background, to other aspects of the
whole. The whole is different from the sum of
its parts; the whole consists of parts in
relationship" (p. 599). Perception-centered
interpretations of Gestalt psychologists in
learning, memory and problem solving have been
foundational in current developments in
cognitive psychology, which focuses on thoughts
and their influence on feelings and behavior.
Psychoanalytic psychology was
introduced by Sigmund Freud and focuses on the
unconscious. Basic to the theory is the idea
that "the unacceptable (forbidden, punished)
wishes of childhood are driven out of awareness
and become part of the unconscious, where (while
out of awareness) they remain influential"
(Atkinson et al., 1983, p. 599). Unconscious
expressions include dreams, slips of speech, and
mannerisms. Freudian influence has been so
widespread that even persons who know nothing
about psychology seem to have a basic
familiarity with psychoanalysis.
As guidance and vocational
counseling came on the professional scene in the
early 1900s, and new theories of counseling
emerged, the emphasis began to shift from
studying merely abnormal psychology to normal
human growth and development. Thus, the stage
was set when Carl Rogers published a
revolutionary book entitled Counseling and
Psychotherapy in 1942 (cited in Gladding,
1988). Subsequently, the Veterans
Administration funded the training of counselors
and psychologists, rewrote the specifications
for vocational counselors, and coined the term
counseling psychologist (Gladding, 1988).
In summary,
counseling psychology has grown from a narrow
base in clinical psychology and vocational
guidance counseling to a broader base which
facilitates the development of potential in all
persons. As reported by Thompson and Super
(1964) in their delineation of counseling
psychology, "this specialty has made progress in
developing a concept of role and function which
is broader than vocational guidance but
different from clinical psychology in its
emphasis upon development, assessment, plan, and
role" (p. 160). As the demand for well trained
counseling psychologists continues to increase,
the challenge to meet this social need will
continue to stimulate and inspire this growing
profession.
References
Atkinson, R. L.,
Atkinson, R. C., & Hilgard, E. R. (1983). Brief
history of psychology. Introduction to
psychology (8th ed., pp. 593-601). New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Gladding, S. T.
(1988). History and systems of counseling. In
V. Knight (Ed.), Counseling a comprehensive
profession (pp. 3-26). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
McMahon, F. B., &
McMahon, J. W. (1982). History and methods of
psychology. In W. E. Jeffrey & S. R. Maddi
(Eds.), Psychology: The hybrid science (4th ed.,
pp. 2-32). Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Sarason, I. G., &
Sarason, B. R. (1980). The historical
background of modern abnormal psychology. In M.
Harrison (Ed.), Abnormal psychology (3rd ed.,
pp. 21-40). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Thompson, A. S., &
Super, D. E. (Eds.). (1964). The current
status of counseling psychology. The
professional preparation of counseling
psychologists (pp. 151-162). New York: Columbia
University.
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