Theoretical application with Margarita. Margarita seems to be having a difficult time communicating with others. This may be because she is not being her true self. Her marriage may be suffering as a results of her inauthenticity. It is the therapist’s goal to help Margarita become her authentic self (Corey, 2013). The counselor should help Margarita learn the ways in which she is not being authentic and not being honest to herself (Corey, 2013). The counselor should also challenge Margarita to take responsibility for her actions (Corey, 2013). It is important that Margarita begins to take control of her life (Corey, 2013). Due to the flexibility of the existential theory, the counselor is free to use techniques from other theories (Corey, 2013). A counselor may use different interventions for different clients. In the first counseling session with Margarita, the counselor should challenge her to look closely at the role that she plays in the angry outbursts towards her husband. Margarita seems to want to blame her behavior on her husband. The counselor should challenge her to take responsibility for her actions. The counselor must allow Margarita to learn the source of her anger. Using the exaggeration exercise from the Gestalt approach, the …show more content…
There are some cultural considerations that a counselor should recognize. When working with Margarita, one should learn more about her culture. She is Puerto Rican but she has an African American spouse. The counselor may need to take in consideration the possible differences of communication styles. When working with Margarita individually, the counselor should make sure that he or she is not using microaggression. Asking Margarita about drug use or alcohol use may be incriminating her and she may become offended (Nadal, Mazzula, Rivera, & Fujii-Doe, 2014). Microaggressions could have a negative effect on her mental health and the counseling sessions (Nadal et al.,