Blog 5

                The readings this week both had multiple things that I was able to relate to.  On the first day of class we were asked to discuss with our groups some of our strengths.  For me, I had listed empathy as something that I feel is a strong suit of mine.  I constantly find myself looking at situations from the eyes of someone else.  I often find myself upset by someone else’s situation.  In the article by Greason & Cashwell (2009) they discuss empathy as it relates to being a counselor.  It described empathy as being able to non-judgmentally walk in someone else’s shoes (p. 4).  I feel confident in this aspect, but then the article went on to describe one of my fears as being a counselor.  It stated, “The counselor must be able to tolerate a client’s difficult feelings and the difficult feelings that may arise in the counselor—rather than avoiding them or overidentifying with them (Greason & Cashwell, 2009, p. 4-5).  As a person that tears up during the ASPCA commercials, I know that this is something that I need to work on.  This is definitely something that will be a challenge for me as a counselor and I will need to work on my affect tolerance; as discussed in this article. 

                I typically find myself really relating to and agreeing with the information in the Corey & Corey text; however there was one section in this chapter that frustrated me.  In the very beginning of the chapter during its overview of stress, it generalized that most cancer was caused by stress.  It stated that, “stresses resulting from traumatic loss and major life changes are in the background of most of those who get cancer” (Corey & Corey, 2008, p. 134).  Two very close people in my life have died from cancer and for them to be diagnosed as just “people with more stress” is extremely frustrating to me.  Although I do agree that stress can have a negative effect on our lives, I do not believe that stress is the cause of cancer.  In addition, if this was the case, don’t you think the media would be all over this information and companies would be giving away free massages and yoga classes in order to reduce the likelihood of cancer?

                Overall, I felt like this chapter was helpful in identifying stress that other individuals may have, that I will need to deal with, even if it is something that I am not familiar with.  It was extremely helpful to hear about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it’s causes, and how individuals can get through it.  Additionally to hear about incest, rape, and sexual harassment and these individuals deal with these situations.  I realize how traumatic these things are, but I would have had no idea how to even talk to someone that had been through something like that.  I realize that there is still so much to learn about these things in order to be better able to counsel individuals with PTSD, but I at least feel like I have a better sense of what this will entail.

Corey, G. & Corey, M. S. (2008). Your Body and Wellness. In Brooks/Cole (9^th edition), I Never Knew I Had a Choice (106-131). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

Greason, P.B, & Cashwell, C.S. (2009). Mindfulness and Counseling Self Efficacy: The Mediating Role of Attention and Empathy.