Chapter 1 - The Scaling Technique

This chapter focused on the use of scaling to help clients put their problems into perspective during counseling sessions.  This technique can help clients to form goals and can also measure progress over multiple counseling sessions.

As I read this chapter I can see how scaling can be useful in a variety of situations during counseling.  During a session, counselors use a scale of 1 to 10 (the actual numbers can vary) in order to find out where the clients rate themselves in a given situation.  In one particular case, scaling was used in order to reduce a client’s catastrophic thinking by measuring one event on a scale from 1 – 10 against another much worse event on a scale of 1 – 10.  This technique was also applied to assess a client’s level of motivation to change, assessment of client’s personal relationships, and suicide assessments.

This chapter presented a number of situations in which scaling was used successfully.  Because of that, I feel that this technique can be very useful in future counseling sessions if used correctly.  I think that this would be particularly helpful in cases where clients may have problems controlling their emotions.  It would help clients to put their emotions into perspective against a specific event and help them reach a healthy balanced emotional state during that same event in the future.