Popularizing American psychotherapy: the Emmanuel Movement, 1906-1910

As late as 1907 Americans knew little of psychotherapy. The word itself was virtually nowhere to be found in either professional or popular literature. Talking cures were not talked about. Despite growing medical and cultural awareness of mental suffering, few physicians made any effort to treat such states by appealing to mind. Indeed, for more than 3 decades, American physicians--particularly those who specialized in the treatment of nervous and mental disorders--had scoffed at anything even remotely resembling mental therapeutics. By 1910 this situation changed dramatically. Whereas decades of vigorous internal professional debates had failed to generate a consensus among American physicians and academic psychologists regarding the scientific legitimacy and clinical efficacy of mental therapeuitcs, in 2 short years the Emmanuel Church Healing Movement had forced both physicians and psychologists to confront squarely and publicly a subject that they had long avoided. Lasting from 1906 to 1910, this popular mevement was the primary agent responsibile for the efflorescence of psychotherapy in the United States.     

Help-Seeking Behaviors in Non-Offending Caregivers of Abused Children in the Philippines

The help-seeking process among non-offending caregivers (NOCs) of abused children particularly in the non-Western context has yet to be elucidated. The objective of the current study was to investigate what proportion of Filipino NOCs of abused children sought professional support services within 12 months following child abuse disclosure (T1) and at 12 months (T2) follow-up in the Philippines. Two further aims were to investigate NOCs’ preferred service providers and settings and to explore barriers to help-seeking. A comparison group of Filipino parents without an abused child were also recruited to compare preferences and potential barriers to help seeking for child and family problems. A total of 47 NOCs and 70 comparison parents/guardians completed questionnaires, which assessed help-seeking preferences and barriers as well as parental stress. The majority of NOCs reported seeking help, which was perceived to be helpful. Almost two thirds of NOCs indicated preference for in-person counseling relative to the comparison group of parents. The majority of NOCs preferred seeking help from social workers and psychologists. Almost one third of both parental samples reported being judged as an unfit parent as a key barrier to seeking help for family problems. The findings have implications for psychological and allied health service providers in facilitating the adjustment for families of recently abused children.     

Positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation: Treatment development,feasibility, and preliminary results

Low positive and high negative affect (NA) predict low rates of smoking abstinence among smokers making a quit attempt. Positive psychotherapy can both increase positive affect (PA) and decrease NA and, therefore, may be a useful adjunct to behavioral smoking counseling. The purpose of the present study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation (PPT-S) intervention that integrates standard smoking cessation counseling with nicotine patch and a package of positive psychology interventions. We delivered PPT-S to 19 smokers who were low in PA at baseline. Rates of session attendance and satisfaction with treatment were high, and most participants reported using and benefiting from the positive psychology interventions. Almost one-third of the participants (31.6%) sustained smoking abstinence for six months after their quit date. Future studies to assess the relative efficacy of PPT-S compared to standard smoking cessation treatment are warranted.     

Counseling and Guided Self‐Help Outcomes for Clients With Bulimia Nervosa: A Meta‐Analysis of Clinical Trials From 1980 to 2010

This meta‐analysis included 111 clinical trials exploring the effectiveness of counseling/psychotherapy and guided self‐help approaches in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. In general, single‐group studies supported higher efficacy of counseling/psychotherapy, whereas wait‐list, treatment‐as‐usual, and placebo studies indicated both approaches were equally effective at termination (posttest) and follow‐up in altering binging, purging, laxative use, and self‐reported bulimia or body dissatisfaction perceptions in nearly all comparisons.     

Comparing the effectiveness of behavioral treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting when administered by oncologists, oncology nurses, and clinical psychologists.

Adequate control of side effects during medical treatment of cancer increases patient compliance and quality of life. Antiemetic drugs are not an effective treatment for the one in three cancer patients on chemotherapy who experience anticipatory nausea and vomiting (ANV); the behavioral treatment of systematic desensitization has been found effective for ANV when delivered by clinical psychologists. This study examined the effectiveness of systematic desensitization when delivered by medical personnel versus clinical psychologists. Seventy-two consecutive cancer patients with ANV were randomly assigned to no-treatment control or to systematic desensitization from 5 behaviorally trained clinical psychologists, 6 clinical oncologists, or 10 oncology nurses. The treatment was found effective in reducing anticipatory nausea, anticipatory vomiting, posttreatment nausea, and posttreatment vomiting compared to control patients, with no significant differences in effectiveness found between clinical psychologists and oncology staff. Although medical personnel should not engage patients in psychotherapy or other interventions that cannot be completed successfully, they can treat patients effectively with systematic desensitization and should be encouraged to learn and use this and other behavioral intervention techniques to benefit total patient care.     

Investigating healthcare providers' knowledge of trichotillomania and its treatment

Given the low prevalence rate and rather secretive nature of trichotillomania, it is uncertain how much trichotillomania-related knowledge physicians and psychologists possess, what the perceived role of a psychologist is in the treatment process, what level of familiarity practitioners have with effective treatments and whether providers have resource materials available for patients. In a postal survey of 501 psychologists and physicians in the USA, providers responded correctly to 61% of the general knowledge items about trichotillomania. Most providers believed that psychologists may play a variety of roles in the clinical management of the disorder. Although providers were fairly accurate about the effectiveness of certain treatments for trichotillomania (e.g. medication, habit-reversal), a number of non-empirically supported treatments were endorsed as being effective. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of healthcare providers did not have resources or referral information available for patients with trichotillomania. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.     

团体心理咨询与治疗师胜任特征初探

为了探索团体心理咨询与治疗师的胜任力模型,本研究用行为事件访谈法对13位团体心理咨询与治疗师进行访谈,分析文献提取并整理成编码词表,并对访谈数据进行编码,统计各词条在访谈资料里的出现频次并排序。最终提炼出了团体心理咨询与治疗师的基准性胜任特征和鉴别性胜任特征,并整理得到了团体心理咨询与治疗师的胜任特征模型。研究表明,基准性胜任特征的存在表明团体心理咨询与治疗师具有共同的胜任特征,如专业知识、变化觉察、把握环境、判断力等;鉴别性胜任特征则反映了不同水平的团体心理咨询与治疗师在胜任特征上的差异,如专业知识、洞察力、观察力、分析性思维等。     

The Treatment of the Young Delinquent by J. Arthur Hoyles

On the rationale that group psychotherapy focuses on interaction processes in close relationships, our study sought to investigate the hypothesis that small group therapy would be effective in enhancing intimate friendship in a dyadic relationship. The study group consisted of 102 elementary school students who had been referred for counseling help. Matched by age, sex, and similarity of problem, each pair of students was divided into an experimental group (N = 55) and a control group (N = 47). The experimental group contained eight small treatment groups and the control group contained seven matching small groups, leaving one special education group with no control. The results support our hypothesis that group psychotherapy positively affects intimate friendship of girls and boys. They further suggest the boys' need for such an experience, since without it they markedly deteriorate in intimate friendship. Implications for the group leader are derived from the correlations between gains in intimate friendship and group intimacy.     

A survey of psychologists' attitudes towards and utilization of exposure therapy for PTSD

Although research supports the efficacy of exposure therapy for PTSD, some evidence suggests that exposure is under-utilized in general clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to assess licensed psychologists' use of imaginal exposure for PTSD and to investigate perceived barriers to its implementation. A total of 852 psychologists from three states were randomly selected and surveyed. An additional 50 members of a trauma special interest group of a national behavior therapy organization were also surveyed. The main survey results indicate that a large majority of licensed doctoral level psychologists do not report use of exposure therapy to treat patients with PTSD. Although approximately half of the main study sample reported that they were at least somewhat familiar with exposure for PTSD, only a small minority used it to treat PTSD in their clinical practice. Even among psychologists with strong interest and training in behavioral treatment for PTSD, exposure therapy is not completely accepted or widely used. Clinicians also appear to perceive a significant number of barriers to implementing exposure.     

Some normative data on mental health professionals' attitudes about racial minorities and women

Although codes of ethics of the mental health professions and the recently developed race- and gender-specific models of counseling and psychotherapy stipulate positive and accepting attitudes toward racial minorities and women, formal assessment of these attitudes has been hindered by the absence of appropriate measurement tools and generalizable data. This study provides some normative data by reporting responses of 705 psychologists and social workers to the Quick Discrimination Index, a psychometrically sound 23-item self-report measure previously administered to several different professional groups. Analysis indicated psychologists and social workers reported particularly positive attitudes toward racial minorities and women but expressed the same racial and sex contradictions, ambivalences, and vulnerabilities reported by the general public.     

A Metaperspective for Counseling Practice: A Response to the Challenge of Contextualism

This article discusses the challenge of contextualism to developmental theory as articulated by Lewis (1997), as well as the challenge of current changes in life contexts for developmentally oriented counseling practice. Counseling practice refers to activities of psychologists and counselors in relation to theory, research, and intervention, and in relation to both career and psychotherapy domains of practice. It is hoped that a consideration of both career and psychotherapy practice will contribute to dialogue and integration across these domains. In the second part of the paper, a metaperspective for counseling practice, conceived as a response to this challenge, is presented. It consists of a conception of life contexts inclusive of work and relationships across both public and private domains of life and posits a generic developmental process goal of effective functioning as relevant to both career and psychotherapy domains of counseling practice.     

Dual Relationships and Pastoral Counseling: Asset or Liability?

Dual relationships are proscribed in the standards of ethical conduct for most professional groups that provide counseling or psychotherapy. Dual relationships are thought to be unethical because they cloud the clinical judgment of the counselor and may present conflicts of interest that prevent the counseling relationship from being beneficial. Pastors frequently provide counseling for troubled persons or families, yet they often maintain other roles and relationships with these persons and families. This article addresses the issue of the inevitability of dual relationships in pastoral counseling. Courses of action for handling dual relationships in pastoral counseling are identified.     

Person, situation, and person-by-situation interaction components in person perception

The hypothesis that people store situation and person-by-situation interaction information as well as trait information about one another's behavior was tested by administering modified S-R Inventories of Anxiousness and Hostility to 54 male and 59 female undergraduates. Subjects rated the strength of affect that would be evoked by a series of situations in the two same-sex college students whom they knew best, the best-known opposite-sex person, a casually known same-sex person, and the “average college student.” Indices were constructed to measure the extent of (a) perceived average differences among people (traits), (b)perceived average differences over situations, and (c) perceived person-by-situation interaction. Analyses of variance showed that: (a) the ratings of the two best-known same-sex persons and the best-known opposite-sex person contained more interactive information than did the ratings of a casually known person and (b) females perceived more situational variability in the behavior of their own sex than did males. The amount of perceived person-by-situation interaction did not differ as a function of sex of rater or affect to be rated. It was concluded that the naive psychologist, like many professional psychologists, is an interactionist.     

Rehabilitation. Psychology's greatest opportunity?

Rehabilitation is one of the fastest growing areas in the health industry. Supported by several key pieces of legislation, psychologists have established themselves as integral health care providers in rehabilitation. Although psychologists have benefited from legislated membership in rehabilitation, most individual psychologists and the psychological associations have failed to recognize the importance of public policy for the practice of psychology. Escalating health care costs have resulted in major revisions in the manner in which health insurers reimburse treatment. Medicare, the major federal health insurance provider, increasingly has been viewed as a model for the provision of all health care. The historic exclusion of psychologists from Medicare has limited the scope of psychologists' practice and the growth of professional psychology. The recent inclusion of psychologists in Medicare improves but does not solve practice and policy issues confronting psychology. Knowledge of national health policy formulation and greater participation by psychologists in health policy is necessary to secure the scope of professional practice most psychologists expect.     

Learning Experiences Contributing to Service-Delivery Competence in Applied Psychologists: Lessons for Sport Psychologists

The purpose of the present study was to compare learning experiences perceived to contribute to service-delivery competence in sport, clinical, and counseling psychologists. Twenty psychologists (11 female, 9 male; 28–70 years of age) participated in semistructured interviews. All participants emphasized the role of client interactions in learning service-delivery processes. In addition, clinical and counseling participants reported personal therapy and supervision as influential experiences. Applied implications for training include (a) regional supervision networks comprising peers and elders, (b) university-based sport psychology clinics, and (c) personal and professional development groups.     

A global portrait of counselling psychologists’ characteristics,perspectives, and professional behaviors

Counseling psychologists in eight countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) responded to survey questions that focused on their demographics as well as their professional identities, roles, settings, and activities. As well, they were asked about satisfaction with the specialty and the extent to which they endorsed 10 core counseling psychology values. This article reports those results, focusing both on areas in which there were between-country similarities as well as on those for which there were differences. These data provide a snapshot of counseling psychology globally and establish a foundation for the other articles in this special issue of the journal.     

Reproducing gender in counseling and psychotherapy: Understanding the problem and changing the practice

In this article I argue that the concept of gender is misunderstood by the majority of psychologists. Increasingly the term “gender” is mindlessly replacing the term “sex,” obfuscating decades of theory and research that elucidated gender as a complex social-psychological variable rather than a bifurcated individual-difference variable tied to biological sex. As a consequence, gender is largely ignored as an “active” variable in counseling research and practice. Current theory and research on gender as they apply to counseling and psychotherapy are first described. Then ways in which gender processes are often reproduced in counseling and psychotherapy and factors contributing to this practice are illuminated. Finally, areas particularly vulnerable to reproducing gender are described and some examples provided of the reproducing, and the disrupting, of gender processes in counseling.     

Effects of Counseling and Ethnic Identity on Perceived Risk and Cancer Worry in African American Women

Improving breast screening behaviors in African American women is an important public health goal. To increase participation in screening, it is necessary to identify factors that contribute to reduced screening, including perceived risk and cancer worry. This paper presents predictors of changes perceived in risk and worry among African American women of differing ethnic identities as they undergo breast cancer risk counseling. Participants (n = 113) were recruited from community sources to a study of counseling for breast cancer risk. They completed a baseline assessment, randomly received breast cancer risk counseling or served as a control group, and completed a follow-up assessment. Counseling produced significant differences in perceived risk and cancer worry. Predictors of risk and worry changes, as a result of counseling, included income and ethnic identity. These data can guide better services for African American women and research into the complexity of the effects of ethnic identity on health.     

Health Beliefs,Religious Values,and the Counseling Process: A Comparison of Counselors and Other Mental Health Professionals

A. E. Bergin (1985) studied the religious values and beliefs of mental health professionals and the relationship of those values to the counseling process. This study replicated Bergin's research with a sample of professional counselors. Differences were found in each of 10 beliefs areas and 10 values areas between the total sample in both studies. Within-group differences revealed greater similarities between professional counselors and social workers and marriage and family therapists and greater differences between counselors and either psychologists or psychiatrists. Implications for counseling and counselor training are discussed.