Distance Learning Counselling and Psychology Course
ACS student comments: The notes and study tools encourage me to conduct research to develop my knowledge of components in my course. It is very worthwhile. [My tutor] gives me good feedback and food for thought with her comments and sometimes elaborates on my answers - really value her input. Larissa Kalnins, Aust - Psychology & Counselling course.
'I found the course so helpful as a Catholic Priest, and that is why I have registered for the Diploma in Counselling and Psychology and I hope to do my best to finish and help my people who are back home in Africa.' Joseph - Psychology and Counselling course.
An indepth course looking into stress, abnormal behaviour, group behaviour and much, much more.....
So what else is covered in the course? We also covers stress. Stress is a major factor affecting our mental and physical health today.
“How to recognise stress
It is important to recognize whether you or someone you know or a client is under stress. Often, even if we are under the influence of a stressful condition and our body reacts to it internally as well as externally, we fail to realize the symptoms of our stress. This also happens when the causes of stress are there long enough for us to get used to them. The body may try to tell us that it is stressed or that something is wrong, through symptoms such as:
-
heart palpitations
-
dizzy spells
-
tight and sore muscles or
-
various body pains and conditions
-
blurry vision
-
inability to eat or over-eating
-
loss of interest in usual activities
-
unexpected emotional reactions and more…
It is important to remain attentive to such symptoms and to have a stress management system in place to counter the adverse affects of stress.” (taken from our Psychology and Counselling Course)
COURSE STRUCTURE
There are seven lessons in this course, as follows:
1. Stress
2. Abnormal Behaviour
3. Individual Behaviour
4. Group Behaviour
5. Methods of Dealing with Abnormalities
6. Conflict Resolution
7. Interpersonal Communication Skills
CONTENTS OF THE LESSONS
1. Stress
- Introduction
- The mind to body connection
- How to recognise stress
- What happens to the body when you experience stress
- The physiological response
- Chronic and acute stress
- Erikson's psycho social stages
- Oral sensory stage
- Anal muscular stage
- Genital locomotor stage
- Latency stage
- Adolescence
- Young adulthood
- Middle adulthood
- Late adulthood
- Social adjustment
- Relationship betreen stress and heart disease
- What are the basic sources of stress
- Why some people suffer more
- How to deal with stress
- Defence mechanisms
2. Abnormal Behaviour
- Definition of abnormality
- Deviation from statistical norms
- Deviation from social norm
- Maladaptiveness in behaviour
- Personal distress
- Disability
- Wakefield's harmful dysfunction concept
- Psychologically healthy individuals
- Deviation in character
- Classification of mental disorders
- Anxiety disordersMood disorders
- Prevalence of depression
- Treatment of depression
- Schizophrenia
- Substance related disorder
- Disorders diagnosed in childhood
- Delerium, Dementia, Amnestic and Cognitive disorders
- Problems with classification
3. Individual Behaviour
- Pro social or Altruistic behaviour
- When do children first exhibit pro social behaviour
- Socialisation
- Conformity
- Family influence
- Disciplinary measures
- Sibling influence
- Influence of family structure
- Influence of school
- Praise
- Influence of peers
- Heiders Balance theory
- Dissonance theory
- Cognitive dissonance
4. Group Behaviour
- Social considerations
- Temporary group
- Organised group
- Organisational groups
- The influence of groups
- Industrial groups
5. Methods of Dealing with Abnormalities
- Professionals in counselling and psychology
- Therapist techniques
- Transference
- Directiveness and non directiveness
- Systematic Desensitisation
- Behaviour therapies
- Psychoanalytical approach
- Psychoanalytic techniques
- Humanistic therapy
- Eclectic approach
6. Conflict Resolution
- Introduction
- Conflict handling techniques
- Anger
- Negotiation
- Joint problem solving
- Problems with negotiation
- Mediation
- Procedure
- Running a mediation process in a conflict situation
- Agreements or contracts
- Suggested timetable for a mediation session
7. Interpersonal Communication Skills
- Introduction
- Communication channels
- Effective communication
- Awareness
- Communication skills
- Hearing verbal messages
- Perceiving non verbal messages
- Responding
- Verbal and non verbal communication
- Body language
- Communication barriers
- Self awareness
- Self esteem
- Specific skills: listening, paraphrasing, reflective responses, etc
- Conversation development
- Professional relationship building
Aims
- Identify the nature of conflict and stress and why this issue affects so many people today.
- Identify and examine behaviours that are characterised as abnormal and compare and contrast these with behaviours characterised as healthy.
- Explain social influence on individual behaviour.
- Explain social influence on group behaviour.
- Describe alternative methods of dealing with psychological problems
- Develop skills for resolving conflict.
- Develop communication skills for counselling individuals.
WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE
Here are some examples of what you may do:
-Find someone you know who you suspect has a type A personality.
Talk to them to try to confirm if your suspicion is correct.
Note (write down) the ways in which they appear to be a type A personality.
-Talk with someone who is suffering, or has suffered stress. This might be a friend, relative, work mate, or anyone else you are able to find. Discuss their stress with them (current or past). Don’t push them, but try to discern from what they are happy to tell you, whether their stress was (or is) chronic or acute.
-Consider conflict which occurs in either a workplace or recreation situation you are familiar with.
This might be a place where you work, or a workplace you visit frequently (eg. A shop or office);or perhaps a sporting club, gymnasium or social group which you regularly attend. Make up a list of disputes or conflicts which you remember to have occurred in the past.
-Consider an individual in your life, or else a character in a film or book, who you regard as abnormal.
Consider why they are abnormal.
Write down a list of reasons you are able to identify.
Which method or defining abnormality was influencing your judgement of this character
-Find a teenager who you can interview.
This might be a person you know (a relative, work colleague, member of an organisation you belong to etc), or perhaps you might contact and visit a youth club or organisation that deals with teenagers and arrange to interview someone.
The person needs to be someone who exhibits some type of deviant behaviour, even if not extreme. Most teenagers will at some stage exhibit behaviour that is a deviance from social norms (even if the behaviour is not a deviance from age or peer group norms).
Interview this teenager for at least 15 minutes. Make notes of your conversation, their responses (verbal and non-verbal).
Duration: 100 hours
What is psychology ? You might not be sure about what exactly psychology is. Psychology is a science. It is the study of human and animal behaviour. Some say the study of mind or the brain. Whilst others consider it to be the study of personality. Psychology considers what motivates people to do what they do.
So what is Abnormal Behaviour?
There are some main types of abnormal behaviour. These include -
DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS – An example is the Dissociative Identity Disorder – also known as Multiple Personality Disorder – the person possesses two or more distinct personalities, each complex and dominant one at a time. As shown in books and films such as All About Eve and Sibyl.
SEXUAL AND GENDER IDENTITY DISORDERS
*Paraphilias – A person will have unconventional sources of sexual gratification e.g. Voyeurism, exhibitionism, sadism and masochism.
*Sexual Dysfunctions – A person may be unable to complete the usual sexual response e.g. Inability to maintain erection, premature ejaculation, inhibition of orgasms.
*Gender Identity Disorder – The person may feel extreme discomfort at their anatomical sex and identify themselves with the opposite sex.
EATING DISORDERS
*Anorexia Nervosa – The person avoids eating, becomes emaciated and will usually have a severe fear of becoming fat.
*Bulimia Nervosa – The person will have binge-purge cycles, overeating to excess (binging) followed by purging e.g. Vomiting, excessive laxative use as a means to compensate for the overeating.
PERSONALITY DISORDERS
A well known personality disorder is the Antisocial personality disorder (otherwise known as psychopathy) – is a conduct disorder, usually manifested in truancy, delinquency, belligerence, running away from home etc. In adulthood, the person will find it difficult to hold down a job, be a responsible person or partner or staying on the right side of the law. They will feel no guilt or shame for not adhering to social norms, such as committing violent acts, other criminal behaviour.
IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDERS include kleptomania, pyromania, pathological gambling and others.
What qualification will I achieve for completing this course?
This is an individual module course. The individual module courses are 100 hour long usually and can be taken on their own or as part of a larger program of study.
If you wish to take an individual module course as a stand alone course, you can elect to sit an optional exam at the end of it.
If you successfully pass the exam and all assignments, you will receive a Statement of Attainment. You can take examinations at a time and location to suit you. If you enrol, you will be sent further information on how to arrange examinations at the end of the course.
If you do not wish to take the exam, you will receive a Course Completion letter when you have passed all assignments.
There is an assignment at the end of each lesson. So for example, if an individual module course contains ten lessons, you will need to complete ten assignments. Assignments can be sent to us via email, post or fax.
Other qualifications, such as certificates, diplomas etc may require examinations to be taken as part of the overall assessment process.
You can find further information on the examinations process by clicking on the “Enrolment” link above.
You can find further information on other courses by clicking on the “Courses” link above.
If you're not sure whether this is the course for you, you might want to consider our Introduction to Psychology course. Click here for more information - http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/INTRODUCTION-TO-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS101-359.aspx
Or if you are fascinated by Abnormal Behaviour, our course in Abnormal Behaviour offers a more detailed insight into this intriguing field of study. Visit - http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/ABNORMAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS307-509.aspx
Suggested Reading Our staff have written a useful e book, packed with easy to read, practical information about counselling.
It's title is "Counselling Handbook".
See
http://www.acsebook.com/products/2249-counselling-handbook.aspx
You can upload some sample pages for free to see what it looks like.
If you are unsure about studying this course, another option is to buy and read the book first, to see if Counselling is really your thing. Buy as a download now and read on an ipad, computer, laptop or book reader
Or visit our careers website for information on careers in psychology and counselling - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14
More Information on ACS Distance Education and our courses
Who are our tutors?
Our tutors are all highly experienced and professional, knowledgeable in their field of study. We have staff from around the world, enabling us to gain a wide variety of perspectives. We have a school in the UK and in Australia. If you would like to have a look at our tutors, then click on the “The School” in the boxes above and choose “The Staff” option.
Sample Course Notes
Our courses are all written by highly qualified tutors and writers, who also teach on the courses, so know them well. We strive to update our courses and improve them with new information, methods and knowledge on an ongoing basis. If you would like to see examples of some of our courses, then choose the “Enrolment” option above, and then click on “Sample Course Notes”.
What learning method should I choose?
We offer three learning methods – e-learning, correspondence and online. If you are not sure which is the right choose for you, then click on the “Enrolment” box above, then “Learning Methods.”
How Long will it take to complete the course?
This obviously varies from student to student. Some students will have more time for study than others. Some students may work quicker than others, so it is an individual thing. We estimate that most students will take, for example, 4 – 6 months to complete a 100 hour individual module, but we allow up to 12 months for you to complete it.
Longer courses will obviously take longer. You can find more information on the length of time required and so on the “Enrolment” box, then selecting “Terms and Conditions of Enrolment.”
What Do Our Students think of us?
If you would like to read comments from our previous students, then choose the “Enrolment” option above, then “Student Testimonials”.
I don’t think this is the right course for me.
If you’re not sure about this course, then why not look at our wide range of other courses. Click on the “Courses” box above.
You may also wish to design your own course to fit in with exactly what YOU want. To do so, click on the “Enrolment” box, then “Design your Own Course”.
If you would like more advice on a course, then you can contact us and ask a tutor about the courses. You can contact us by calling 0800 328 4723 or +44(0) 384 442752 or emailing info@acsedu.co.uk
Recognition and Accreditation
For more information on our recognition and accreditation, click on “The School”, then “Recognition”.
Who is ACS Distance Education?
If you want to know more about ACS and our history, then please click on “The School”, then “About us.”
