Advantages of Individual Counseling
The advantages of an individual counseling as opposed to group counseling are multiple:
•First, it allows the counselor to work in isolated issues.
•Second, the counselor caters only to one client.
•Third, the information gathered is easier for the counselor to figure out and to be able to apply which treatment approach is most useful to the client and target behavior that needs improvement.
•The client’s thoughts and behaviors may not be distorted compared with group counseling as several pattern of thoughts and behaviors from other group members in making choices and decision making.
•The client has the power to change his life for the better based on the choices he make.
•In addition to this, he can control his behavior and that the level of commitment and how hard he is willing to work will dictate how successful he will be in developing new behaviors that clearly communicate his needs in accordance with William Glasser’s Reality Therapy.
Disadvantages of Individual Therapy
•The disadvantages of an individual therapy include the client’s choice is solely from him.
•The client may not able to generate ideas from other members' pattern of thoughts and behaviors just like in a group setting especially if others have similar issues and experiences which could help him make better choices and decision making.
Group counseling is more in consonance with the Control Theory, later named Choice Theory, forwarded by William Glasser. This theory states that a person’s behavior is inspired by what that person wants or needs at that particular time, not on an outside stimulus.
That all living creatures control their behavior to fulfill their need for satisfaction in one or more of these five areas: survival, to belong and be loved by others, to have power and importance, freedom and independence, and to have fun. The most important need among the five is love and belongingness. Group counseling promotes this kind...