Toward a Woman-Centered Perspective of Careers: The Quilt Metaphor

The author proposes the artist and her quilt as a metaphor for the woman and her career. She suggests that quilts and quilting provide a woman-centered context to help counselors gain an understanding of women's lives and work.     

Self-Other Differentiation and the Mother-Child Relationship: The Effects of Sex and Birth Order

We examined the effect of sex and birth order on the experience of a separate sense of self and its connection to mothers' differential involvement with sons and daughters. Results from two samples of college-age students are reported. Men showed a more separate sense of self than women, and mothers were reported to be more highly involved with and intrusive in the lives of their daughters than their sons. Results for birth order were consistent though not always statistically significant: First-born women had the least separate sense of self and reported the greatest degree of maternal involvement and intrusiveness. Implications of these findings for developmental theory and criteria of Psychological well-being are discussed.     

Sisters of the Heart Along the Way: The Power of the Female Mentoring Relationship

Women's mentoring relationships with other women can have powerful effects on professional development and enrich the lives of both mentor and protégée. Women psychology students and early career psychologists are tasked with integrating their personal and professional identities and overcoming gender-related barriers to professional growth and career success. Mentors provide assistance negotiating these and other challenges to the junior professional's development. The author shares her experience as a woman student and early career psychologist in the context of her relationship with her woman mentor. She discusses her reconciliation of stereotyped beliefs about being a woman and a professional psychologist; processes significantly influenced by powerful characteristics of her mentoring relationship such as supportive encouragement, modeling, transparency, and spiritual connectedness. The author then explores the link between the relational qualities in the mentoring relationship and an enhanced overall approach to clinical work with patients. Last, the benefits of women's intimate relationships are discussed, followed by references that explore benefits and challenges, and models and strategies for women mentoring women. The author concludes that as a sister of the heart relationship, the mentoring bond between women can be a healing and empowering attachment.     

The Wounded Counselor: Battle for the Soul at an Elite Private School

A Jungian analyst describes her experiences as a counselor in an independent school. Inspired to work in a nontherapeutic setting by James Hillman's call for “a depth psychology of extraversion,” she initially finds the school tolerant of human vulnerability and shadow and receptive to her efforts to engage with psyche on the individual and group levels. However, under new leadership the school goes through a radical change and certain forces ascendant in the larger collective—technology, globalization, rationalism, and stepped-up demand for measurable outcomes—come to dominate the school's values and culture. The author explores the impact of these changes on her own role as well as on the social, emotional, and psychological lives of the students. Although tempted to despair over the marginalization of psyche in an increasingly dehumanized world, she also finds cause for optimism in the upcoming generation of young people, which she sees as possessing remarkable psychological and relational intelligence. She ventures some observations about the unique struggles and gifts of the millennial generation, coming of age in the hyperconnected era of the Internet and largely outside the purview of the adults in their lives. Given the culture's failure to provide the psychological eldering these young people crave, she suggests that Jungians are uniquely qualified to fill this role and urges depth psychologists to consider the possibilities that exist in schools for fostering individuation, initiation, and other forms of soul-making. Finally, she explores some ideas for “emotional intelligence” programs grounded not in the standard cognitive-behavioral approaches but in imaginal, archetypal, and psychodynamic perspectives.     

Disorders of excessive crying,feeding, and sleeping: The Munich Interdisciplinary Research and Intervention Program

The Munich Interdisciplinary Research and Intervention Program (MIRIP 1991) is an inter-disciplinary diagnostic and intervention service for families with regulatory disturbed infants (excessive crying, feeding/sleeping disturbances, disturbances of attachment/exploration, disturbances of autonomy/control). In addition, the systematic collection of data serve to investigate the etiology, clinical course, and possible treatments of regulatory problems in infancy. The program is based on a systemic model of early developmental psychopathology. Diagnostic procedures include a semistructured clinical interview, a developmental neuropediatric examination; behavioral diaries; questionnaires on infant temperament, the mother's psychological condition, marital satisfaction, and social support; and videotaped mother–infant interactions in age-related contexts. As is evident from the data analysis, regulatory disturbances in infancy may be associated with (1) maladaptive regulatory patterns in several domains (e.g., excessive crying and disturbed sleep-wake organization), (2) high maternal distress and multiple psychosocial risk factors, and (3) considerable distress of the early mother/parent–infant relationship and communication. Interaction-centered infant–parent psychotherapy is an interdisciplinary, multidimensional therapeutic approach for families with regulatory disturbed infants. It targets upon dysfunctional patterns of mother/parent–infant communication. Particular emphasis is put on restoring the parents' intuitive capacities. The approach has proved to be effective within short time periods and aims at preventing later developmental problems. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Integral Psychology: My Spiritually Based Guiding Metatheory of Counseling

This article explains the author's guiding theory of counseling based on her understanding and adaptation of K. Wilber's (2000b) integral psychology (IT). She discusses, from an IT perspective, how the psyche develops and changes and the role of counseling in change. She explains her particular resonance to IT, which she considers an inherently developmental, multicultural, systemic, and spiritual metatheory that brings order to the multiplicity of other counseling theories. The author hopes that readers will find in this article both a useful contribution to their own counseling perspectives and practices and a stimulus for further discourse regarding the infusion of spirituality into counseling.     

Relationships Between Dimensions of Depressive Experience and Perceptions of the Lives of People in General

This study examines relationships between depression and perceptions of the lives of people in general. One hundred fourteen college students completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976), and two instruments that asked subjects to make judgments about the frequency of various positive and negative outcomes in other people's lives. Highly Dependent and highly Self-Critical women perceived people's lives as characterized by much misfortune, failure, and unhappiness. Unexpectedly, Efficacy scores, which are negatively related to depression, were also associated with negative perceptions of people's lives in women. Among the men, overall depression was not related to perceptions of how frequently people succeed at specific, concrete life tasks, but depressed subjects perceived others as experiencing a tow level of subjective well-being. Implications for the notion of a depressive negative bias toward the self are discussed.     

employers' perceptions of transition programming for students with emotional disturbances

This qualitative study compiled input from employers (N = 7) participating in a program geared to prepare high school students with emotional disturbances for post‐high‐school employment situations. Data were collected through open‐ended interviews related to 4 research questions and analyzed through thematic and comparative analysis. Results showed a link between the skills employers desired from their employees and skills needed for students with emotional disturbances to be successful. Employers' recommendations included measures to address prior to program implementation and ways to create strong support systems for students with disabilities.     

“Nature and Society Give Women a Great Habit of Suffering”: Germaine de Staël's Feminism and Its Challenges

Germaine de Staël (1766–1817), despite having published a considerable body of work, is seldom regarded as a feminist philosopher. Unlike, for instance, Mary Wollstonecraft of the same period, Staël is not directly arguing for the equality of the sexes. She even, at times, makes surprisingly derogatory remarks about women's nature. I argue that she is nevertheless putting forward a brand of difference feminism, which deserves our attention as a contribution to feminist reflections on gender norms in the early modern era. Staël's contribution takes the form of a plea for the improvement of women's lives that engages with the combined action of nature and society. I clarify the meaning that we should ascribe to Staël's frequent appeals to nature and argue that, for her, society and education should be used to correct (alleged) natural weaknesses instead of reinforcing them. I also give an overview of Staël's political proposals toward the improvement of women's lives, which call for a better form of political regime than the one she lived in, as well as a better access to education and a more egalitarian conception of marriage.     

The Effects of Stress on the Lives of Emerging Adult College Students: An Exploratory Analysis

This study systematically analyzed the personal reports of 20 emerging adult college students with regard to how stress affects their lives. Qualitative analyses revealed that stress influenced students' lives in both positive and negative ways. Implications of these findings for physical and mental health are discussed. Recommendations for counseling practice are provided.     

Recovery and Renewal: Journey of Hope to the Gulf Coast

When a group of 20 college students and seven adult leaders traveled to the Gulf Coast to repair houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina, they did not realize the multiple ways that they themselves would be renewed. Finding God in the struggle, celebrating diversity, and living with gratitude became the result that subtly changed many lives. Fredrica R. Halligan, Ph.D. is a spiritually-oriented clinical psychologist. She is currently Director of the Counseling Center at Western Connecticut State University and author of Listen Deeply to God: Exploring Spirituality in an Interreligious Age.     

Balancing Personal and Professional Lives:

Graduate women have unique concerns as they cope with graduate school and attempt to balance their personal lives and relationships with their professional identity and achievements. In this article a review of women's developmental issues and the conflicts that women experience in graduate school will be described. Clinical observations of support groups for graduate women will be presented. The central themes described by both master's and doctoral level women who participated in these graduate women's support groups will be identified and discussed.     

The Assessment and Treatment of Gender-Disturbed Boys by Guidance Counselors

This article discusses the guidance counselor's occasional involvement in the assessment and treatment of male children exhibiting gender disturbances. Boyhood gender disturbances are differentiated into two different but closely related syndromes: cross-gender identification and gender behavior disturbance. Specific diagnostic procedures and issues are discussed, among them the rationale for psychoeducational intervention. The article considers the developmental problems suffered by gender-disturbed boys and examines the relatively poor prognosis for untreated individuals. The text outlines specific treatment interventions to increase the child's range of masculine behaviors so there is a reasonable balance between masculine and feminine behavior. Reasonable sex-role flexibility and satisfaction with one's own biological sex status are the treatment goals.     

Living in the soap bubble: the infertile couple and the standstill of the transcendent function in the treatment of an adolescent girl1

Abstract: This paper considers disturbances of identity and developmental breakdown in the phase of ‘emergent adulthood’ with young adults together with a disturbance of the capacity of the Self for coniunctio. It is proposed that the capacity for effective intrapsychic linking as conceptualized in analytic psychology with the concepts of the coniunctio and the transcendent function, is disturbed because of an unconscious identification with an infertile ‘couple’. This unconscious couple fantasy can lead to a standstill of the transcendent function and prevents the growth of meaning via the linking between parts of the psyche. This can lead to considerable clinical disturbances. A clinical vignette from the treatment of an adolescent girl should illustrate these hypotheses. The patient had developed a not good enough internal space and she suffered from fragmentation anxieties. She tried to control these anxieties by obsessive behaviour and by forms of adhesive identification. The standstill of the transcendent function was manifested when the patient developed a negative therapeutic reaction.     

Expanding Perspectives: Systemic Approaches to College Students Experiencing Depression

Family and peer systems significantly influence college students' mental health. Nevertheless, many clinicians use treatment models that fail to consider multiple factors from different systems of individuals' lives. The authors discuss research highlighting the influence of students' systems on their mental health, specifically depression. Next, they provide a brief introduction to systems theory and approaches and use 2 case illustrations to present systemic approaches for treating students with depression. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

A note on E. B. Titchener and G. M. Whipple

In 1898, one of E. B. Titchener's graduate students, Stella E. Sharp, conducted an experiment on Alfred Binet and Victor Henri's theory and belief that mental abilities should be tested by means of complex mental processes. Her subjects were seven advanced students in psychology. She concluded that the findings were incommensurate with the effort required. That closed the subject as an area of research and instruction in the Cornell Department of Psychology until 1941, when the subject of test theory and uses was included in that department's course offerings. This continued until 1963. Currently, the subject is once again being actively pursued in the Department of Education.     

Career Development: An Outline of Issues for Men

Career development is central to men's lives because occupation is closely welded to male identity. Specific issues discussed in this article include: sex role stereotypes and men's careers; the male equation of occupational success and high self esteem; the balancing of work, personal attachments and recreation; traditional and nontraditional careers; male-female employment combinations; developmental issues of mid-life and retirement; and high consumption (the result/motivator of occupational success?). Men will continue to need clearly conceptualized and highly skilled help with career development issues.     

Multiple birth and its influence on the mothering experience: A case study of parent/infant psychotherapy with quadruplets

The treatment of a mother of quadruplets during the first year of the infants' lives serves as a case example of the issues associated with a multiple birth and how these issues can be addressed via parent/infant psychotherapy. Issues concerning an individual's self-esteem, dependency, envy, and competency as a parent are exaggerated by a multiple birth. The ensuing developmental crisis provides an ideal opportunity for therapeutic work.     

Instruction in developmental psychology and its influence on self-concept

This study was designed to explore the influence of a unit of instruction in developmental psychology upon the self-concept and academic achievement of 13-year-old adolescents. Participants were 82 junior high school students in British Columbia. Forty-three students received ten 45-minute instructional sessions dealing with the principles of adolescent development; 39 students served as a control group. It was concluded that the unit of instruction did not significantly improve self-concept. The short duration of treatment was identified as the most probable factor in the failure to achieve change. A positive relationship was established between the achievement scores on the knowledge test of developmental psychology and self-concept.