Hot-line drug counseling and Rogerian methods

Recent literature attests to the growth of programs that deal with drug abusers. Most of these programs are located on campuses and are oriented to the campus population. This article deals with a broader-based, community-oriented, hot-line counseling service designed to assist drug abusers. The authors have attempted to apply a modified Rogerian counseling model to hot-line counseling of the drug abuser.     

Guidance and Counseling in the Elementary School: Its Theoretical Base

Although many proponents of elementary counseling and guidance have stressed the preventive, developmental approach, an examination of job practices shows some inconsistency between the approach as stated and its implementation. This discrepancy is traced to the failure of elementary counseling and guidance to develop a theoretical base that relates guidance and counseling processes to the process of child development in the early childhood years. This research-based article attempts to identify the problem further, to examine its origins, and to find a solution to it. The author shows how a communication-theory approach could bridge this gap and offers some suggestions for its implementation and use.     

Reducing Counselor Anxiety by Using Modeling Strategies

We hypothesized that beginning counselors experience interview-related anxiety that affects counselor performance. Two kinds of videotaped modeling—an expert model approach and a coping model approach—were compared as to the relative effectiveness of each method in reducing beginning counselors' anxiety toward a counseling interview. Those persons who viewed expert models significantly reduced situationally related anxiety following participation in an analogue interview. Persons who viewed coping models had nominal but nonsignificant reductions in anxiety. In neither group was anxiety significantly related to counselor performance. A modicum of anxiety may be a desirable attribute in beginning counselors. The relative merit of each kind of modeling strategy is discussed.     

Rational-emotive therapy: A discussion of its applicability for deaf clients

This review was conducted to explore the feasibility of Rational-Emotive therapy as an approach to addressing the problems of providing mental health services to persons who have a severe hearing impairment. Informational resources dealing with the topics of Rational-Emotive Therapy and counseling with persons who are hearing impaired were reviewed. References indicated that RET is reasonably well suited to the task of counseling with clients who are hearing impaired, provided that appropriate modifications are incorporated. Specific modifications of RET are recommended and discussed.     

Career Education for Persons With Handicaps

Handicapped youth and adults still encounter serious problems assimilating successfully into today's rapidly changing society. After tracing the major events that have increased the momentum of career education for persons with handicaps, Brolin and Gysbers advocate a life-centered curriculum approach, which focuses on 22 skills essential for successful community living and working. They recommend that counselors assume specific responsibilities in this approach and outline competencies necessary to carry out guidance and counseling activities for persons with handicaps at four phases of career education. The article includes examples of successfully operating career education programs and concludes with a challenge to the profession.     

Physiological hyperreactivity to stressors in physical child abusers and individuals at risk for being physically abusive

Research on the physiological reactivity of physical child abusers and individuals at risk for being physically abusive is summarized and critiqued. Several theorists have hypothesized that physical child abusers experience physiological hyperreactivity to stressors, particularly stressful child interactions associated with child rearing. The experimental evidence generally supports the physiological hyperreactivity hypothesis, although there are some contradictory and inconsistent results within individual studies and across studies. The research also indicates that the physiological hyperreactivity of physical child abusers and those at risk for being physically abusive occurs during a wide variety of stimulus situations, including aversive child-related stimuli, nonaversive child-related stimuli, aversive nonchild-related stimuli, and during periods when no overt stimulus is present (resting or baseline periods). Recommendations concerning procedural and methodological improvements are made in order to enable future researchers to better address unresolved issues related to the physiological hyperreactivity hypothesis.     

Toward an integration of child and family therapy

Current forms of treatment for the symptomatic child are reviewed and analyzed. There are four general approaches to treatment: individual child psychotherapy, conjoint parent-child psychotherapy and counseling, parent therapy and counseling, and conjoint family therapy. Each approach has certain strengths, but in-and-of itself is an incomplete treatment mode. An integration of child and family therapy is recommended, and recent attempts at this integration are described. These include approaches which work within the framework of conjoint family therapy and those which provide concurrent child and family therapy.     

Developmental Counseling in the Elementary School

Some of the fundamentals basic to a theory and practice of developmental counseling with the elementary school child are set forth. Pertinent child development research is cited that implies the need for developmental counseling with normal children. The value of this counseling in the elementary school setting is in facilitating the total learning process. Unique factors of this counseling, including short-term service, focus on developmental problems, and the establishment of goals, are described. Principles for working with children in the counseling process are discussed.     

Pastoral considerations on abortion and sterilization

Concerns over sterlization and abortion typify our current moral dilemma. These matters begin as individual problems but rapidly expand to become pressing social concerns. The ethical, psychological, and physical factors related to sterilization in men and women are examined and a careful scrutiny of the meaning of the decision to the parties is advised. Abortion is an even more complex issue. The counselor's value system is always a part of the counseling process. Rigidity is not helpful in attempts to adjudicate conflicting rights among the child, the mother, and the father. Four alternative approaches to counseling with persons considering abortion are described.     

Child abuse: Prognostic factors in therapy effectiveness

We have attempted to define the problem of child abuse by separating the abusers into two categories. Pattern abusers seem to be primarily a social issue in that the abuse is an outgrowth of the parental charge to control her/his child. However, another abuser is seen as a borderline or psychotic individual when the abuse is an outgrowth of a transferential distortion on the part of the parent. It was suggested that family therapy for the latter may be the preferential mode of intervention.     

A Qualitative Investigation of Somali Immigrant Perceptions of Disability: Implications for Genetic Counseling

This study examined the potential utility of genetic counseling services for Somali immigrants by investigating their perceptions of disability. Five Somali women participated in structured interviews that assessed their perceptions of the nature, causes, and impact of disability, and care for persons with disabilities. Using a Heideggerian Hermeneutics qualitative method of analysis, six major themes emerged: (1) disability refers to both physical and mental conditions, with mental disability generally thought of first and as more severe; (2) in Somalia, the family cares for disabled family members, treating them as if they were normal (3) there are major cultural differences between Somalia and the United States in how persons with disabilities are treated; (4) caring for a person with a disability is stressful for the family; (5) Allah determines whether or not a child will be disabled, and this cannot be predicted or altered; and (6) family is the primary life focus, and therefore, risk of disability does not affect reproductive decisions. These themes suggest that traditional genetic counseling may have limited utility for Somali immigrants. We recommend several modifications to traditional genetic counseling for Somali patients that also may be useful for populations that have similar beliefs.     

Parents of the Handicapped Child: Facilitating Acceptance Through Group Counseling

All parents have an image of the way they would like their children to be. Often this expectation is contradicted by reality for the parents of a handicapped child. Whether at the time of birth when obvious differences are apparent or later when performance differences are recognized, the discrepancy between expectation and reality causes parents to experience a loss and accompanying feelings of grief. This article suggests that the method of group counseling using a relevant framework on which to base discussion is without equal as a means of assisting parents to deal with their situations. Presented to those who lead parent groups for these persons is an applicable model and guidelines for its implementation.     

Pastoral counseling in a settled community

Much of the literature in pastoral counseling has been written against the backdrop of an anonymous, changing, technological, and urban community setting. The author contrasts the premium this understanding of counseling places on establishing relationships, confidentiality, gaining information through questions, and the long training required with the way these same matters may be understood from the vantage point of a more settled community, characterized by long-term relations, limited confidentiality, and the support lay persons give each other. He discusses the pastor's role change in this setting and describes an approach to training lay men and women to assume pastoral care responsibility.     

Theorizing the Narrative Dimension of Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Big and Small Story Approach

In this article, we develop a theoretically substantiated narrative framework for assessing psychotherapy practices, based on a big and small story approach. This approach stretches the narrative scope of these practices by making explicit and advancing small story counseling. We demonstrate how this framework can be a reflection tool by systematically applying six story dimensions to an example from army counseling. Small story dimensions one (multiple storytellers) and three (ways of ordering experience) draw attention to which persons and stories we do not engage with in counseling practices. Small story dimension two (future and on-going temporal orientation) marks a shift towards language of (future) potential, rather than a language of deficit. Small story dimensions four (low tellability) and five (fluent moral stance), reinstate the art of listening to client words, and remind us to resist the inclination to interpret these too easily in terms of a specific counseling theory or moral framework. Finally, small story dimension six (embeddedness) encourages counseling-on-the-move. Finally, we discuss the implications of widening the narrative scope of psychotherapy and counseling, such as the need to develop small story competence and to assess the therapeutic quality of everyday talk.     

Konsumenten illegaler Internet-Pornographie – psychische Auffälligkeiten und Risiken der Straffälligkeit

Internet sex offending, especially child pornography, is widespread and numbers of convictions are increasing steadily worldwide. The still sparse data from research as well as empiricism from risk assessment and therapeutic work suggest the following: Internet sex offender as well as child abusers are represented in all social classes and all age ranges. Both show similarities in dependent, avoidant and partially schizoid social interaction as well as in anxiety. However the personality organisation of child abusers is usually less structured and tends towards personality disorder, especially with emotionally instable and antisocial traits. Usually pedophilia can be diagnosed in child abusers. Internet sex offenders on the other hand have fewer prior convictions, are less likely to fail in the community, have a very low risk of sexual recidivism and only part of them fulfil the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia. There is no clear evidence for an escalation from internet sex offending to child abuse. The essential characteristics for an escalation are well known and should lead to immediate therapeutic intervention as well as psychological strain should. Only few institutions worldwide provide professional help to support the ones concerned to reduce stigma and thus prevent recidivism and child abuse.     

Blessed be the Children: A Case–Control Study of Sexual Abusers in the Catholic Church

Individuals working in churches and other youth-serving institutions have a unique level of access to children, yet the problem of sexual abuse in institutional settings has received scant research attention. To address this gap, we analyzed data from a large sample of clergy (N = 1,121) and applied a social–ecological model of offending to identify risk factors for sexual abuse perpetration. Using a case–control study design that compared clergy sexual abusers with three control groups of clergy, this study focuses specifically on individual-, relationship-, and community-level factors associated with a higher risk of abuse in professional populations. Findings revealed that clergy sexual abusers tended to have more truncated pre-seminary dating histories, and that their dating and sexual partners were more likely to have been male than female. Self-reported sexual abuse history was associated with a greater likelihood of sexual abuse perpetration among clergy. Clergy abusers tended to be more involved with youth and adolescents in their ministries; however, they were observed to relate less well to youth and adolescents than their clergy counterparts. Given widespread changes in our cultural understanding of abuse as well as more specific changes in the organizational approach to seminary education, these differences underscore the role that youth-serving institutions and society can have in the primary prevention of child sexual abuse. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

STRUCTURES OF EVIL ENCOUNTERED IN PASTORAL COUNSELING

This essay explores some relationships between social structures or systems and the internal psychological structures or systems of individuals. After defining evil, pastoral counseling, and structures or systems, I present examples of persons affected by social systems of power who have sought counseling. I present a form of counseling known as Internal Family System Therapy (IFS) and show with an extended example how I have worked with clients using this approach. In this process the client is guided to use “Self‐leadership” in healing and transforming inner conflict between various subpersonalities or “parts.” I then compare the IFS approach to one used by mediators in community conflict transformation and peacebuilding.     

Shock,Adjust, Decide: Reproductive Decision Making in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Carrier Couples—A Qualitative Study

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common recessive condition affecting the White British population. Facilitating reproductive decision making for couples at genetic risk for CF is an important aspect of genetic counseling practice in the UK. The purpose of this study was to explore the reproductive decision making process for 31 members of CF carrier couples (15 men and 16 women) with or without an affected child. The design involved a qualitative approach consisting of semi-structured interviews and data analysis informed by grounded theory methodology. Sex and personal experience of CF were identified as factors that may influence reproductive decision making. Findings suggest these hypotheses: (1) CF carrier couples who have an affected child/pregnancy, are more likely to embark on another pregnancy than couples who have a healthy child from an at-risk pregnancy, and (2) men and women play different roles in the reproductive decision making process. Data analysis resulted in development of a structured framework modeling the reproductive decision making process, which may be helpful in guiding genetic counseling with CF carrier couples and other at risk couples making reproductive decisions.     

Sexual Abuse Survivors: Identifying Symptoms and Special Treatment Considerations

Because of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, many adult counseling clients will have sexual abuse in their histories. Counselors should familiarize themselves with the symptoms of sexual abuse survivors to assist with disclosure. Failure to address the abuse will interfere with the success of the counseling process. Special sensitivity is required of counselors to provide a safe environment in which survivors can examine the pervasive impact of the abuse on their lives, explore and ventilate their feelings, and resolve the trauma so it ceases to block their development. An eclectic approach, including group counseling, is recommended.     

Nondirectiveness and genetic counseling

Nondirectiveness is the generally required and professed standard for genetic counseling. However, studies are lacking in the field of human genetics and in other disciplines which address either the theory or practice of this type of therapeutic procedure in the context of genetic counseling. Moreover, there is no indication the further development this concept has undergone in client-centered therapy has been acknowledged in human genetics. This could be due tot he historical development of genetic counseling, its inherent conflicts and often undefined goals, and the latent need of human geneticists to defend themselves against being accused of eugenic tendencies. Nondirectiveness and directiveness, however, can neither adequately describe what takes place in genetic counseling, nor can they — according to their original meaning — be used to define an ethical standard of genetic counseling. Starting with the writings by Carl Rogers (1942), an experiential approach is described, in which counseling is seen as a process of influence, which is wished by all the persons involved, during which activities are oriented toward the experience of the client, and which allows the counselor to communicate openly and directly with the client. The present study illustrates the use of the experiential approach in genetic counseling and shows that it can uphold the principle of ethics, which nondirectiveness demands and, at the same time, prevent the inevitable and unresolvable contradictions. This means that in their training genetic counselors must learn to recognize and constantly reflect on the influence they can and want to exert. In order to be able to use this influence in a responsible manner, genetic counselors must also learn to have a certain degree of flexibility so that they are able to check at any time how their client responds to this influence.