Values Clarification (A counsellors guide)

This blog aims to provide you details about values clarification.

Values clarity is a psychotherapy method that can also allow people to become more mindful of certain beliefs that could have an effect on personal choices and behavior.

This strategy can provide an opportunity for an individual to focus on personal moral dilemmas and to examine and explain values.

This method can be useful for self-improvement, improved well-being, and relationships with others.

Therapy often offers an opportunity for clarification of principles.

Values Calficiation in Therapy

Value identification methods are also used as part of counseling.

People may enter therapy with a scale of mental and physical health issues that arise from a lack of ability to resolve ethical dilemmas as a result of undetermined values.

Such problems can include conditions such as anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and overall poor physical health. 

A therapist may use value reinforcement to help a person explore and define values when the individual’s well-being appears to be impaired.

Values clarification methods often help people to learn more about themselves and to develop reasonable goals, and therapy often provides a safe environment where people can comprehend each other and to create their own set of principles and to realize their motivations and traits.

A successful therapist should be flexible to recognize value structures that differ from the therapist’s own values because it is perceived to be immoral for therapists to compel people to adopt the same set of values as their own. 

Values clarification therapy intends to minimize mental anguish and enhance healthy behaviors through reinforcement.

It allows those in counseling to recognize and articulate beliefs that affect their actions and behavior and encourages them to draw on their inner resources and abilities Somebody who has researched their personal values in treatment is often able to spot what will enable them to operate properly in life and thus be able to make more self-directed selections.

Why This Technique Is Important For CBT

Clarifying patient principles is essential to mental health care.

Surveys of people using mental health services in England have revealed that a common concern is that “treatment has been provided to them rather than formed by them” and that people “want to be listened to, to have their experience validated, to be treated as an individual and not just a collection of symptoms, and to be given hope” (Brabban et al., 2017).

Values clarity is especially important in CBT as some people can see CBT as a “professional psychological intervention that gives priority to methods or approaches over relationships and values.

Values clarity is also critical for CBT (and other therapeutic interventions) as an evaluation method.

In other words, patients receiving CBT should list their treatment goals at the start of treatment and then determine whether the therapy was based on those goals (Heapy et al . , 2018).

It provides a more objective assessment of how effective treatment has been.

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ( ACT), a type of CBT, the aim is “to enhance functioning by enhancing psychological resilience, described as the ability to act efficiently in accordance with personal values in the presence of negative personal feelings such as pain or suffering” (Wicksell et al, 2007).

People experiencing CBT who are conscious of their values may use these values as a means of avoiding some discomfort, such as overcoming shyness in order to fulfill one’s social value, for example.

This is particularly helpful for exposure therapy when someone needs to face immediate uneasiness for long-term wellness.

Since value systems can be “partially or fully unaware” (Vyskocilova et al., 2015), the interpretation of values is an insightful exercise for both the client and their advisor.

That is, the definition of values can help the therapist better understand what the patient needs out of therapy (and life in general), but it can also do the same for the patient themselves if their beliefs are unconscious.

Because value structures can be unconscious, clarity of values can be beneficial both in and out of a therapy environment.

Values Clarification Worksheets & Activities

For those who want to try to explain principles for themselves or for their practice, here are some valuable worksheets:

Values Clarification from Therapist Aid

This worksheet has a long checklist of optimized parameters and directs the customers to select and score the 10 most important values.

The worksheet not only allows people to define their values but also enables them to assess the relative significance of each value.

It is an important step in recognizing one’s belief system.

Values Clarification from PsychPoint

This clarification value worksheet goes a little deeper than the above worksheet.

It asks about one’s basic values, but it also asks about the basic values of one’s parent and other aspects of one’s life, such as life lessons learned.

It is a perfect way to know the core values of others, as well as a little bit about why they hold those principles

Clarifying Your Values

This is another worksheet of clarification value, but it is more insightful than the first two.

The workbook includes information on the clarification of values and also discusses a value clarification activity called The Bull’s Eye, where people can analyze their dedication to their values in different aspects of their lives.

It is a perfect choice for someone who wants to know more about beliefs and principles in various realms of life.

Recommended Books

The following is a list of some of the best books on values clarification. All of these books are easily accessible on the Amazon Store.

Just click the book you wish to study and you will be redirected to the page from where you can access it.

• Values Clarification by Sidney Simon
• Values Clarification in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Practical Strategies for Individual and Group Settings by Howard Kirschenbaum
• Values in Therapy: A Clinician’s Guide to Helping Clients Explore Values, Increase Psychological Flexibility, and Live a More Meaningful Life by Jenna LeJeune Ph.D. and Jason B. Luoma PhD
• Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students by Sidney B. Simon, Leland W. Howe, et al.
• Discovering Your Authentic Core Values: A step-by-step guide by Marc Alan Schelske

What is a values clarification exercise?

Clarification of Values is indeed a common therapeutic exercise that can assist a client to become even more conscious of their belief systems and ways of living up to them, or not.

Developing this knowledge would encourage your customers to make meaningful lifestyle improvements so that they can properly live up to their values.

What is the goal of value clarification?

The goal of ” values clarification” is for you to become completely aware of their impact, and to discover and truthfully recognize what you really value in your life at this time.

What are the steps in values clarification?

The steps in values clarification include choice, value and action.

The choice is the right in every manner to practice one’s freedoms. Value is referred to as worth in the usefulness or significance of the possessor.

Last but not least, the action is something that’s achieved. 

Why is values clarification beneficial for nurses?

The value of seeking support as spiritual persistence contributes to emotional disengagement is recommended to the nurses.

As a tool to cope with social problems in practice, an important approach is proposed as a way for nurses to recognize their personal and professional abilities.

What are the six types of values?

The six types of values include individualistic values, family values, professional values, national values, moral values, spiritual values, and conflict of values.

What are the values in psychology?

In psychology, value refers to the relative emphasis an entity places on a part of their life object, concept, human, etc.

Those emotions are personally special.

This blog explained in detail the concept of values clarification. If you have any questions or queries regarding this blog, let us know through your comments.

We will be glad to assist you in this regard.

References 

Values Clarification Therapy, Values Clarification Therapist

Values Clarification: How Reflection On Core Values Is Used In CBT by Joaquín Selva (2019)

Amazon.com 

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