ABSTRACT
The ultimate aim of counselling is to enable a person to be their own therapist so that they can independently cope with difficulties that have arisen through irrational beliefs they may have adopted, or events from the past that they have realized are influencing their reactions and responses to situations now. But a person will need to bear in mind that one will probably retain a default position to avoid their assuming the attitudes and ways of thinking that caused a person trouble in the first place. If one has been endeavouring in a matter of months to undo patterns of unproductive thinking acquired perhaps over many years, it is hardly surprising if one does not always maintain a steady pace. One of the objectives of counselling is to help people recognize situations, which could elicit unhealthy emotions and behaviour so that they can apply a constructive strategy to counter them before the old habits take hold.
