A Phenomenological Research on Creativity in the Psychological Counseling Process

Abstract

Creativity is an important phenomenon and has lately been taken into consideration in the field of counseling. The aim of this study is to explore the phenomenon of creativity in the counseling process against the backdrop of psychological counselors’ experiences. The research uses a semi-structured interview form in accordance with this based on the descriptive phenomenological design. The study group consists of eight psychological counselors (6 women, 2 men) working with various theoretical orientations and age groups and were selected using criterion sampling, a purposeful sampling method. By the end of the research, four themes had been identified related to the phenomenon of creativity: psychological counselors’ experiences regarding creativity, the facilitating factors of creativity, the inhibitory factors of creativity, and the functions of creativity. The results from the research have concluded that educational programs should be structured based on psychological counselors’ creative skills and disseminated in the field.

Keywords

• Creativity in Counseling
• Creative Counselor
• Counseling Skills
• Counseling

References

1. Benjamin, L. (1984). Creativity and counseling. Highlights: An ERIC/CAPS Fact Sheet.
2. Bergin, A. E., & Garfield, S. L. (1994). Overview, trends, and future issues. A. E. Bergin & S. L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (pp. 821–830). Wiley.
3. Buser, J. K., Buser, T. J., Gladding, S. T., & Wilkerson, J. (2011). The creative psychological counselor: Using the SCAMPER model in psychological counselor training. Journal of Creativity in Cognitive Health, 6(4), 256–273. http://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2011.631468
4. Canel, A. N. (2015). Program based on the Guilford Model that enhances creativity and creative counseling. Sanitas Magisterium, 1(2), 5–29. http://doi.org/10.12738/SM/2015.2.007
5. Carson, D. K. (1999). Counseling. M. A. Runco (Ed.). Encyclopedia of creativity (Vol. 1, pp. 395–402). Academic Press/Elsevier.
6. Carson, D. K., Becker, K. W., Vance, K. E., & Forth, N. L. (2003). The role of creativity in marriage and family therapy practice: A national online study. Contemporary Family Therapy, 25(1), 89–109. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022562122420
7. Cohen, G. (2001). The creative age: Awakening human potential in the second half of life. Harper.
8. Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE Publications.

9. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. SAGE Publications.
10. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. Harper.
11. de Rivera, J. G. (1992). The stages of psychotherapy. The European Journal of Psychiatry, 6(1), 51–58.
12. Dillen, L., Siongers, M., Helskens, D., & Verhofstadt-Denève, L. (2009). When puppets speak: Dialectical psychodrama within developmental child psychotherapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 22(1), 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530802500839
13. Erlandson, D. A., Harris, E. L., Skipper, B. L., & Allen, S. D. (1993). Doing naturalistic inquiry: A guide to methods. SAGE Publications.
14. Franzini L. R. (2001). Humor in therapy: the case for training therapists in its uses and risks. The Journal of general psychology, 128(2), 170–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221300109598906
15. Frey, D. H. (1975). The anatomy of an idea: Creativity in counseling. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 54(1), 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2164-4918.1975.tb04166.x
16. Gibson, R. L. (1999). Introduction to counseling and guidance. Prentice Hall.
17. Ginicola, M. M., Smith, C., & Trzaska, J. (2012). Counseling through images: Using photography to guide the counseling process and achieve treatment goals. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 7(4), 310–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2012.739955
18. Gladding, S. T. (1995). Creativity in counseling. Counseling and Human Development, 28(1), 1–12.
19. Gladding, S. T. (2008). The impact of creativity in counseling. Journal of Creativity in Cognitive Health, 3(2), 97–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401380802226679
20. Gladding, S. T. (2011). Using creativity and the creative arts in counseling: An international approach. Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi [Turkish Counseling and Guidance Journal], 4(35), 1–7.
21. Gladding, S. T., & Batra, P. (2007). Counseling: A comprehensive profession. Pearson Education India.
22. Gladding, S. T., & Drake Wallace, M. J. (2018). Scriptotherapy: Eighteen writing exercises to promote insight and wellness. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13(4), 380–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2018.1486259
23. Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1982). Epistemological and Methodological Bases of Naturalistic Inquiry. Educational Communication and Technology, 30(4), 233–252. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30219846
24. Guilford, J. P. (1950). Creativity. American Psychologist, 5(9), 444–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063487
25. Hecker, L. L. & Kottler, J. A. (2002). Growing creative therapists. Journal of Clinical Activities, Assignments & Handouts in Psychotherapy Practice, 2(2), 1–3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J182v02n02_01
26. Hocevar, D. (1980). Intelligence, divergent thinking, and creativity. Intelligence, 4(1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-2896(80)90004-5
27. Keeney, B. (2010). The creative therapist: The art of awakening a session. Routledge.
28. Kole, D. M. (1967). The spectrogram in psychodrama. Group Psychotherapy, 10(1-2), 53–61.
29. Kottler, J. A., & Hecker, L. L. (2002). Creativity in therapy: Being struck by lightning and guided by thunderstorms. Journal of Clinical Activities, Assignments & Handouts in Psychotherapy Practice, 2(2), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1300/J182v02n02_02
30. Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological psychology: Theory, research and method. Pearson Education.
31. Lawrence, C., Foster, V. A., & Tieso, C. L. (2015). Creating creative clinicians: Incorporating creativity into psychological counselor education. Journal of Creativity in Cognitive Health, 10(2), 166–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2014.963188
32. Lubart, T. I. (2001). Models of the creative process: Past, present and future. Creativity Research Journal, 13(3-4), 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326934CRJ1334_07
33. May, R. (1994). The courage to create. W. W. Norton & Company.
34. Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and interpretation. Jossey Bass.
35. Mitchell, L. R. (2016). Creativity as co-therapist: The practitioner’s guide to the art of psychotherapy. Routledge.
36. Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications.
37. Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0036577
38. Oven, A., & Lobe, B. (2018). Creative occupational therapist: It's about the client using focus groups to explore creativity in occupational therapy. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 54(1), 51–61. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.344
39. Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5b), 1189–1208.
40. Schumacher, S., & McMillan, J. (2006). Research in education evidence-based inquiry. Pearson Education.
41. Storlie, C. A., Giegerich, V., Stoner-Harris, T., & Byrd, J. (2018). Conceptual metaphors in internship: Creative journeys in counselor development. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13(3), 331–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2018.1439790
42. Thomas, D. A. & Morris, M. H. (2017). Creative psychological counselor self-care. VISTAS Online, 17, 1–11.
43. Vriend, J., & Dyer, W. W. (1973). Counseling the reluctant client. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 20(3), 240–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034580
44. Wallas, G. (1996). Stages in the creative process. A. Rothenberg & C. R. Hausman (Ed.), The creativity question (pp. 69-73). Duke University Press.
45. Warren, J., Morgan, M. M., Morris, L. N. B., & Morris, T. M. (2010). Breathing words slowly: Creative writing and counselor self-care—the writing workout. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 5(2), 109–124.