Psychological type and conceptions of empathy in experienced counsellors

Definitions of empathy vary widely. One explanation is that the different conceptions reflect personality differences. We investigated this idea with a sample of fifteen experienced counsellor, using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to measure aspects of personality and semistructured interviews to measure conceptions and reported practice of empathy. Counsellors who preferred sensing were found to make more references to empathy as a state and intuitive types to process. Those who preferred thinking and judging had a more active conception and reported practice, while feeling and perceiving types referred to a passive approach. Further relationships predicted by Myer-Briggs theory, between preference for thinking and cognitive empathy, and feeling and affective empathy, were close to statistical significance. Therefore, different psychological types do seem to define empathy differently. Implications for counselling theory, practice and training and education are discussed.     

Psychological conceptions of randomness

This article presents a critique of the concept of randomness as it occurs in the psychological literature. The first section of our article outlines the significance of a concept of randomness to the process of induction; we need to distinguish random and non-random events in order to perceive lawful regularities and formulate theories concerning events in the world. Next we evaluate the psychological research that has suggested that human concepts of randomness are not normative. We argue that, because the tasks set to experimental subjects are logically problematic, observed biases may be an artifact of the experimental situation and that even if such biases do generalise they may not have pejorative implications for induction in the real world. Thirdly we investigate the statistical methodology utilised in tests for randomness and find it riddled with paradox. In a fourth section we find various branches of scientific endeavour that are stymied by the problems posed by randomness. Finally we briefly mention the social significance of randomness and conclude by arguing that such a fundamental concept merits and requires more serious considerations.     

Referring patients to counsellors in primary care: Qualitative investigation of general practitioners’ perceptions

Despite growing evidence of the effectiveness of counselling in primary care, questions arise concerning the role of general practitioners in the referral process. This involves both liaison with counsellors and the management of people who do not wish to see counsellors. Respondents (n=23) in this qualitative study of general practitioners’ perceptions were clear about which patients should be referred to counsellors, based on guidelines. Additionally, these doctors perceived their role and skills as negotiating with their patients about referral to a counsellor, and managing patients who are either waiting to see a counsellor or who prefer not to see a counsellor. These doctors feel inadequately trained in managing this latter group, whose outcome they perceive as unclear. Despite this, respondents accept a role in ongoing support for their patients with consequent training issues for doctors and opportunities for liaison and mentoring by counsellors.     

Psychological and relationship changes of couples undergoing an infertility investigation: Some implications for counsellors

The emotional and psychological aspects of the experience of infertility have been largely ignored by researchers. A study was accordingly undertaken of 43 infertile couples who were undergoing medical investigation of their fertility problems. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that the infertility investigation was most stressful for the participants at the time of the initial medical interview, and that distress was greater for those who were themselves identified as having an organic fertility problem. A substantial number of the men and women involved indicated a need for the provision of psychological counselling services. The nature of the most appropriate forms of such help is explored.     

"I've also experienced loss and fear": Effects of prior similar experience on empathy

Although it is frequently argued that empathy is increased by similar experiences, this idea has rarely been tested. This study investigated the relationship between empathy and prior similar experience. Participants read four different stories and rated the degree of empathy they felt. They also reported the extent to which they had prior similar experience of the events in the stories. We found that these self-reports of prior similar experience increased empathy for the persons in the stories. Similar experience may be an important situational antecedent for feeling empathy for another person. Pointing out similarities among experiences may be a fruitful means of training empathy.     

How effective are minimally trained/experienced volunteer mental health counsellors? Evaluation of CORE outcome data

Background: Existing research findings indicate that minimally trained/experienced paraprofessional counsellors can be as effective as professionally trained and experienced counsellors. More research into the effectiveness of paraprofessionals with specific client populations is required to determine the conditions under which they can be most effective. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a group of 12 minimally trained/experienced volunteer mental health counsellors. Method: Data were collected over a one year period on 118 clients referred to a voluntary sector counselling agency. The CORE-OM was used to measure clients' levels of distress on a session-by-session basis. Clients and counsellors also completed a range of additional self-report measures. A benchmarking strategy was used to evaluate the outcomes achieved by participants in this study against three benchmark studies selected from published literature. Results: Paraprofessionals in this study were less effective than their professional counterparts. Results showed that participants in this study achieved an effect size of .70 compared to effect sizes of 1.36, 1.39 and 1.42 in the selected benchmark studies. Implications: Findings suggest that minimally trained/experienced paraprofessional counsellors working in mental health settings may benefit from longer and more targeted training programmes before engaging in practice. Conclusions: The benchmarking strategy provided a valuable and practical means of evaluating the comparative effectiveness of paraprofessional and professional counsellors. Findings should be interpreted cautiously as the selected benchmarks are not precise measurements and may not reflect the organisational factors operating within voluntary sector counselling agencies.     

Psychological care demand in clinical practice: treatment and results

With the aim of describing the usual clinical context as opposed to the academic or research context, the characteristics of patients and psychological treatments applied in a sample of 856 patients from the Clinic of Psychology of the Complutense University is analyzed. The disorders that require attention, the characteristics of the therapists and their interventions are identified. Out of the total patients, 24.3% withdrew from treatment; 68.3% of the patients who started treatment completed it with therapeutic success. 83% of patients were assessed in 4 sessions or fewer (median=4). 75.3% of patients who finished the treatment received 18 or fewer treatment sessions (median=11). The generalization of the results and their implications for professional clinical practice and for training clinical psychologists are discussed.     

Psychological type and counselling

Psychological type as a theory of four major personality characteristics is applied to empathy and choice of strategy. The issues of how versatile counsellors should be and of how, specifically, type can be used in counselling, are discussed. The problem of losing weight is used to illustrate how strategies may be matched with clients of different types or temperaments. Type suggests the possibilities of quicker and deeper empathy, more appropriate challenging, a wider range of strategies, and which kinds of strategy are most and least likely to be effective with which clients.     

Counselling the counsellors: Support groups in Devon

The establishment of support groups for school and college counsellors in Devon is described. Reference is made to the pressures which led to their creation, to the way the support system has gradually been developed and modified, to the membership, organisation and purpose of the present groups, and to some initial problems and adjustments. Possibilities for future development are suggested.     

Qualitative Psychological Research and Individualized/Collaborative Psychological Assessment: Implications of Their Similarities for Promoting a Life-World Orientation

This article describes similarities of qualitative psychological research and individualized/collaborative psychological assessment. These similarities remind us of what we often take for granted: their grounding in a human-science psychology that grants priority to the life world. Reflection on that grounding encourages more thorough attention to the assumptions underlying our practices, which in turn may encourage us to extend those practices more broadly and consistently. Holding humanistic values is not in itself sufficient. Themes include empiricality, holistic interpretive evolution of understandings, rigor in analysis and representation, life-world validity, and practical usefulness. This article encourages bridging natural-science and human-science endeavors. It reminds us of the importance of the contexts in which clients and research participants find themselves, and underscores the inherent moral challenges as well as the possibilities for constructive action in both qualitative research and individualized assessment. It urges that, when the human order (rather than the natural order) is of concern, we practice with systematic attention to the lived worlds of our clients and research participants.     

Vicarious traumatisation in telephone counsellors: internal and external influences

The present study investigated vicarious traumatisation among telephone counsellors. In particular, the influence of coping style, supervision, and personal trauma history on vicarious traumatisation was examined. A total of 62 telephone counsellors from trauma related fields completed a series of self-report measures. Generally, levels of traumatisation (i.e. PTSD symptoms and disruptions in beliefs) were low. Nonetheless, five (8.2%) participants had total scores indicating 'high average' to 'very high' levels of disruption in beliefs. Also, 15 (25.9%) respondents reported that they experienced at least one PTSD symptom. As expected, non-productive coping was related to disruptions in cognitive beliefs, while dealing with the problem was not. In addition, having a strong supervisory working alliance was associated with lower levels of disruption in beliefs. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant predictors of PTSD symptoms despite a positive correlation with personal trauma history. In conclusion, vicarious traumatisation is of concern for telephone counsellors. Efforts to address its impact should focus on developing effective coping styles and enhancing the quality of supervision.     

Understanding the Relationship Between State Forgiveness and Psychological Wellbeing: A Qualitative Study

Over the last 20 years, increasing attention has been given to associations between dispositional forgiveness and specific mental health problems. However, few studies have assessed whether forgiving real-life interpersonal hurts may be related to diverse psychological health outcomes. The present study addresses this gap by investigating, in depth, relationships between perceptions about state forgiveness and a variety of mental wellbeing outcomes as well as exploring perceptions about the factors that may modify such effects. Developing an understanding of a forgiveness wellbeing relationship is of relevance to healthcare workers, researchers and policy makers with an interest in improving public health. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed using grounded theory methods. From England and Ireland, eleven adults who were affiliated with religious/spiritual and secular/atheist groups were recruited using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Key themes that appeared to be related to the effects of unforgiveness were: increases in negative affect; reduction in cognitive abilities and barriers to psychological and social growth. For the majority of participants, state forgiveness had strong ties to participants perceived sense of mental wellbeing, including reductions in negative affect, feeling positive emotions, positive relations with others, spiritual growth, a sense of meaning and purpose in life as well as a greater sense of empowerment. The data also revealed a number of factors that may positively or negatively influence a forgiveness–wellbeing link such as: viewing an offender as spiritually similar or different, responsibility/karma, blaming, wanting restitution/apology as well as practices such as meditation and prayer. The findings suggest that forgiving a range of real-life interpersonal offences may be an important determinant of psychological wellbeing, particularly among religious/spiritual populations. Further research is, however, needed.     

Psychological type and attitude toward Christianity: a replication

A sample of 149 university students completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales together with the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity. The data indicated that university students classified as Feeling Types hold a more positive attitude toward Christianity than those classified as Thinking Types. These findings replicate the 1999 report of Jones and Francis.     

The benefits of empathy: When empathy may sustain cooperation in social dilemmas

Cooperation in social dilemmas is often challenged by negative noise, or unintended errors, such that the actual behavior is less cooperative than intended—for example, arriving later than intended for a meeting due to an unusual traffic jam. The present research was inspired by the notion that doing a little more for one's interaction partner, which may be movitvated by empathetic feelings, can effectively reduce the detrimental effects of “negative noise,” or unintended incidents of noncooperation. Consistent with hypotheses, negative noise exhibited detrimental effects on cooperation, but such effects were absent when empathy‐motivated cooperation was present. We conclude that empathy has broad benefits for social interaction, in that it can be an effective tool for coping with misinterpreted behaviors, thereby maintaining or enhancing cooperation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Israeli counsellors facing terrorism: coping and professional development

The current study examined the characteristics and functioning of 12 Israeli school counsellors located at different stages of professional development who worked in schools affected by terrorist attacks. Semi-structured interviews explored the counsellors' professional behaviour, activities, and coping with terror and its effects. Consensual qualitative research analysis revealed five major domains: role definition, organisational characteristics, affective reactions, dilemmas, and barriers and resources. Counsellors at different stages of professional development demonstrated different patterns of behaviour across the domains' categories and subcategories. Implications for research and supervision are discussed.     

Discourse analysis: Rich pickings for counsellors and therapists

Aim: It is only relatively recently that discourse analysis has begun to rise to prominence in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy. This paper briefly explains ways of understanding discourse analysis, discussing what the approach can offer counselling research and practice. Approach: An initial categorisation of recent discourse analysis studies is offered, to demonstrate diverse ways in which this type of research can address issues relevant to counselling practice. The five categories proposed range from the examination of language use in therapy to analyses that focus on the social structures, meanings and power relations related to therapy. Implications: The paper demonstrates that through the critical analysis of counselling sessions, research interviews, written texts and other materials, discourse analysis can provide insight into ways in which counselling operates as a social practice, and so help counsellors to contextualise their work within broader social structures and processes.     

Counselling in higher education: the experience of lone counsellors

A qualitative study was conducted into the experience of student counsellors working as lone counsellors or as members of a small team in higher education colleges. The data, gathered through semi-structured interviews of eight participants, all of whom were responsible for the management of their counselling service, revealed the complexity of the student counsellor's role. While the one to one work with clients was seen as the primary task, the significance of the counsellor's involvement in the organisation was not to be underestimated. Issues around case load, support and relationships with colleagues, which can be problematic for counsellors working in organisations generally, were highlighted for those working as lone counsellors.