Re-evaluation Counseling - Ideas

Ideas

Re-evaluation Counseling describes itself as "a process for freeing humans and society as a whole from distress patterns so that we may resume fully-intelligent functioning." Counseling is practiced in pairs ("co-counseling"), in which the participants listen to one another in turn and help one other to "discharge". No money is exchanged by the co-counselors but they pay a fee to the Re-evaluation Counseling organization when attending classes or workshops.

RC believes that everyone is born completely good or innocent, and that all human hurts are acquired. Inappropriate or hurtful behavior is caused by the unconscious "restimulation" of past hurts that have not been properly discharged. If discharge can be completed, the behavior will not be repeated. RC believes that, as a result of these past hurts, the average person "is operating on about ten percent of his or her original resources of intelligence, ability to enjoy life and ability to enjoy other people."

The RC counsellor aims to remember the fundamental goodness of the client. Client and counselor are expected to work co-operatively. The counselor is expected to listen in a non-judgmental way but also to "contradict" errors and other conditions associated with distress so as to facilitate discharge. The counselor also intervenes to "interrupt" the client's patterns. Each co-counselor has to be emotionally healthy and well-versed in co-counseling in order to work effectively together.

RC has been criticized for encouraging emotional display and discouraging analysis of its ideas or research into its effectiveness. Although its advocates refer to the theory of Re-evaluation Counseling, it has been said that RC derives from Harvey Jackins' counseling experience and that "there has been no independent attempt to verify or otherwise the key constructs of RC theory." There have been occasional papers about RC in scholarly journals. (See Further reading)

RC does not describe itself as psychotherapy and does not ally itself with any other self-help, counseling, or psychotherapy practice. RC opposes the use of psychiatric drugs and says that "mental illness does not exist." though it acknowledges that physical cerebral differences cause behaviors that are not the result of learned "hurts". John Heron compared RC with and distinguished it from primal therapy, Wilhelm Reich and Freud's early psychoanalysis when he made use of abreaction. The editor of the Brunner-Routledge series of books on "Advancing Theory in Therapy" says that while Re-evalulation Counseling is not generally regarded as a psychotherapy, "it has made and continues to make an important contribution to our understanding of human beings and human situations."

RC considers that co-counseling does not imply psychopathology on the part of co-counselors or the need for professional treatment, and that there is a need for lay counselors because of the shortage of professionals. RC says that, for the average person, co-counseling can heal emotional hurts, increase rational thought and increase one's capacity for a joyful and positive life. It has been said that, unlike professional organizations, RC lacks standards for assessing the competence of counselors or any process for handling grievances. However, teachers must apply to the central organization in Seattle and be accepted as competent before they are allowed to lead groups.

RC's has ambitious social and environmental objectives, including, "The transformation of society to a rational, peaceful, non-exploitative, classless form world-wide. The preservation of all existing species of life and the re-creation of extinguished species. The preservation of wilderness areas and the creation of a completely benign environment over most of the earth, the oceans, and the atmosphere. The exploration of, and eventually becoming at home in, space."