Counselling & Psychotherapy Review Singapore

Author analyses excessive screen time issues with preschool children, and how counsellors can take a better counselling approach with parents while keeping in perspective Erik Erikson’s Theory of psychosocial development impacting the child by the age of 5 years. Preschool children spend more than 2.5 hours per day on digital screens; this is against recommended guidelines of less than 1 hour per day by WHO and AAP. A literature review of research papers from online libraries by the author found that only a small percentage of children met the recommended guidelines resulting in the risk of language disorders, delayed development of physical, motor skills and cognitive abilities, obesity, sleep problems, depression and anxiety due to screen exposure. The loneliness of children is found to be the primary reason for the excessive screen time. The author suggests that counsellors help parents look beyond limiting a child’s screen time alone and improve the parental attitude toward the child’s behaviour which is the biggest barrier in managing a child’s screen time. The author’s contribution is the ‘SALT’ counselling approach emphasising listening Support, finding Alternatives, Loneliness and Time in this digital era to cater to all types of child learners - visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Why is your paper of interest to readers?

Exposure of preschool children to digital devices is more than double the recommended screen time, hampering a child’s critical personality development required as per Erik Erikson’s Theory. Counsellors need to look at other associated factors beyond screen time which affect children adversely and which are more important than just the screen time limitation prescribed as per government guidelines.

Focus: SE Asia and Outside SE Asia

(No IRB approval is sought as the paper is based on secondary research.)

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a form of anxiety disorder that is often under-diagnosed. Commonly masked as shyness or introversion, many who are suffering from symptoms of SAD do not receive treatment. The onset of SAD is in childhood and/or early adolescence, and often accompanied by a wide range of comorbidities, including anxiety and depression. As a result, those who suffer from SAD are functionally impaired, likely under-achieve in work and school, and may possibly have unfulfilling relationships. The paper, firstly, reviews various available literature on SAD, its clinical symptoms, prevalence, onset, comorbidities and possible etiologies. Secondly, a case study, constructed based on the authors’ counselling experiences and observations, highlights the common behavioural patterns, cognitive distortions and emotional distress of clients undergoing SAD. Possible perpetuating factors and circumstances further provide a relevant and realistic perspective of the disorder within the Singapore context. Finally, through a review of the unique cultures of three countries, namely Singapore, India and Indonesia, the paper highlights the effects of social competitiveness, social appearance, social hierarchy, shame, technology and social media on the development and perpetuation of SAD amongst children, adolescents and females.

Though counselling as a field has been in existence in Singapore for the last 30 years, many individuals (both members of the public and those of other professions) still do not have a clear idea of the roles played by counsellors. This indicates that counsellors’ professional identity is still fairly weak. The purpose of this study was to identify elements of practice which in-fluence the development of professional identity amongst counsellors working in tertiary educational institutions in Singapore. Using grounded theory as the main methodology, the findings from this study seek to extend the growing literature base (Chong & Ow, 2004; Low, 2015; Yeo & Lee, 2014) on the professional development of counsellors in Singapore as well as to potentially be used as the foundation for further research into future efforts to improve professional identities of counsellors in Singapore.

Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) has gained recognition globally as an effective psychotherapy and an evidence-based practice. It has seen widespread acceptance and application not only in individual, couple, and family therapy but also in diverse fields such as education, coaching and more. The IFS model was developed by Dr Richard Schwartz based on the concepts of systems therapy and multiplicity of the mind. The non-pathologising approach of IFS views the psychiatric symptoms that a client comes into counselling with, as protectors or parts forced into extreme roles caused by circumstances and experiences for the positive intention of maintaining functioning, despite negative consequences. The approach of IFS reflects compassion and its goal is to restore balance to the client’s inner system by unburdening the parts of their extreme roles, beliefs or feelings, and to restore the client’s Self to leadership. IFS offers an alternative neuroscience-informed intervention model to the stage model of treatment for trauma. The contribution of IFS is not only in the interventions itself but also in advancing therapeutic relationship and for self-therapy. This paper describes the application of IFS therapy to individuals by providing vignettes to highlight the impact of its non-pathologising approach on the client as well as the therapist in the counselling process by viewing parts from a lens of self-compassion.