University Counselling Report: Critical Analysis of Personal Tape

This report presents a critical analysis of a personal tape, focusing on a teenage client experiencing insomnia and social anxiety, highlighting the role of a counselling psychologist. The analysis examines the client's background, including her cultural identity as an Indian student in Singapore, and the challenges she faces in adjusting to a new environment. The report explores the presenting issues, such as difficulties with sleep, socialization, and academic performance, and discusses the impact of cultural differences on the counselling process. It also reflects on the counsellor's approach, emphasizing the importance of empathy, maintaining eye contact, and understanding the client's perspective. The report references relevant literature and provides a comprehensive overview of the counselling session, emphasizing the need for cultural competence in addressing the client's needs and fostering a supportive therapeutic relationship.

Running head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
Critical Analysis of the Personal Tape
In the present world, the counselling psychologist tends to play a very significant role. They
help people to improve their physical, mental and even emotional problems related to health.
They are responsible for improving the sense of being well among the individuals. It is the role
of the counselling psychologist to lessen the feelings of distress and even solve the problems
which are related to the crises (Gelso, Nutt Williams & Fretz 2014). These are mainly conducted
through the process of assessment, diagnosis and even with the treatment of more severe
psychological symptoms. The client who is being diagnosed here suffers from insomnia. The
client is female in gender. The client claims that she hates going to school and do not have any
friends. The age of the child is fifteen. It is during the time of teenage, the female tends to
develop and turns into the phase of being a lady from that of the child. The child is from India
and has come to Singapore.Symptom’s like the development of the breast, adult body odor, rapid
height growth are some of the symptoms that are being seen in the child. This often leads to the
embarrassment of the females in front of the whole group. However, one point that must be kept
in mind is that the child is from India and studies in Singapore school. The language in which the
child speaks in Hindi. Though he is able to talk in the English language, she tends to have the
ascent of her culture. This, however, makes him different from the group and the other students
who are included in the school.
Presenting Issue
The age of the client is fifteen years. The gender of the child is female. She is born in India but
since the last two years, he is in Singapore with her parents. Apart from failing to sleep in the
night, she also suffers from issues in mixing with other people. She tends to remain quiet and is a
failure in making friends. It is because of her indifference to the other people, the client or the

2CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
teenage child does not like to go to school. She has already changed school many a time. It is
because of his problem of socialization, she fails to make any friends. This also indicates that she
suffers from the problem of isolation. It can be said that she suffers from problems in
socialization. It can be assumed that as she is from a different nation, the child thinks herself
different from the others and fails to communicate with them and even fails to interact. She
might think herself to be different from the lot and therefore likes to remain aloof. Being
isolated all the time also creates social anxiety among the other students. However, since he fails
to sleep in the night, it affects her health and she even suffers from lack of concentration. She
tends to be irritated most of the time. The lack of concentration also affects her academic scores
(Petzoldt et al., 2016). As a result of which she is being scolded in the school. Consequently, she
is wrongly highlighted. It is because of these reasons that she does not like mixing with the other
friends, likes remaining alone and does not like going to school.
Diversity
One of the similarities between the client or the child with myself is that of gender. The child is
is a female and therefore it is through my own experiences of development, I could relate with
her. The same gender helped me in having empathy over her issues and understand her even
more.
However, one of the dissimilarities between the cultures shared by both of us is that of the
language. The language in which the child speaks is Hindi while I belonging to the Australian
culture tend to speak in the language of English. Though the child is able to explain what he
wants through his works, fluency is something that is lacking. The culture of India is
characterized or governed by the system of the caste. Though India is purely dependent on the
system of the caste, Australia is considered to be the most democratic or classless society in the

3CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
world that is developed. It is strongly being believed that the class in which somebody is born is
not the class that somebody needs to die. another difference between the culture of the client and
my culture is that as per the culture of India, fair skin is extremely desired whereas in the
Australian culture, the people with darker skin are considered more desirable.
Reflection
The postures that the counselor maintains with the child during the counseling session is very
much important as it helps in having a great impact on the child. However, I am of the belief that
I have done a good job in the counseling section with the client. During the counseling section,
eye contact was being maintained while conversing with the child. While talking with the child,
the slight leaning posture towards the child was being undertaken by me. It helps in ensuring the
child that I am listening to him with my full concentration. However, it was being ensured by me
constantly that whatever the client said to me was being understood by me. After the client
completed telling his story, it was being repeated by me to the client to understand if there is
anything that was not being understood by me. Since the cultures between us is different from
one another, I was able to relate to his problems and understand his problems with more
empathy.

4CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERSONAL TAPE
References
Gelso, C. J., Nutt Williams, E., & Fretz, B. R. (2014). Counseling psychology. American
Psychological Association.
Petzoldt, J., Wittchen, H. U., Einsle, F., & Martini, J. (2016). Maternal anxiety versus depressive
disorders: specific relations to infants' crying, feeding and sleeping
problems. Child: care, health and development, 42(2), 231-245.