Solution‐Focused Counseling for Clients With Religious and Spiritual Concerns

Solution‐focused counseling is presented as a framework for clients with religious and spiritual concerns. The theory of solution‐focused counseling is described. Implications for using this model with religious and spiritual clients are considered. A case example is provided to illustrate the application of solution‐focused counseling for a client dealing with religious and spiritual issues.     

Spirituality and Dream Work in Counseling: Clients’ Experiences

The authors suggest that focusing on dreams in counseling may be a useful framework to explore clients’ spiritual values and beliefs. Because little is known about how spirituality and dream work are integrated in practice, the purpose of this article is to document how some counselors and clients work on spirituality and dreams. Responses of clients who focused on dreams from a spiritual perspective are described and discussed. Relevant clinical issues that counselors may encounter are identified. Recommendations are made for counselors who wish to integrate spirituality and dream work in counseling.An earlier version of this article was presented at the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 2004.     

The Only Way Out Is Through: The Peril of Spiritual Bypass

Given the increased attention to spirituality in the counseling literature, with a primary emphasis on helping clients find their spiritual path, it is important for counselors to be aware of one potential pitfall of the spiritual path, namely spiritual bypass. Spiritual bypass occurs when clients seek to use their spiritual beliefs, practices, and experiences to avoid genuine contact with their psychological “unfinished business.” The purpose of this article is to define spiritual bypass, discuss the necessity of healing at the cognitive, emotional, and physical levels, as well as at the spiritual level for holistic wellness, and provide examples of clients in spiritual bypass.     

Differential outcomes of skill training,group counseling,and individual cognitive therapy for persons with acquired visual impairment

As part of the Living Skills Training Program, group counseling and individual cognitive therapy were implemented to decrease psychological distress for adults with acquired visual impairment. This quasi‐experimental design study compared the outcomes of a 6‐month skill training program combined with a group counseling program (n = 37), with (n = 9) or without (n = 10) individual cognitive therapy, and with a control group (n = 42). The outcome measures were the Profile of Mood States and the Nottingham Adjustment Scale Japanese Version. The results showed that participants with low psychological distress decreased anxiety and increased acceptance of disability, even when they did not participate in group counseling. However, among the participants with high distress, they did not show any improvement without group counseling or individual therapy. The participants with high distress who engaged in group counseling showed an improving trend in attitudes toward others. Moreover, the participants who chose to engage in individual therapy in addition to group counseling showed decreased tension‐anxiety, depression, and fatigue, and significantly improved acceptance of disability. These results suggest that group counseling, combined with individual cognitive therapy, can be an effective part of rehabilitation treatment for clients who have high psychological distress.     

Spiritual Issues in Counseling: What Do Students Perceive They Are Being Taught?

Client religious and spiritual practices have recently emerged as beneficial to both mental and physical health. However, graduates of counseling programs indicate that they have not been adequately trained to address religious and spiritual issues with clients. This exploratory study focused on the perceptions of counselors‐in‐training regarding what messages they received about these issues during their training programs, as well as their potential behaviors when working with clients. Results indicated that potential behaviors are not always consistent with what they are taught. Implications for training and future research are discussed.     

A Phenomenological Inquiry of Clients’ Meaningful Experiences in Counseling With Counselors‐in‐Training

This study is a follow‐up to Sackett, Lawson, and Burge's ( 2012 ) study that explored the meaningful experiences of clients and counselors‐in‐training (CITs). Using the previous study's themes of clients’ experiences in counseling with CITs as a launching pad, the authors examined in greater depth the meaningful experiences of clients who are in counseling with CITs through qualitative phenomenological interviews. Findings, as well as implications for counselor education, supervision, and counseling, are discussed.     

Experiences of Altruism in the Therapeutic Relationship: Perspectives of Counselors‐in‐Training and Their Clients

The purpose of this phenomenological investigation was to explore experiences of altruism in the therapeutic relationship to better understand how counselors‐in‐training (CITs) and their clients mutually perceived the construct in sessions. Findings from interviews with clients (n = 14) included emotional–relational characteristics and cognitive–behavioral aspects of altruism by their counselors. Findings from interviews with CITs (n = 10) included explorations of the role of altruism in counseling, overall experiences of altruism in counseling sessions, and experiences of altruism with specific clients. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Research and Theory Religion and Spirituality in Coping With Stress

Relations among and between religion, spirituality, and the ability to cope with stress were examined using a sample of 115 graduate students in counseling. Religion and spirituality positively correlated with coping with stress. Counseling students who expressed spirituality through religious beliefs had greater spiritual health and immunity to stressful situations than counseling students who identified themselves as spiritual but not religious. Counseling students with a religious/spiritual affiliation indicated more discomfort counseling clients hostile to religion compared with counseling students with a spiritual‐only affiliation. The results have implications for preparing counseling students to work with clients with religious/spiritual issues.     

Counseling Considerations for the Twice‐Exceptional Client

Counselors can be pivotal in helping families to understand the identification of twice‐exceptionality and related implications, including developing successful interventions for the school years and beyond. There are many potential counseling concerns, including bullying and peer interactions, social and emotional development, career guidance, college transition planning, and functioning in adulthood. Learning how to work with twice‐exceptional clients regarding these concerns needs to begin during training and progress throughout one's career. Recommendations for best practice are provided.     

心理咨询中领悟质量的评定依据——当事人和咨询师的视角

为获得当事人和咨询师对心理咨询中领悟质量的评定依据,采用协商一致的质性研究方法分别对13位当事人和15位咨询师的访谈材料进行分析。结果：当事人的评定依据包括影响力和特性;而咨询师的评定依据包括影响力、特性、类型、产生方式以及当事人对领悟的接纳程度。结论：领悟的影响力和领悟的特性是评定领悟质量的重要依据。     

Therapists' Use of Religious and Spiritual Interventions in Christian Counseling: A Preliminary Report

This study explored the use of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling by Christian therapists (N = 100). Use of religious and spiritual interventions correlated with personal religiousness and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. Course work involving either psychology or theology did not correlate with use of or self‐reported competency in using religious and spiritual interventions. Self‐reported competency was associated with personal religiousness; professional beliefs, attitudes, and values; personal experiences with counseling; and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. It is suggested that training programs incorporate clinical rotations, workshops, and supervision involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions to teach therapists to use religious and spiritual interventions in counseling.     

Measuring Clients' Cognitive Competence in Research on Counseling

Counseling is defined as an activity concerned with the development of cognitive competence in clients. As part of the overall movement in research on counseling toward methodological pluralism and triangulation, it is suggested that researchers of counseling effects adopt methods of processing and representing clients' cognitive structures. Such methods can help to capture some of the uniquely rich personal and subjective aspects of the change process in counseling. A variety of methods for accessing and representing cognitive structures are presented, some of which are illustrated in a brief case report. The advantages and limitations of the methods presented are discussed.     

Shame in Sexual Minorities: Stigma,Internal Cognitions,and Counseling Considerations

Theorists, clinicians, and researchers have suggested that shame is a central concern in the lives of sexual minority individuals. Cognitive theorists believe that shame occurs when a person fails to achieve his or her standards, which are often based on social, cultural, and spiritual values. Although it is asserted that stigma causes shame among members of a sexual minority, the empirical evidence suggests that negative internal cognitions are partly responsible. By targeting negative beliefs, counselors can help sexual minorities reduce their sense of shame, particularly around issues related to sexual identity. The authors offer counseling strategies for reducing shame in sexual minority clients.     

A New Model for Social Justice Supervision

Social justice supervision honors the identities of the supervisee and the client, teaches social justice skills to the supervisee, and prioritizes social justice counseling outcomes in the supervisee's counseling work. The purpose of this article is to describe a comprehensive model for social justice supervision that mandates supervisor self‐evaluation, explores supervisees' identities and strengths, emphasizes the social justice needs of clients, and uses social justice outcomes for clients as a measure of counseling success. Implications are explored.     

Virtues,Values, and the Good Life: Alasdair MacIntyre's Virtue Ethics and Its Implications for Counseling

The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of modern ethics and his virtue‐centered alternative suggest that counseling can be considered a form of applied virtue ethics, helping clients cultivate the qualities necessary to live the good life. Although similar to developmental theory and positive psychology, this perspective also questions whether counseling is value neutral and suggests that counseling should account for the (often hidden) traditions, virtues, and practices of the good life it promotes. Comparison with spiritual direction suggests ways counseling can apply the insights of this model ethically within a pluralistic setting.     

Chaos,creativity, and counseling: Aspects of a Transtheoretical model of the counseling process

Counselors ask their clients to become creative in their personal lives and within their counseling process. The process of counseling is a creative process. Growth is necessary for effective improvement in the counseling process. This paper will examine creativity from the point of view of the affective experience of the creator, and the relationship of this experience to the client in counseling.

The position here is that the process of counseling is both a creative process and one that involves tensions and turbulence. Based on a model of nonlinear dynamics, and ideas about the creative process, this study draws a dynamical fractal movie of the counseling process in which the counselor serves as an attractor for the construction of opposites in the client behavior that allow for growth and the construction of a new state of psychosocial events.     

Jewish Meditation in Counseling

Many counselors integrate meditation into treatment with clients. Although meditation can be presented as a secular practice, it also holds spiritual and religious relevance for many faith communities. In this article, we explore the use of Jewish meditation as a spiritually oriented treatment intervention with Jewish clients. Literature examining the relationships among counseling, the Jewish population, and Jewish meditation is presented. This article also includes practical considerations for integrating Jewish meditation into counseling.     

The Nearing Death Process and Pastoral Counseling

Philosophic concepts of death are pervasive throughout all societies as shared values, differing in particulars, but similar in general. So, too, is the prospect of a death a consideration for every person, an eventual reality brought most forcefully to mind as it nears. This article explores various mindsets those who provide pastoral counseling will encounter among clients and suggest effective approaches to providing the mental and spiritual solace sought. Further, consideration is given to the psychological and spiritual mein of the pastoral counselor, and how this can affect both client and counselor.     

Using Relational‐Cultural Theory in LGBTQQ Counseling: Addressing Heterosexism and Enhancing Relational Competencies

The authors describe the use of a relational‐cultural theory (RCT) lens (Miller, 1976 ) in counseling practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) clients. A review of LGBTQQ counseling and RCT literature is discussed. A case vignette of a counselor applying RCT tenets to work with a LGBTQQ client is described. Implications for using RCT as a counseling theoretical framework with LGBTQQ clients are reviewed.     

Forgiving Computers: The Rise of Automation and Implications for Counseling

It is becoming common for decisions with serious consequences to be made by automation. Therefore, it is important for counselors to consider the challenges of working with clients who are affected. If a high‐consequence decision that leads to tragedy is made by a computer, does this change the counseling process? This article starts this discussion by investigating forgiveness therapy as it applies to computers. First, forgiving a human is qualitatively different from forgiving a computer. Next, examples of automated decisions are presented. Finally, the authors discuss issues that clients wishing to forgive a computer face, suggest interventions, and propose a research agenda.