This study tried to look at the experiences and the meanings of the counseling with 4 women suffering from marriage problem with their spouses in terms of relationship making. For this I focused on my interaction as a counselor with these 4 women. By...
This study tried to look at the experiences and the meanings of the counseling with 4 women suffering from marriage problem with their spouses in terms of relationship making. For this I focused on my interaction as a counselor with these 4 women. By describing the story of these 4 women and Mandara works and comparing them with the existing counseling theories with a view to interpreting and analyzing them in the context of time and space, I sought to indicate the course of changes and the meanings of counseling experiences. Through self-reflection and introspection that existed with these 4 women in the course of counseling, I tried to expand the understanding of their counseling process.
This study was conducted for 9 months from September 2010 to May 2011 based on the experiences of mine as a counselor and 4 middle-aged homemakers. I also would like to add that this study intended to understand the unique counseling experiences of these 4 women other than the extraction of or the effect verification of the general therapeutic factors of the counseling. Thus, the exploration was conducted with a qualitative research method to understand the intrinsic attributes of the things and the environment by looking at them as they are.
The summaries of the experiences of relationship making in the course of counseling and the meanings and themes of it revealed in this study are as follows.
These 4 women asked me for help as to how to solve their problem by telling me
their stories of troubled marriage lives. Their facial expressions ,gestures, pains and desperateness in their stories came to me in the course of counseling as "looking at each other " and their cry for help was transformed into my voice and claimed responsibility from me, the ethical principal body. I, however, in the first stage of the counseling, approached these 4 women wearing the mask made by the previously acquired experience and knowledge that "A counselor should do this and that by the book." and the 4 women armed with the fixed frame of mind met with me and seemed to think that 'a counselee should act like this or that.' , both of us unable to take one another as we really are. The formalities of counseling with the 4 women and me were challenged and I opened myself up through self-reflection , which helped me to have direct contact with them. The 4 women in return showed me their hidden sides without any reserve and accepted me not as the one who should provide them with answers but as the intrinsic one of them struggling as they were. As a result, we , 4 women and me , didn't objectify one another and were able to form relationship of true nature between you and me.
The relationship we made in the course of counseling includes 3 main themes.
First, the relationship we made was the existential relationship making between these 4 women and me. In the course of counseling we were able to form existential relationship by facing one another in a very honest way so that we went beyond the limit of objectifying one another and moved toward answering the request of others.
Second, the relationship making in the course of counseling was about having relationship with one's own self. The 4 women developed trust in me and started to explore the deep inner sides. In the safe ambience of counseling and in the course of reliving and through necessary mourning and acceptance we worked together on the integrating the shadow with the Self. The 4 women were able to form the true relationship with themselves.
Third, The procedures of the existential relationship making made a transition toward relationship making with the world. The 4 women expanded the existential relationship with me and the understanding through self-exploration in the course of Mandara work into their marriage relationship. The increased self-understanding through relationship making in the course of counseling eliminated the projection toward others and made the changes of making new relationships with their husbands possible. It also led to positive change of perspective toward the husband's family and their children. They literally expanded the increased self-understanding through the existential relationship making with me into understanding the world which they belong to.
This study also found the meanings of the following 5 experiences inherent in the counseling course of existential relationship making.
First, the 4 women needed to secure the distance not to be buried under their stories. The 4 women unfolded their pent up ill feelings in a narrative way and I listened to their stories with full attention. The 4 women came to have their presence of mind in which they could objectify their problems and view and feel them differently freely speaking and listening with no strings attached in the course of relationship making.
Second, the 4 women in the course of self-reflection recognized and self-examined their own existing methods by which they try to fit others to their own formula and possess them or get rid of existential anxieties by uniting with others. They even choose to accept others as the existential You not as a necessary means of surviving others. Thus, these 4 women open the way for mutual understanding. The flow of mutual understanding touches the true inner self and provide a path on which the shadows that were denied could be integrated and thus, the possibility of contacting the true self is enhanced.
Third, the 4 women in the course of relationship with me exposed their inner sides that used to be suppressed and distorted out in the open and accepted them. And here and now in this counseling atmosphere they were able to experience themselves and live their lives existentially. Not only that, but they also need not be overshadowed by others and need not possess others to stand alone and have relationship with others ushering in the possibility of the one intrinsic being.
Fourth, these 4 women regained the freedom and choice of their lives along with the responsibility that had been handed over to others. Truly the projection toward others gets removed and the unprecedented possibility of having relationship with others in the manner of existential relationship.
Lastly, the transition toward the existential relationship in the course of counseling moved toward building positive marriage relationship which promoted the existential changes of the 4 women.
This study made use of the qualitative research methods and took a close look at the interactions of these 4 women and me in the course of counseling as well as the counseling experiences. And I tried to analyze and see how the meanings of the counseling experiences play an important role in the lives of the women in the contextual perspective. Also the 4 women and I as an existential being did some self-examination in the counseling atmosphere. In this respect this research differentiates itself in the area of counseling from other researches that are conducted mainly to get effect verification and therapeutic factors with general application. Through the qualitative analysis on the interaction of the counseling course which has no choice but to be overlooked in the quantitative research method, this research finds its own significance in that it expanded the width of understanding counseling by taking a close look at the aspects of building relationships and the meanings of the experiences and put in the center of discussion how the intrinsic experiences of these 4 women in their counseling courses are applied and expanded. I further expect to add a theoretical perspective on the attitude and the role of the counselor which is gravely required to provide appropriate assistance for the counselees who are struggling with the couple conflict.