Adrian van Kaam, (1920–2007)

On the 10th anniversary of her doctoral dissertation on the psychology of fame and celebrity, Donna Rockwell shares a journal entry from that time related to working with her qualitative data. Donna was mentored by the late Clark Moustakas, Ph.D., at the Center for Humanistic Studies (now the Michigan School of Professional Psychology), in both Heuristic and Transcendental Phenomenological research methods (Moustakas, 1990 Moustakas , C. ( 1990 ). Heuristic research. Design, methodology, and applications . Newbury Park , CA : Sage .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1994 Moustakas , C. ( 1994 ). Phenomenological research methods . Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Exploring the mysteries of human experience as sacred ground, Donna describes her way of being-with the lived-world of her research participants.     

The complexities of undertaking counselling evaluation in the workplace

There is a long-standing debate over whether evaluation is an art or a science (Barker et al.: Research Methods in Clinical and Counselling Psychology, Chichester, John Wiley?&?Sons, 1994). The “science” camp argues for scientific rigour in methodology, whilst the “art” camp maintains that evaluation should be tailored to the specific circumstances under evaluation. The compromise proposed by Barker, Pistrang,?&?Elliot (1994 Barker, C, Pistrang, N and Elliot, R. 1994. Research methods in clinical and counselling psychology, Chichester: John Wiley?&?Sons.  [Google Scholar]) suggests that evaluation should be as systematic as possible within the practical and organizational constraints inherent in service settings. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the literature on evaluation and workplace counselling. The paper initially reviews the literature in the counselling/psychotherapy field, and then explores studies on employee assistance programmes. The themes that are explored are the relationship between research and practices; the interactions with stakeholders in the field; the use of control groups and the economic side of counselling.     

Some ethical concerns about counselling research

The whole approach of counselling researchers to ethics may be assumed to have been improving in recent years, especially with the BACP research guidelines (Bond, 2004 Bond, T. 2004. Ethical guidelines for researching counselling and psychotherapy. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 4(2): 4–9. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]), with its focus on trustworthiness and on the researcher engaging with ethical issues. In this paper we share our concerns about the background to ethical decision making for researchers today followed by our specific concerns for counselling researchers namely: why do counselling research at all?; research that hurts participants; the impact of research on the therapeutic process; restrictive notions around what is data; the politics of funding and informed consent revisited.     

Connecting confusions with painful realities: Group analytic psychotherapy for adults with learning disabilities

Developments in the psychodynamic understanding of individuals with learning disabilities (LD) ¹ This recently-adopted term is used here. Earlier authors have used other terms to refer to such clients, including ‘mental retardation’, ‘subnormality’, ‘handicap’, and ‘learning difficulties’. View all notes have included the exploration of the relationships between biological and psychosocial vulnerabilities, and emphasis on separation and individuation processes. While the normalisation movement encourages access to mainstream counselling and psychotherapy services, confusions persist about the suitability of people with LD for analytic psychotherapies. Given some recent positive accounts of group psychotherapy, in this paper we aim to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with an outpatient analytic group for adults with LD.

The group's background, members, material, and outcomes illustrate the emerging themes of confusions, connections, and painful realities for adults with LD. Attempts to understand individual and group transference and therapists' countertransference emphasised the primacy of dependence, handicap, and loss within the content and process of the group.

We encourage further consideration of the psychodynamics, service, and research issues involved in psychotherapy for adults with LD.     

Taking counselling and psychotherapy outside: Destruction or enrichment of the therapeutic frame?

This paper will explore emerging issues in the practice of counselling and psychotherapy in the outdoors, which the authors encountered when they took their clients outside of the traditional therapy room. The outdoors is defined as natural areas and spaces, such as woods and parks which have been termed ‘nearby nature’ (Kaplan &; Kaplan, 1989 Kaplan, R. Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature a psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press [Google Scholar]) and also more remote areas such as mountains and moors which are more isolated from civilisation, what some have termed wilderness (Mcfarlane, 2007). Particular emphasis will be given to the ‘frame’ of psychotherapy and how aspects of this are affected by moving outdoors, in particular contracting in relation to confidentiality and timing. The relationship in psychotherapy will be explored in relation to issues of mutuality and asymmetry alongside the role of nature in the therapeutic process. Lastly the challenges and therapeutic potential of psychotherapy in nature will be explored.     

The career development of Christiaan Neethling Barnard: A psychobiography

This study employs a psychobiographical case study to describe and interpret the career development of Christiaan Neethling Barnard, who performed the first human heart transplant. It interprets Barnard's life history according to the career development model of Greenhaus, Callanan and Godshalk (2010), which proposes the following four stages: occupational and organisational choice, early, middle, and late career. Generally, Barnard's career progression matched the stages proposed by Greenhaus et al. (2010 Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., & Godschalk, V. M. (2010). Career management (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage. [Google Scholar]). Exceptions were noted that relate to the first and fourth stages: Barnard experienced an extended occupational and organisational choice stage, while he showed no signs of career disengagement during the late career stage. The study confirmed the usefulness of the career development model of Greenhaus et al. within the psychobiographical research tradition.     

Counselling in Action: A multimodal assessment and rational emotive behavioural approach to stress counselling: a case study

This paper demonstrates how the multimodal approach, developed by Arnold Lazarus (1989 Lazarus A.A. 1989 The practice of multimodal therapy: systematic, comprehensive and effective psychotherapy Baltimore John Hopkins University Press  [Google Scholar]), can be used to aid assessment of a client suffering from the effects of chronic, work-related stress. A rationale is provided for integrating the multimodal approach with rational emotive behaviour therapy theory, techniques and strategies (Kwee & Ellis, 1997 Kwee M. Ellis A. 1997 Can multimodal and rational emotive therapy be reconciled? Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy 15 2 95 132 [Crossref] [Google Scholar]). A modality profile and a second order BASIC I.D. profile were developed and used as the link between assessment and the stress counselling programme (Palmer, 1992 Palmer, S. 1992. Multimodal assessment and therapy; a systematic, technically eclectic approach to counselling, psychotherapy and stress management. Counselling, 3(4): 220–224.  [Google Scholar]). A range of assessment tools were used to assess progress and a session by session report is provided.     

Interpersonal Subtypes in Social Phobia: Diagnostic and Treatment Implications

Interpersonal assessment may provide a clinically useful way to identify subtypes of social phobia. In this study, we examined evidence for interpersonal subtypes in a sample of 77 socially phobic outpatients. A cluster analysis based on the dimensions of dominance and love on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–Circumplex Scales (Alden, Wiggins, &; Pincus, 1990 Alden, L. E. and Phillips, N. 1990. An interpersonal analysis of social anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14: 499–513. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found 2 interpersonal subtypes of socially phobic patients. These subtypes did not differ on pretreatment global symptom severity as measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993 Derogatis, L. R. 1993. Brief Symptom Inventory: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual , (4th ed.), Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson Assessments, Inc.  [Google Scholar]) or diagnostic comorbidity but did exhibit differential responses to outpatient psychotherapy. Overall, friendly-submissive social phobia patients had significantly lower scores on measures of social anxiety and significantly higher scores on measures of well-being and satisfaction at posttreatment than cold-submissive social phobia patients. We discuss the results in terms of interpersonal theory and the clinical relevance of assessment of interpersonal functioning prior to beginning psychotherapy with socially phobic patients.     

The Teaching Alliance Inventory: Evaluating the student-instructor relationship in clinical and counselling psychology training

The Teaching Alliance Inventory (TAI) was developed to measure the quality of the student-instructor relationship in graduate clinical and counselling psychology classrooms. Based on Bordin's (1983) original concept of the alliance as fundamental to the change process in psychotherapy, we developed the TAI to measure aspects of the classroom relationship that may be fundamental to learning essential skills of counselling and clinical psychology. Factor analysis revealed six subscales, four representing interpersonal variables not evaluated in traditional teaching effectiveness measures. We demonstrated internal consistency and split-half reliability with a large sample of graduate students and described evidence for the scale's face validity and content validity. Construct validity was supported by significant correlations between the TAI and its subscales with an established measure of teaching effectives and its logically related subscales (SEEQ; Marsh, 1987 Marsh, HW. 1987. Students’ evaluations of university teaching: Research findings, methodological issues, and directions for future research. International Journal of Educational Research, 11(Whole Issue 3): 253–288.  [Google Scholar]). The TAI may supplement traditional assessments of instructor quality by providing feedback regarding interpersonal impact in the classroom.     

Islamophobia and the therapeutic dialogue: Some reflections

In the atmosphere of fear and controversy that surrounds Muslims at this moment in time it is hardly surprising that they feel unable to voice their fears and concerns openly. Added to this is the fact that Muslims already underutilize mental health services (Patel et al., 2000 Patel, N, Bennett, E, Dennis, M, Dosanjh, N, Matitani, A, Miller, A and Nadirshaw, Z. 2000. Clinical Psychology: ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’: A training manual, Leicester: The British Psychological Society.  [Google Scholar]). In the counselling arena four distinct aspects of the counselling relationship are affected. First, the therapeutic alliance, second, the socio-political context in which counselling occurs, third, the awareness of personal characteristics and competencies that facilitate multicultural counselling and, finally, the training requirements of multicultural counsellors. This paper seeks to consider each of these aspects of the therapeutic encounter with regard to Muslim clients.     

An Empirical Test of the Relationship Between Employee Theft and Low Self-Control

Although Gottfredson and Hirschi (1987, 1990 Gottfredson , M. and T. Hirschi . 1990. A General Theory of Crime . Stanford , CA : Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar]) maintain that low self-control can account for white-collar/corporate offending, there have been few and inconclusive empirical tests in this area. One area of white-collar crime, in particular, which could benefit from an examination of the role of low self-control in predicting offending, is employee theft. Although employee theft is one of the more costly and pervasive crimes impacting the American economy each year, there has been very little research examining the role of individual characteristics and personality traits in predicting this type of deviant behavior. The current research is a preliminary attempt at integrating the two bodies of literature, employee theft and low self-control.     

Pragmatic Psychodynamic Psychotherapy—Bridging Contemporary Psychoanalytic Clinical Practice and Evidence-Based Psychodynamic Practice

Pragmatic psychodynamic psychotherapy (PPP; Summers & Barber, 2009 Barber, J. P. 2009. Toward a working through of some core conflicts in psychotherapy research. Psychother. Res, 19(1): 1–12. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) describes the therapeutic principles and approaches found in many forms of manualized psychodynamic psychotherapies, which are being used in research studies with the aim of building an evidence-based psychodynamic practice. This article focuses on one such treatment, Supportive-expressive psychotherapy (SEP; Luborsky 1984), which employs the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method to formulate core interpersonal problems and treatment goals and identify therapeutic interventions. To illustrate SEP, we describe the 40-session treatment of a patient who met diagnostic criteria for several personality disorders. The case illustrates how complex ego-syntonic character pathology is expressed in CCRT terms and worked through in the transference, gradually becoming ego-dystonic and amenable to modification. In this case, the patient became more aware of his interpersonal wishes and vulnerability. Although his anxiety increased somewhat, he had an improvement in psychosocial functioning.     

Illicit Sexual Behavior: A Test of Self-Control Theory

Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990 Gottfredson , Michael and Travis Hirschi . 1990 . A General Theory of Crime . Standford , CA : Standford University Press . [Google Scholar]) contend that all deviance is subsumed under self-control theory and that individuals who commit any one deviant act will tend to commit other deviant acts as well. This research tests the correlation of illicit sexual behaviors with crime as they relate to measures of self-control. Secondly, this research examines the Gottfredson and Hirschi argument that their theory is a “general theory” and predicts all forms of deviance whereby low self-control is a predictor of both sexual deviance and crime. These analyses report illicit sexual behaviors are positively correlated with criminal behaviors providing support for Self-Control Theory. Furthermore, the analyses of this data support that low self-control is a predictor of illicit sexual behaviors and crime.     

The ‘inseparable bond between cure and research’: clinical case study as a method of psychoanalytic inquiry

Abstract

Since Freud's own time, there has been great deal of debate about the most appropriate research methodology for investigating psychoanalytic psychotherapy [Fonagy, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 29 (2): 129 – 136, 2003 Fonagy, P. 2003. ‘The research agenda: the vital need for empirical research in child psychotherapy’. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 29(2): 129–136. [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Rustin, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 29 (2): 137–145, 2003 Rustin, M. 2003. ‘Research in the consulting room’. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 29(2): 137–145. [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]]. The single case study, which has a long tradition both within child psychotherapy and the wider research field, has been widely criticised as an approach to research, even while its contribution to clinical practice, the development of new ideas and teaching have been acknowledged. After reviewing the history of case study as a research method, this paper argues that there are a broad range of approaches to the study of the single case, each of which may be appropriate depending on the particular research question. Each of these approaches, however, must respond to the three perceived weaknesses of the clinical case study as a research method: the ‘data problem’, the ‘data analysis problem’ and the ‘generalisability problem’. This paper outlines the nature of these criticisms and, using many examples of actual research projects, suggests various ways in which the criticisms can be addressed, in order for the single case study to re-gain its place at the heart of psychoanalytic research.     

Construing the Meaning of Authenticity in University Teaching: Comparing Explicit to Implicit Theories

Although recent literature on university teaching highlights “authenticity” as an important concept, the meaning of this complex notion remains elusive. Sternberg (1990 Sternberg, R. 1990. “Wisdom and its relations to intelligence and creativity”. In Wisdom, its nature, origins, and development, Edited by: Sternberg, R. J. 142–159. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar]) proposed that we gain deeper insight into phenomena that are assumed to be of profound meaning but remain insufficiently understood if, alongside explicit theories of experts, we also consider the implicit theories of nonspecialists. This repertory grid study explored with a sample of lecturers their personal conceptions of authenticity in teaching and how these compare to explicit theories developed by educationalists and philosophers. Implications for theory and professional development, as well as future directions for research, are offered.     

Work-Induced Changes in Feelings of Mastery

ABSTRACT

Past theory and research indicate that conditions of work can have lasting effects on job incumbents. R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell (1990) Karasek, R. A. and Theorell, T. 1990. Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar], for example, proposed that workers’ feelings of mastery increase with levels of job demands and job control, and that these effects are mediated by the process of active learning. To test these propositions, 657 school teachers completed scales assessing job demands, control, active learning, and mastery on 2 occasions, 8 months apart. As hypothesized, job control predicted change in mastery, an effect that was mediated by active learning. Job demands had a weaker effect on change in mastery. The demands–mastery relationship was moderated by job control, so that under conditions of high control, but not low control, increasing job demands were associated with gains in mastery. The findings partially support R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell's (1990) predictions regarding the main, interactive, and mediated effects of job conditions on employee mastery.     

“You're a Whole Lot of Person”—Understanding the Journey Through Anorexia to Recovery: A Qualitative Study

Using the grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967 Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. L. 1967. The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research., Chicago: Aldine.  [Google Scholar]), this study examined the subjective experience of anorexia nervosa in interviews with 5 women who have experienced symptoms of the disorder. Under the category Relational Anorexia, 2 themes emerged. The first involved the pervasiveness of anorexia among peer groups, and the second involved the continuum along which anorexia exists. The second category, Self Worth, had 3 themes. The first involved thinness as achievement and a means of establishing self worth. The second dealt with both positive and negative male influences in the development and healing of anorexia. The third is related to recovery. Taken together, these responses reveal that anorexia may be largely a relational process that involves a maladaptive desire for self-worth mediated through control of eating and weight, and that the role of the media in promoting an ideal of thinness for women may be only a background factor in the disorder.     

Direct touches to clear barriers: Developmental sensitivity of a new measure of the production of ineffective responses in infancy

Current interpretation of the object retrieval task (Diamond, 1990 Diamond, A. 1990. The Development and the Neural Bases of Higher Cortical Functions, New York, NY: New York Academy of Sciences.  [Google Scholar]) as an infant assessment of response inhibition requires evidence that younger infants make more ineffective attempts to retrieve toys through clear barriers. On two 30-second trials, infants (9 or 11 months of age) saw an inaccessible toy in the front or back of a clear box. The location of the infants touches corresponded with the toy's location and, on the second trial, the younger infants touched the box more. In previous research nonhuman primates with orbital-frontal, but not dorsa-lateral, lesions also made ineffective barrier touches. The current developmental decreases in barrier touches may selectively tap developmental increases in inhibitory control supported by the developing orbital-frontal cortex.     

Young emerging adults’ graduateness and career adaptability: Exploring the moderating role of self-esteem

This study investigated the moderating role of self-esteem on young emerging adults’ in their school-to-work transition phase of graduateness skills and career adaptability. A non-probability convenience sample (n=332) of undergraduate black (98.5%) and female (62%) young emerging adults (18–29 years) at a Further Education and Training (FET) college in South Africa participated in the study. Participants completed the Culture Free Self-esteem Inventory for Adults (CFSEI 2-AD, Battle, 1992 Battle, J. (1992). Culture-free self-esteem inventories for children and adults. Texas: Pro-Ed. [Google Scholar]), the Graduateness Skills and Attributes Scale (GSAS, Coetzee, 2010 Coetzee, M. (2010). Exploratory Factor Analyses of the Graduateness Scale and the Employability Attributes Scale. Pretoria: Unpublished research report. University of South Africa. [Google Scholar]) and the Career Adapt-abilities Scale (CAAS, Savickas &; Porfeli, 2012 Savickas, M. L., &; Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(3), 674–679. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Hierarchical moderated regression analysis indicated significant interaction effects between self-esteem and overall graduateness, lifelong learning and global/moral citizenship skills and attributes in moderating overall career adaptability. The relationship between the participants’ graduateness skills and attributes (overall graduateness, global/moral citizenship, and lifelong learning) and their career adaptability was significantly stronger when their self-esteem was high than when their self-esteem was low. The finding suggests self-esteem to influence self-perceived graduateness skills and career adaptability in emerging adults.