What Is It Like to Be an Alien?

This brief article is concerned with an aspect of Jonathan Glover's book, Alien Landscapes?. After reflecting a little on the book as a whole, the question that is taken up is, ‘Why might a book that seeks to help those without mental disorders understand what they are like “from the inside” be of interest to laymen and practitioners in the criminal law?’. One answer lies in part in the way that ‘what it is like from the inside’ might interact with judgements of criminal responsibility. Taking its cue from examples used by Glover the article considers, and puts pressure on, the ‘dual view’ he proposes: that when dealing with those with mental disorders we should treat them as responsible agents in the sense of not withholding from them Strawson's ‘reactive attitudes’, while nevertheless accepting that their personalities and behaviours are the results of large doses of ‘bad luck’.     

Where are the Males? Gender Differences in Undergraduates’ Interest in and Perceptions of the Genetic Counseling Profession

Genetic counseling is a female-dominated field, with women comprising about 95% of the profession (Smith et al. 2009). Greater patient choice and satisfaction may be achieved by increasing the number of male counselors, but empirical evidence about the reasons for this gender imbalance is limited. In this study 190 undergraduates (110 females, 79 males, 1 unknown) in upper division bioscience courses completed a survey assessing their knowledge and perceptions of and interest in genetic counseling as a career. There were only two significant gender differences. Females indicated significantly greater interest than males in pursuing a genetic counseling career, and they rated interpersonal skills as more integral to genetic counseling than males. Multiple regression analyses of knowledge and perceptions as possible predictors of male and female interest in pursuing a genetic counseling career yielded no significant predictors of male interest. For females, there were four significant predictors: estimated salary, career characteristics, perceptions of genetic counseling as interpersonally focused, and whether they had already chosen a career. Implications for recruiting males to the profession, and research recommendations are presented.     

Ethnic Diversity and the Use of Humor in Counseling: Appropriate or Inappropriate?

Humor can reflect the healthy release of feelings during the counseling process, the type of emotional release that leads to significant therapeutic gains. It can also be a disturbing distraction, possibly causing early termination, if used inappropriately. Counselors need to exert particular caution before attempting to apply humor in working with a client from a culture different from the counselor's. This article explores the available literature and offers contributions on the subject from 4 “ethnically diverse” perspectives. Finally, a general approach based on existential theory is presented along with 5 general conditions to ascertain the appropriate use of humor.     

Gender and Counseling in the Twenty-First Century: What Does the Future Hold?

As the twenty-first century approaches, counselors will be increasingly called on to assist individuals and society in adapting to changing conceptions of gender. Hence, counselors must be aware of the impact of gender on the way in which our society is defined, organized, and functions in order to do the best possible job for our clients. Ignoring the impact of conceptions of gender on our work is an invitation to disaster.     

Spirituality in Counseling: What Do Counseling Students Think About It?

The author discusses students' reactions to 4 seminars. 1‐hour each, on the topic of spirituality in counseling. Students were enrolled in a master's‐level counseling program, Several issues emerged that have implications for the training of counselors on spiritual issues, including students' level of comfort with discussing spiritual issues, the difficulty of defining spirituality, client and counselor readiness to explore spirituality, and training issues in the area of spirituality.     

What Can Be Given? What Can Be Found? A Therapist and Supervisor Consider What It Is to Hold and Let Go

This paper is a companion to Simone Hidary’s paper. It gives a supervisor’s perspective on the process of a student therapist’s development. The therapist was particularly interested in defining for herself the meaning of a holding environment.     

Who Is to Blame? Official Discourse and Ethnic Diversity Attitudes During the 2011 Riots in England

In 2011, the killing of a Black man by a police officer triggered violent riots across England. In a context where ethnic minorities are rarely openly blamed, we examined the lens through which the events were interpreted in the official discourses of the British Prime Minister. A thematic content analysis (Study 1) revealed that, without explicitly blaming ethnic minorities, the discourses built on antagonistic normative references opposing a virtuous majority to threatening minorities. Then, based on online survey data of self‐declared Londoners (N = 223) during the riots, we analyzed (Study 2) how agreement with the discourses related to individuals’ ethnocentrism and their understanding of the causes underlying the events. Results of regression analyses showed how agreement with the discourses related to blaming ethnic diversity for the riots and to higher ethnocentrism, especially among individuals least likely to discriminate against minorities (i.e., low in social dominance orientation). Agreement with the discourses was also linked to reduced blame of authorities. To conclude, we discuss the mobilization potential of political discourses on ingroup virtue and outgroup threat.     

The Road Less Traveled: One Genetic Counselor’s Reflections on Disability and the Genetic Counseling Profession

Reflections on disability and the genetic counseling profession from the perspective of a seasoned genetic counselor who is also the mom of a child with a disability.     

What Is and Can Be Attributed to the Therapeutic Relationship?

This paper reviews findings from two studies that support the contentions of the Generic Model of Psychotherapy that therapeutic outcome must be viewed as arising from a complex interaction of common and specific factors. Patient, therapy, and relationship factors are shown to selectively add to the variance predicted in psychotherapy outcome studies. Moreover, an inspection of procedures that are common to two different therapies, and those that are unique to these approaches reveal that both contribute to outcome and do so in ways that suggest the presence of both synergistic and inhibiting effects.     

Genetic Counseling in the Era of Genomics: What’s all the Fuss about?

As genomic sequencing becomes more widely available in clinical settings for diagnostic purposes, a number of genetic counseling issues are gaining precedence. The ability to manage these issues will be paramount as genetic and non-genetic healthcare professionals navigate the complexities of using genomic technologies to facilitate diagnosis and inform patient management. Counseling issues arising when counseling for diagnostic genomic sequencing were identified by four genetic counselors with 10 years of collective experience providing genetic counseling in this setting. These issues were discussed and refined at a meeting of genetic counselors working in clinical genomics settings in Melbourne, Australia. Emerging counseling issues, or variations of established counseling issues, were identified from the issues raised. Illustrative cases were selected where pre- and post-test genetic counseling was provided in clinical settings to individuals who received singleton or trio WES with targeted analysis. Counseling issues discussed in this paper include a reappraisal of how genetic counselors manage hope in the genomic era, informed consent for secondary use of genomic data, clinical reanalysis of genomic data, unexpected or unsolicited secondary findings, and trio sequencing. The authors seek to contribute to the evolving understanding of genetic counseling for diagnostic genomic sequencing through considering the applicability of existing genetic counseling competencies to managing emerging counseling issues and discussing genetic counseling practice implications.     

What Is Missing in Counseling Research? Reporting Missing Data

Missing data have long been problematic in quantitative research. Despite the statistical and methodological advances made over the past 3 decades, counseling researchers fail to provide adequate information on this phenomenon. Interpreting the complex statistical procedures and esoteric language seems to be a contributing factor. An overview of missing data and remediation procedures is provided. A systematic approach to addressing missing data along with reporting suggestions is presented.     

What Will I Be? Exploring Gender Differences in Near and Distant Possible Selves

We investigated whether the possible selves of men and women align with the gender-differentiated social roles that are projected to vary across the lifespan. Across two studies (Study 1: N?=?211 and Study 2: N?=?314) of college students in the Midwestern U.S., we found that gender differences in possible selves were larger when projected into the distant future (e.g., 10–15 years) than the near future (1 year). In addition, the relationship between career and family possible selves varied depending on gender and temporal distance, with a tradeoff between career and family observed primarily among women and for distant possible selves (Study 1). Supporting role congruity theory, both genders hoped for role-congruent selves but feared role-incongruent selves (Study 2).     

Who Should Do Faculty Development and What Should It Be?

In the face of widespread public dissatisfaction with higher education, faculty development programs—especially semester- and year-long leaves—have become more important than ever before as a means of helping faculty broaden their scholarship and enhance their teaching. Department chairs should play an important hand in decisions on faculty development assignments. Given that they also have other important responsibilities, however, ways must be found to entice department chairs to become as involved in faculty development as they are in promotion and tenure, curriculum review, and decisions on merit salary increments. The particular value of faculty development programs for women and members of minority groups must also be recognized. These two groups of faculty may experience special problems in adjusting to faculty life, which make faculty development opportunities even more valuable to them than to others.     

Different Realities: What Is Reality and What Difference Does It Make?

Consciousness does not exist apart from psyche; it reflects it. Different realities are not interchangeable with other manifestations of psychic reality. “Borderland consciousness” is the term I have conceived for people who, in one way or another, have a living dynamic connection to and relationship with nature. Given this understanding, the oral traditional and Native American cultures manifest a reciprocity psyche, and are today the closest manifestation of the psychic reality in Genesis, pre-expulsion from Eden. Navajo language contains no words for religion, guilt, human, inanimate, psyche, or ego. The Western psyche manifests a dominion psyche; that is, a binary consciousness borne as a result of the expulsion in Genesis, and wedded to logic as an uncompromising characteristic of sanity and health. This kind of consciousness too often crushes the spirit dimension, which is transrational. An awareness of borderland consciousness is entering into the Western cultural collective. This is the telos of the Garden of Eden expulsion, and itself represents the dominion psyche and the reciprocity psyche in dialogue. This dialogue offers a critical counterbalance to the rogue behavior of the overspecialized Western ego of the dominion psyche. This article urges Jungians to develop new methods of connecting with borderland consciousness since the dominion psyche and its technology alone cannot save our species in the face of the threat of a global climate change disaster.