Say yes to Individual counseling

It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a work- life balance as erratic work schedule, business travel on weekend, inadequate time for relaxation and personal agendas become the order of the day. Individuals are not getting enough time to spend with family or to do things which they enjoy doing or things which can work as a stress buster. Statistics shows that working mothers are more affected by stress than homemakers and more than 25% of the entire US population suffers from stress. Several studies indicate that stress leads to physical illness too. Hence it can be said that stress is one of those problems in an individual’s day to day life which needs professional help in the form of Individual counseling.

Individual counseling aims at improving the mental health or bringing about a change in the mental state of an individual so that he/she feels better about his/her own well being.

A few common problems which come under the purview of Individual counseling are as follows:

• Stress related disorder (refer to our article about stress).
• Anxiety (Refer to our article about anxiety).
• Grief (Bereavement of a loved one, or a failed relationship).
• Addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography etc.
• Family issues (like incompatibility with partner, communication issues, infidelity of spouse etc).
• Molestation or sexual abuse.
• Lack of confidence.
• Lack of decision making ability.
• elp needed with Career Planning etc.

There are a few techniques/concepts which when administered during individual counseling sessions has shown speedy and long lasting results These techniques are as follows.

Being empathetic and not Sympathetic: The counselor identifies with the situation the counselee is into and empathizes with his/her problem. This helps in boosting up the confidence of the counselee and build up a professional yet transparent counselor-counselee relationship.
Being suggestive and not commanding: The counselor encourages the counselee to find solutions to his/her own problems. The counselor does not impose his/her personal opinion on the counselee.
Being keener on listening than talking: A counselor is all ears to the problems of the counselee and spends more time in understanding the problem of the counselee than talking about how he /she feel about the problem.
Being repetitive but not monotonous: For disorders where a patient or client repeats the same behavior which is unapproved of (like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or addiction to alcohol and drugs)a counselor tries to imbibe a positive change in the counselee by reminding him/her what is right and how that has to be achieved . But the counselor also takes utmost care that this message is communicated to the counselee in a new way every time so that it doesn’t become monotonous to the counselee.
Individual counseling can bring in miraculous changes in an individuals life provided the counselee seeks professional help before it is too late. It is also advisable that one should seek help only from a professional counselor with whom he/she feels comfortable to communicate.