Week 4

         I was able to connect to the Savickas (1995) article as I also had many feelings of indecisiveness when trying to select a career path.  I still go through various phases and feelings of confusion and anxiety as I continue to develop my future.  In high school, I had so little assistance with deciding a career path and looking back on that now, I wonder how I ever even decided anything.

         Some of the article I had trouble following but the case study was helpful.  I found the case study of the girl who did not want to sit still very interesting.  It demonstrates how a counselor assisted the girl with looking back at the past, and exploring old memories, patterns that had occurred, and where she is now (Savickas, 1995).  The girl was not decided with her major because she, finally “sat still” for her family as her father pressured her to take a premed path.  As the girl gives in to her father’s coaxing, she sits still and becomes depressed as she feels the persuasion to go into premed, but it turns out her desires were in another field, mathematics.  The case study helped illustrate the method of combing the past, present, and future. 

         I am a little skeptical of this method it takes a lot of self-awareness from the client as well as willingness to revisit the past (which may not be easy in some cases).  This method would also take a lot of interpretation from the counselor.  With this being said, I feel this method may be more applicable in some cases than others.

         It is interesting that studies in the past have led to the assumption that those who are undecided have a personality problem or defect (Savickas, 2995).  According to these studies, undecided people are less accomplished and less mature.  I am pleased to see that researchers are now seeing career growth in a more positive light.  If it were true, that those who are undecided are less mature, I feel that nearly every person would fit that category one way or another.  Perhaps when we look at other aspects of life, not just careers, we can see how indecisive humans really are.  Here are a few examples that may lead to indecisive feelings:  purchasing a new car, purchasing electronics, deciding on a job, a future school to attend, location to live, type of home to live in or purchase, number of children you wish to have, type of pet, style of haircut and so on.  I am pleased to see that more recent studies have moved away from such pessimistic views on indecisiveness because I am sure at some point in our life, we all have faced these feelings, career related or not. 

Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. The    Career Development Quarterly,43(4), 363-373.