COUNSED 250 · INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING · UNIT 2
Theoretical Foundations: From Freud to Attachment
This unit also covers Anxiety and Overwhelm
Theoretical Foundations
Psychology Founders
1870 – 1890
William James explored consciousness and experience, laying the earliest groundwork for psychology as its own field of study.
Theoretical Foundations
Architects
1890 – 1930
Theoretical Foundations
Behaviorists
1900 – 1950
Skinner, Watson, and Pavlov held that what is observable is measurable — and scientific.
Theoretical Foundations
Humanists
1930 – 1970
Rogers, Horney, Maslow, and Stack-Sullivan all focused on:
- Interpersonal relationships
- Identity development
- The impact of culture
- Empathy and authenticity
Theoretical Foundations
Biologists & Family Systemics
1940–1980. Bowlby and Ainsworth viewed relationship as a biological drive toward safety and security.
1950–1980. Bowen, Satir, Minuchin, and Haley focused on family structure and multigenerational patterns.
Theoretical Foundations
Existentialists & Cognitivists
1950–1970. Frankl and May, following philosophical and cultural trends, focused on the human drive and strength to create meaning.
1950–1990. Beck, Ellis, and Bandura focused on social modeling, belief systems, and ways of thinking.
Theoretical Foundations
Emotion and Attachment & Constructivists and Postmodernists
1970–present. Greenberg, Johnson, Hazan, Shaver, and Fonagy extended attachment into adulthood, describing the emotional bonds between couples.
1980–present. White, Epston, de Shazer, Kim-Berg, Miller, and Rollnick emphasized people as creators of their own lives — the narrative development of personal story.
Theoretical Foundations
Mindfulness
1980 – present
Kabat-Zinn, Linehan, and Hayes brought forward:
- Present awareness
- Acceptance
- Psychological flexibility
- Distress tolerance
- Dialectics
Theoretical Foundations
Trauma
1990 – present
Herman, van der Kolk, Perry, Schore, and Siegel connected personal trauma and attachment to a neurobiological foundation — focusing on how identity develops through nervous-system emotional responses grounded in biological safety.
Theoretical Foundations
Where We Are Now
- A neurological connection between emotion, bonding, and relationship drives behavior and thought.
- Regulation happens through somatic practices — meditation, prayer, guided experience.
- New approaches engage the brain's stored synaptic memory — subconscious defenses held in the body (EMDR, deep brain stimulation).
- Medicine has expanded from the Prozac era into psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin.
- Economics and culture matter — ACEs, race, and culture shape development.
- Maturity means synchronizing emotional response: reacting when real threat exists, and increasingly able to see things as non-threatening.
Unit 2 · Topic Two
Anxiety and Overwhelm
Anxiety
A Nervous System Response
Anxiety is just a nervous system response that shows up as thoughts, emotions, and physiological responses — worry, an increased heart rate, fear, and more.
Worry that bad things might happen, or that other people think X about me. It's protective and can be confirmed by experience — but might still be unhelpful.
Can feel the same physiologically as worry, but is experienced differently. Both are anticipatory.
Anxiety
Safety, Threat & Regulation
Anxiety is a cognitive and physiological response to sympathetic and parasympathetic activity — that is, to safety and threat.
Our goal is to synchronize real threat and fake threat. We want to react when real threat exists — but not react when it does not.
Anxiety
How Anxiety Shows Up
- Worry
- Rumination
- Concern
- Fear
- Nervousness — and more
Often the response is to control — but it can also appear more chaotic.
Anxiety
A Spectrum, Not a Diagnosis
Seen not only as a clinical condition, but as a spectrum of human experience. We all have it, and are constantly — consciously and unconsciously — putting energy into synchronizing, or finding equilibrium.
Not enough fear response
Synchronized
Too much fear response
Equilibrium might favor a greater fear response, or not fear enough.
Stress, Overwhelm
Stress
We feel stressed when we evaluate environmental demand as beyond our ability to cope successfully. This includes elements of unpredictability, uncontrollability, and feeling overloaded.
Solution — sometimes control, sometimes boundaries.
Stress, Overwhelm
Overwhelm
An extreme level of stress — an emotional and/or cognitive intensity to the point of feeling unable to function. It reduces cognitive and emotional accuracy.
“Our lives are somehow unfolding faster than the human nervous system and psyche are able to manage well.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Solution — rest.
Self-check: On a scale of 1–10 — I feel my emotions at about a ___. I pay attention to them at about a ___. I understand them at about a ___.
Anxiety and Overwhelm
Vulnerability
Not weakness — but acknowledgment of:
- Uncertainty — we haven't learned yet
- Lack of control — before we decide if we need it
- Disconnection — desiring a relationship that isn't satisfying
- And maybe more
Solution — courage to be curious, and effort to grow.