Counseling has evolved from a variety of disciplines, including teaching, guidance, law, social reform, and psychotherapy. It first emerged as vocational guidance, with its methodology and techniques coming from applied psychology.
Counseling has been around for centuries, with religious figures and family members often providing advice. In tribal times, people would share their experiences and dreams in groups. As civilization developed, religion offered a type of counseling, with priests listening and advising parishioners on their problems.
Counseling psychology emerged as a distinct field of study and practice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1909, three pioneers helped form the basis of counseling: Frank Parsons, Jesse B. Davis, and Clifford Beers. Davis established the first public school counseling and guidance programs.
Counseling has evolved in many ways, including:
The rise of psychotherapy
Hypnotism was used as a therapeutic method in the 19th century. Medical science also began to focus on mental health, leading to the rise of psychiatry.
Behaviorism and humanism
Behaviorism and conditioning became popular because they focused on external, measurable behavior. Humanism, on the other hand, focused on the person and their experience.
Counseling can help people:
Give them a safe time and place to talk to someone who won't judge them
Help them make sense of things and understand themselves better
Help them resolve complicated feelings, or find ways to live with them
Help them recognize unhelpful patterns in the way they think or act, and find ways to change them (if they want to)
