The relevance of research in counselling and psychotherapy for the counselling practitioner

Current research paradigms are outlined and appraised to enable counsellors to see more clearly the practical relevance of counselling research. The standpoint taken is that although it is possible to criticise current research paradigms on a number of grounds, practitioners who know their own biases and the limitations of these paradigms can successfully experiment with interventions suggested by research in their own practice. An example is presented from the research on paralinguistic variables in client-centred therapy.     

The evolution of counselling

The history of counselling in the USA is presented in terms of four developmental stages: infancy, early childhood, late childhood, and adolescence. It is suggested that client-centred counselling may be an inadequate model as counselling moves into adulthood. The emphasis on relationship is necessary but not sufficient. A more active approach is needed in which the counsellor is prepared to use a wider variety of techniques, to take actions about clients' problems rather than just talk about them, and to devote more attention to a training and support role in relation to a wide variety of community agencies.     

The experience of counselling for UK egg providers

Objective

The aim of this study was to address current gaps in knowledge regarding the appropriateness and quality of counselling provided to egg donors in the UK.

Methods

The present study used a cross-sectional, qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 29 UK egg donors to explore their experiences of egg donation and the counselling received.

Results

Of the 29 participants, 24 had received counselling. The remaining five did not receive counselling because they were either not accepted as a donor (n = 4) or were offered, but chose not to take up the session (n = 1). The findings are presented in relation to five themes: feeling supported via counselling; feeling well-informed; welcoming an individualised approach; the counselling setting; and thinking about the future.

Conclusion

Egg donors in this study had varying experiences of counselling offered to them as part of the egg donation process in the UK.

Implications

The findings indicate that there are some aspects of counselling in the UK that could be improved, including the routine offering of counselling throughout the egg donation process and the tailoring of counselling to meet egg donors' individual needs.     

The experiences of counselling for persons with ME

A number of studies have evaluated counselling interventions for people with myalgic encephalitis, but few report client perceptions in any detail. This study seeks to explore client perceptions using a qualitative methodology. A sample of 25 individuals with myalgic encephalitis were interviewed about their experiences in counselling. The interviews were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis using grounded theory principles. The analysis showed that people with myalgic encephalitis endure significant changes to their lives, often involving great loss and trauma. After seeking help through counselling, participants had experienced a wide variety of approaches and there were positive and negative perceptions of each. Other perceptions related to therapist characteristics and the way in which interventions were carried out. Recommendations for practitioners are given.     

The place of counselling in 'new opportunities for women' courses

The structure and content of 'New Opportunities for Women' (NOW) courses run by a university department of adult education are described, and the kind of counselling appropriate to such courses is discussed. During five years' work with such courses in Newcastle, what has been in question has not been the relevance of counselling, but the ways in which it can be most usefully integrated within a 60-session course.     

Globalising counselling: humanistic counselling in Kenya

This paper explores the application of a Western, psychologically-based model of counselling and counselling training in contexts where the social and cultural conditions differ from mainstream Western societies. A group of Kenyan trainee counsellors following such a course are interviewed about their experience of training. The interview data are analysed to provide a tentative answer to the question of the appropriateness in a Kenyan cultural milieu of a humanistic counselling training model developed in the UK. It is concluded that such application is possible and desirable, if it is undertaken as shared and respectful learning between trainers and trainees.     

The demand for contrastive explanations

Philosophical Studies - A “contrastive explanation” explains not only why some event A occurred, but why A occurred as opposed to some alternative event B. Some philosophers argue that...     

Searching for integration in counselling practice

The search for integration in counselling practice is addressed. It is argued that this necessarily involves a process of dialectical thinking, brought to bear in reconciling different visions of reality encapsulated within divergent therapeutic traditions. A model is offered of integration based upon the superordinate concept of 'the vicious circle' derived from an ironic world-view. The model is heated in Wachtel's theory of cyclical psychodynamics and Bowlby's attachment theory. An illustrative case-study is provided.     

Some ethical dilemmas in counselling and counselling research

This paper raises a number of dilemmas in relation to the ethical practice of counselling, counsellor training and research and evaluation of counselling which reflect the author's increasing concerns about therapeutic ethics. A number of relevant issues are explored to develop awareness and understanding of ethical matters, though this is in the spirit of exploration and inquiry rather than having definitive answers to offer. These issues include: use of training videos of therapists with real clients; informed consent; how research and evaluation changes the therapeutic process; how sensitive and ongoing consent for counselling and counselling research could be best obtained; publication of research in ways that respect the research participant; and the value and implications of the new British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy ethical framework. Finally, the concept of 'ethical mindfulness' is considered as a creative, if demanding, response to a concern to be ethical in research and practice.     

The construction of counselling psychology in Britain: A discourse analysis of counselling psychology texts

Counselling psychology is a relatively recent arrival on the professional psychological scene in Britain. This paper examines the ways in which this new branch of professional psychology has been constructed by the counselling psychology community. Articles which embodied this construction process from the 1990 and 1996 volumes of the journal Counselling Psychology Review were subjected to discourse analysis. The main themes of the 1990 articles concerned the construction of identity and legitimation, achieved largely through representations of similarity with and difference from related professions at a general level, whereas in the 1996 articles, the emphasis was on more fine-grained constructions of similarity and difference. Implications for the future construction of counselling psychology are considered.     

A counselling service for nurses in training

An account is given of the inception and development of a counselling service for nurses in training at a large London teaching hospital. The aims of the service are described, as are the evolving role of the counsellor and the use made of the service both by student nurses and other members of the hospital organisation. Some recommendations are made concerning the future development of counselling services within National Health Service hospitals.     

A counselling group for adolescents

This paper outlines the aims and objectives of a group for young adolescents set up by two counsellors in an area youth counselling service. It examines the contract made between the counsellors and the group members, the methods used, and some current areas of conflict and potential growth.     

Training for maintaining appropriate boundaries in counselling

Counsellors need to receive training in boundary management, in order to avoid difficulties themselves and to equip them for a range of potential roles in relation to boundary difficulties experienced by colleagues. The literature on boundary training is reviewed; relevant cultural and social issues are highlighted; ways in which training may contribute to abuse prevention are suggested; and key areas for research are identified. It is argued that counsellors must be helped to internalise a professional/personal value system that enables them to function appropriately without over-dependence on external constraints. Attention in training should be given to cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects of boundary management, with strong links being made between these and practice.     

Replacing client-centred counselling with culture-centred counselling

Models of psychotherapies and counselling do not develop in a social vacuum. They arise out of and rest on several fundamental assumptions-social, linguistic and cultural-most which are understood and shared by the client group and the therapists andor counsellors. The extent to which there is a congruence of shared assumptions facilitates the process of counselling and/or therapy. It does not, however, guarantee its successful outcome. This paper examines the fundamental assumptions underlying client-centred counselling and argues that there is at present a lack of correspondence between the assumptions of the counsellors and those of their client groups-even within their own culture. But among the client groups comprising the ethnic minorities originating from the Indian subcontinent, there is a wide chasm. The clients do not understand or share the fundamental assumptions of their counsellors. As a result, client-centred counselling is irrelevant and does not serve the needs of the clients groups comprising the ethnic minorities. It is in urgent need of a paradigm shaft. It is argued that client-centred therapy needs to be replaced by culture-centred counselling, in which counsellors can be trained. The paper presents the main features of a model of counselling that is applicable not only to the white indigenous population in Britain but to the above ethnic minorities living in Britain.     

The role of offender profiling in classifying rapists: Implications for counselling

The offender profiling process is an investigative technique used to identify the major personality and behavioural characteristics of the offender based upon an analysis of the crime(s) he or she has committed (Douglas & Burgess, 1986). Attempts have been made in both England and America to classify rapists into various subgroups. Instead of definitive groups of offenders a suggestion is made as to the formation of a dimensional typology of rapists. This would allow for the difficulties in defining boundaries for subgroups and accounting for individual differences and heterogeneity of both the rapist and the assault. The various criteria that attempt to distinguish the different types of offender are discussed including behavioural and motivational characteristics of the offender, lay theories of rape and the victim-offender relationship. The implications of the dimensional typology are outlined. There are indications that some factors may contribute to a longer and more complicated recovery process. Macnab (1993) neatly outlines eleven contributory factors: financial stress, various long term stresses, the degree of violence, the use of weapons, the sense of violation, the threat of death, multiple assailants, threats of greater or continuing harm and a later death, medical complications, problems with police, medical and criminal systems and lack of adequate professional and informed support. As well as this, the important issue of self-blame is discussed along with the subsequent problem of post-traumatic stress disorder: the recurring distressing memories, dreams and events and signals that can provoke a further cycle of distress.     

The contexts of system orientation in secondary-school counselling

This is the fourth and final article in a series exploring the ways in which secondary-school counsellors resolve their working dilemmas. It examines evidence to suggest that the resolution of such dilemmas, in terms of the degree to which the demands of the school are legitimated, is carried out in the internal context of other considerations in the minds of the counsellors. Among these other considerations are the extent to which they seek to work within a 'person-focussed' frame of reference, as opposed — perhaps — to the use of organisational structures; and the extent to which they see themselves in a posture of active 'interventionism' in the lives of their clients or the functioning of the system. Evidence is also examined which indicates that the effects of system orientation may be modified by the external context, represented by the capacity of the system as an organismic cell to resist ingression. The suggestion emerges that counsellors are involved in sociological as well as psychological tasks, requiring an ecology model to represent them adequately.     

The concept of boundaries in counselling and psychotherapy

Boundaries in the mind—the relative 'thinness' and 'thickness' of many kinds of boundaries—has been studied as a measurable dimension of personality. Persons scoring 'thin' overall on the Boundary Questionnaire can be described as open, trusting, vulnerable, and usually having a rich fantasy life; they are people in whom 'everything gets through'. People who score very 'thick' tend to be solid, well-organised, and sometimes rigid. The relationship of boundaries to other measures of personality, to dreams and nightmares, to clients' occupations and interests, and finally to the conduct of psychotherapists and counsellors, including the question of boundary violations, is discussed. Some boundary violators have very thin boundaries and are unable to maintain clear distinctions between the client's needs and their own; others have relatively thick boundaries which make them insensitive to the damage that boundary violations can cause. Awareness of the client's boundaries and one's own can be useful in 'matching' a client with a therapist and in the conduct of therapy, especially at stressful times. It is also useful at times to discuss boundaries with clients.