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.     

Some ethical concerns about counselling research

The whole approach of counselling researchers to ethics may be assumed to have been improving in recent years, especially with the BACP research guidelines (Bond, 2004 Bond, T. 2004. Ethical guidelines for researching counselling and psychotherapy. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 4(2): 4–9. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]), with its focus on trustworthiness and on the researcher engaging with ethical issues. In this paper we share our concerns about the background to ethical decision making for researchers today followed by our specific concerns for counselling researchers namely: why do counselling research at all?; research that hurts participants; the impact of research on the therapeutic process; restrictive notions around what is data; the politics of funding and informed consent revisited.     

Disasters and helpers: Psychological dynamics and implications for counselling

This paper reviews the recent research on those individuals who might be regarded as the ‘hidden victims' of disasters—the ‘Helpers'. It focusses on the complex interaction between disaster events, coping strategies and individual and personality factors as determinants of psychological and emotional problems in helpers. The discussion seeks to heighten the awareness of professional counsellors of the contribution that they can make to the training, debriefing and counselling of individuals fulfilling the role of helper by illustrating the problems that typify the helper's experience and by discussing a technique for dealing with these problems. Being prepared for the type of problems likely to be encountered and how these problems might be tackled is an important determinant of the effectiveness of the service provided. Duckworth's (1986) problem-solving approach to counselling helpers is assessed and subsequently used as a basis for discussing the role of the above information in the design and application of this problem-solving approach to dealing with the difficulties experienced by helpers as a result of their involvement in disasters.     

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.     

Understanding Japanese consumers: Some important underlying factors

This article reviews existing findings and outlines some general points that need to be considered when trying to understand Japanese consumer behavior. In addition to various psychological variables, researchers need to attend to a set of unique sociocultural factors. Among the factors considered are Japan's setting, population density, economic prosperity, modernization, homogeneity, and group orientation. Other issues that are raised are the implications of a well informed society, and the importance of both age and aesthetic values. The article also discusses risk aversion, eclecticism, lack of time and space, the importance of quality and image to the Japanese, and recent changes as they affect consumer behavior. In addition to universals, there are some unique factors that should be considered in order to understand Japanese consumer behavior, much as, undoubtedly, another set of unique features should be considered for the study of any other society.     

Overcoming modern-postmodern dichotomies: Some possible benefits for the counselling profession

The rhetorical/discursive turn, in its multiple disciplinary masks, is here to stay. Even psychology is giving in to its charm. The Sophists can smile again, the agora is back and the solipsistic self is in retreat. Dialogical, narrative and cultural psychologies, as well as the counselling profession, triumph the return of the social, the contextual, and the historical to the conceptual realm of the autonomous individual. Though we encourage and enjoy critical views of modern perspectives, such as that supported by poststructuralist and postmodern perspectives, we wonder whether orthodoxies might not be more inclined towards relocation than to eviction. Based on our conviction that a positivist/relativist dichotomy is a poor exchange for older modern dichotomies (self/other), the paper critically reviews the poststructuralist turn in therapy and counselling, and discusses the implications for counselling theory and counsellors' work.     

Unplanned pregnancies and abortion counselling: Some thoughts on unconscious motivations

Abstract

My experience of abortion counselling¹ over ten years has shown me the importance of understanding the unconscious dynamics behind an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Unless these dynamics are made conscious and understood, the experience of abortion may have to be repeated again and again. Both becoming pregnant and having an abortion often involve unconscious conflicts and fantasies originating in a woman's early development and reflecting her relationship with her mother. These may be acted out via an unplanned pregnancy and decision to have an abortion. The central task of abortion counselling is to address and make links with the unconscious processes, and in particular help the pregnant woman recognize and acknowledge her ambivalent feelings. In this way the counselling makes use of the opportunity to reflect provided by the crisis situation of the pregnancy.     

CREATIVE ABILITY IN GRAPHIC ART: Some underlying factors

Some research on artistic ability is reviewed. Starting from a factor model suggested by Guilford an attempt was made to identify some factors related to creative ability in graphic art. A visual memory test and a size-relationship test showed positive correlations with a criterion variable when tested on different samples.     

Blood brothers,ugly sisters: School counselling and sibling dynamics1

This article explores the particular relevance of sibling dynamics for counsellors working in schools. School, when viewed as a large ‘lateral’ organisation, both reflects and reactivates sibling dynamics. This thinking about school counselling is based on the ‘whole school’ approach, in which a school counsellor works with staff and students, and with organisational dynamics, seeking to understand the unconscious emotional life of the school system, as well as those within it. The initial sections of the article are concerned both with the place of siblings in psychodynamic theory, and with challenges which sibling dynamics present for a counsellor working in a school context. There follow three linked sections in which the invitation to ‘think sibling’ is illustrated with some clinical examples, drawn from the specific context of a boarding school. All identities have been changed and anonymised to protect confidentiality. The article concludes with a discussion of sibling dynamics in practice, within the context of schools.     

Some uses of simulation in an in-service counselling training programme

In an in-service, pre-professional training programme offered in Gwent, a variety of simulation techniques are used to promote an understanding of the core facilitative conditions of counselling and to enable participants to experience their importance in counselling situations. In this paper, eight specific simulation techniques are described in terms of their objectives and procedures. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique are explored. Teaching and ethical issues raised through the use of such simulations in training programmes at this level are also discussed.     

Some legal implications of CBT stress counselling in the workplace

One tends to think of stress counselling in the workplace as providing a useful, therapeutic aid to enhancing the psychological well-being of the employee. However recent, successful litigation in the UK against 'stress-inducing' employers suggests that therapists need to be aware of the possible pitfalls of providing such a service. Employers and insurers facing large compensation claims are likely to try and reduce their liability by apportioning some 'blame' to the employee. Some therapeutic approaches, for example, cognitive therapy, may be efficacious but provide a perspective that can be given a different interpretation in court. For example, developing 'insight' into one's own contribution to stress may, legally, be construed as contributing to culpability or blame. Recommendations for reducing that likelihood are provided.     

Some social-historical issues underlying psychology's fragmentation

Based on a social-contextual analysis, I assess unification and pluralist impulses to resolve psychology's historical disunity. Unifiers and pluralists seem to privilege the context of justification by focusing on rational argument, whereas skeptics in the debate over unification concentrate on irrational dimensions that constitute the social-historical context for epistemic positions on pluralism and unification. Applying Kurt Danziger's (1997b) notion of the “context of construction” to psychological discourse, I discuss six contextual issues that impinge upon solutions to the unification-pluralist debate: historical precedents for disunity; marginalization of human-science psychology; the intersection of psychological knowledge with power; persistent social conflict within the discipline; implicit notions of social change for psychology; and tension between globalized US psychology and an emergent, genuinely international psychology. Adopting the context of construction to examine these contextual issues, pending systematic investigation, might facilitate reflection on the potential of pluralism to resolve the discipline's fragmented state.     

Gambling counselling in Australia: focus on cognitive counselling techniques

A number of specialised counselling services are now available to assist individuals who experience difficulties as a result of problem gambling behaviour. Clinicians within these services may utilise one or a number of counselling approaches depending on their own preferences and their assessment of the counselling style suitable for use with particular clients. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to describe the range of specialised gambling counselling services now available in Australia. The second aim is to provide clinicians in the field with a range of practical cognitive counselling strategies that may be used to good effect to assist clients to reassess their attitudes towards and thoughts about gambling.     

Changing perspectives in the extended family system in nigeria: Implications for family dynamics and counselling

The extended family system in Nigeria had in time past provided support structures for the Nigerian people. Today, Nigeria as a society has witnessed severe changes in the extended family system. This paper addresses issues connected with the extended family system in the Nigerian cultural setting before the influx of the extraneous forces as well as changes within the broader Nigerian society.     

Some thoughts about a scientist-practitioner approach to assessment training in counselling psychology

Training effective scientist-practitioners has long been an issue of concern in counselling psychology. In a recent paper, Friedlander (1992) developed a useful prototype to foster science-practice integration in a counselling seminar. Drawing on Friedlander's prototype, the question of “how to foster science-practice integration in assessment” is considered. Some assessment reading lists and class exercises designed to illustrate such integration are proposed. These teaching materials are presented: (a) in hopes that they might prove useful for some assessment instruction purposes; and (6) in hopes that they might stimulate further thinking about how to best foster science-practice integration in counselling psychology assessment courses.     

Towards networking in counselling: a follow-up study of Finnish school counselling

A follow-up study (1990-1997) and in-depth interviews on school counselling practices and problems in Finland showed that in the last 10 years the work of the school counsellor has extended and become more diversified. This article analyses this change in school counselling in terms of the problems and core tasks of counselling and the new challenges faced by Finnish counsellors, such as dismantling the traditional gender divisions in working life and counselling for immigrants. In addition, the article examines how school counsellors have attempted to solve the problems related to their work, for example, by establishing counselling networks inside and outside the school.     

The Connolly Occupational Interests Questionnaire: Some psychometric data and comments on its use in counselling

Normative data from the Connolly Occupational Interests Questionnaire (COIQ) is reported for polytechnic students and for fifth and lower-sixth forms at a selective high school. The mean profiles show that the COIQ differentiates effectively between course groups. Further data is presented which supports the inherent viability of the inventory in terms of item characteristics and counselling applications.     

Unplanned pregnancies and abortion counselling. Some thoughts on unconscious motivations

In a climate where the numbers of abortions and repeat abortions are increasing, it is necessary to improve our understanding of the dynamics that motivate the behavior of abortion seekers. While genuine contraceptive failures do exist, many unwanted pregnancies result from unresolved conflicts carried over from the woman's early relationship with her mother. The management of any pregnancy is often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence, and abortion itself is an expression of ambivalence reflecting a previously unconscious wish for a baby and a conscious wish to end the pregnancy. How these issues are handled also reflects the position the woman occupies in her life cycle. Examination of the early mother-child relationship may shed light on what unconscious needs are being expressed through the "acting out" mechanism of repeat abortion. If the mother-child relationship failed to establish an internal representation of a caretaking function, the child will lack the capacity for self-care and may seek abortion as a deliberate mechanism of self harm. Until such conflicts are resolved, abortions may be repeated. The abortion experience may also reflect a desire for a woman to individuate from her mother. Abortion counseling offers women an opportunity to understand and work through the damage resulting from their relationship with their own mothers. One case study, of a 25-year-old undergoing her fifth abortion, provides an example of acting out psychic pain resulting from a damaging maternal relationship. This woman lacked the capacity for self-care and could only tolerate counseling sessions until she overcame the acute vulnerability imposed by her most recent abortion. Another case study, of a 27-year-old seeking counseling after experiencing overwhelming feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy, provides an example of a woman seeking individuation and unconditional love. This woman used counseling successfully to develop a better understanding of herself and a certainty that she could be loved despite her flaws. Such dynamics do not always inform the abortion experience, but abortion is always a distressing experience, and counseling should always be available. Abortion counselors must come to terms with their own ambivalent feelings and unconscious conflicts in order to serve their clients.