Psychodynamic Theory and Counseling in Predictive Testing for Huntington’s Disease

This paper revisits psychodynamic theory, which can be applied in predictive testing counseling for Huntington’s Disease (HD). Psychodynamic theory has developed from the work of Freud and places importance on early parent–child experiences. The nature of these relationships, or attachments are reflected in adult expectations and relationships. Two significant concepts, identification and fear of abandonment, have been developed and expounded by the psychodynamic theorist, Melanie Klein. The processes of identification and fear of abandonment can become evident in predictive testing counseling and are colored by the client’s experience of growing up with a parent affected by Huntington’s Disease. In reflecting on family-of-origin experiences, clients can also express implied expectations of the future, and future relationships. Case examples are given to illustrate the dynamic processes of identification and fear of abandonment which may present in the clinical setting. Counselor recognition of these processes can illuminate and inform counseling practice.     

Interpersonal Goals and Close Relationship Processes: Potential Links to Health

A substantial body of empirical evidence suggests that social relationships buffer people from poor health. We review a program of research demonstrating how interpersonal goals create relationship processes that shape the quality of close relationships, which we argue may have consequences for own and others’ health. Self‐image goals to construct, maintain, and defend desired images of the self create negative interpersonal dynamics that undermine close relationships and mental health, while compassionate goals to support others’ well‐being create positive interpersonal dynamics that promote close relationships and mental health. We discuss the potential implications of social goals and close relationship processes for health. Finally, we suggest that exploring the independent benefits of giving and receiving in close relationships may inform how social relationships affect health and well‐being.     

Self-monitoring and close relationships

Three types of close relationships have received attention from theorists and researchers interested in self-monitoring: friendships, romantic relationships, and marriage. Our review of this literature was organized around three phases of relationships: initiation, maintenance, and dissolution. Across the three types of relationships, consistent differences between high self-monitors and low self-monitors emerged concerning the structure of their social relationships (segmented vs. integrated), the basis for choosing friends and romantic partners (activity-based vs. person-based), and the orientation taken to romantic and marital partners (uncommitted vs. committed). Across all three types of relationships, however, little is known about the processes and consequences involved in the dissolution of close relationships for high self-monitors and low self-monitors. Relatively little is also known about the processes used by high self-monitors and low self-monitors to maintain their friendships and marriages. In addition to addressing these deficiencies in the literature, theorists and researchers interested in self-monitoring and close relationships need to develop sophisticated, causal models that can account for (a) interaction exchanges in the relationships, (b) dyadic as well as individual levels of analysis, and (c) temporal and situational changes in the course of close relationships.     

A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to Chronic Pain Management

More than one third of Americans suffer from recurring or persistent pain. Because this condition can result in depression, social isolation, disruption of intimate relationships, and prolonged disability, chronic pain sufferers may seek counseling. This article provides counselors with an introduction to the role of psychosocial processes in the experience of pain and offers assessment and intervention recommendations based on a cognitive-behavioral therapy approach to pain management.     

Contextual Themes in Career Decision Making of Female Clients Who Indicate Depression

Difficulties concerning female counseling center clients' career decision making were explored in this qualitative study. The authors reviewed counseling intake and progress notes of 18 female students who sought counseling services at a university counseling center and who presented career concerns and reported feeling depressed. Most women in this study described their career decision‐making difficulties in the context of relationships with their parents or significant others. Both external (i.e., family relationships, family and culture, and relationships with significant others) and internal (i.e., developmental, developmental and mental health issues, and skill deficits) conditions emerged as significantly affecting these women's career decision‐making process.     

Dual Relationships and Pastoral Counseling: Asset or Liability?

Dual relationships are proscribed in the standards of ethical conduct for most professional groups that provide counseling or psychotherapy. Dual relationships are thought to be unethical because they cloud the clinical judgment of the counselor and may present conflicts of interest that prevent the counseling relationship from being beneficial. Pastors frequently provide counseling for troubled persons or families, yet they often maintain other roles and relationships with these persons and families. This article addresses the issue of the inevitability of dual relationships in pastoral counseling. Courses of action for handling dual relationships in pastoral counseling are identified.     

Personality and close relationships: embedding people in important social contexts

This special issue of the Journal of Personality is predicated on the assumption that close relationships provide the central stage for the drama of human experience. This all-important context both shapes and conditions the expression of personality, and thus must play an integral role in any truly adequate account of human behavior. The importance of this agenda is perhaps overshadowed only by its difficulty. Contributions to the present issue, therefore, take stock of past research, highlight current state-of-the-art research, and offer a vision of the next generation of research on personality and close relationships. The conceptual and methodological approaches highlighted in this issue remain faithful to the dynamic, interdependent, and multilayered nature of the processes linking personality and close relationships.     

Counseling,Risk Taking,and the Learning Process

It is crucial that counselors recognize that the problem-solving process that occurs in a counseling situation is synonymous with classroom learning. It is imperative that counselors understand the nature of the problem-solving process and how to guide and nurture this process, to increase their own effectiveness and their counselees' growth. Understanding the concepts of risk taking and intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement and their relationships to the counselees' problem-solving processes will allow counselors to establish their own counseling approaches and respond to the counselees' learning needs. Jerome Niles is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Marianne DeVoe is an assistant professor of educational foundations at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.     

Counseling Regulations Regarding Sexual Misconduct: A Comparison Across States

Sexual relationships with clients, former clients, and supervisees are some of the most powerful and difficult clinical issues for counselors. These issues force counselors to examine the heart of the therapeutic process: the counseling relationship. The purpose of this study was to gather and analyze different approaches used by state counseling boards to deal with sexual relationships in counseling and supervision. This information affords counselors and state licensure board members a broader view of options and issues involved in this difficult area of ethical decision making.     

The role of automaticity in determining the inclination to forgive close others

Hitherto, the literature on forgiveness has almost exclusively focused on the role of deliberative processes (e.g., attribution processes) in determining forgiveness. However, in the present article, we argue that in the context of close relationships, the inclination to forgive can be relatively automatically evoked in response to an offense. Four studies provide evidence relevant to this general hypothesis. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that the subliminal presentation of close others (versus non-close others or a control word) induces a relatively strong inclination to forgive various offenses. Study 3 provides insight into the cognitive processes that underlie the closeness-forgiveness link, demonstrating that thinking of (a transgression of) a close other (compared to a non-close other) leads to enhanced accessibility of the construct of forgiveness. Finally, Study 4 demonstrates that forgiving responses toward a close offender are less dependent on cognitive resources than are forgiving responses toward a non-close offender, suggesting that, in close relationships, the inclination to forgive arises in a relatively effortless, habitual manner. Implications for theorizing on how people forgive are being discussed.     

Counselor Empathy or “Having a Heart to Help”? An Ethnographic Investigation of Chinese Clients' Experience of Counseling

Current understanding of counselor empathy is almost entirely based on Western culture. Clients'; perceptions of counselor empathy are scarcely investigated within any non-Western group. Using ethnographic interviews, this study explored the concept of counselor empathy from Chinese counseling clients'; perspectives by exploring their experiences of therapeutic relationships. Although informants did not commonly and explicitly consider counselor empathy as a priority in counseling, preliminary results suggest that they may perceive it in Chinese counseling relationships as a different phenomenon linguistically and conceptually.     

Small group therapy and preadolescent same-sex friendship

On the rationale that group psychotherapy focuses on interaction processes in close relationships, our study sought to investigate the hypothesis that small group therapy would be effective in enhancing intimate friendship in a dyadic relationship. The study group consisted of 102 elementary school students who had been referred for counseling help. Matched by age, sex, and similarity of problem, each pair of students was divided into an experimental group (N = 55) and a control group (N = 47). The experimental group contained eight small treatment groups and the control group contained seven matching small groups, leaving one special education group with no control. The results support our hypothesis that group psychotherapy positively affects intimate friendship of girls and boys. They further suggest the boys' need for such an experience, since without it they markedly deteriorate in intimate friendship. Implications for the group leader are derived from the correlations between gains in intimate friendship and group intimacy.     

Space in the Trinity and in pastoral care

A central feature of the life of the Trinity is contrast without conflict: God is three and God is one. This dynamic has a spatial reference. The Three draw close to each other in the intimacy of love, but they also give each other space to be. This dynamic is a necessary condition for mature relationships on the human level. It is argued that effective pastoral counseling involves both moving in close through empathy and acceptance, and creating appropriate distance through a process that Martin Buber refers to as confirmation. Confirmation involves wrestling with the other person to help her or him actualize her or his God-given moral and spiritual potential.     

Counseling for Suicide: Client Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to describe key therapeutic processes that facilitated overcoming suicidal ideation and behaviors in previously suicidal clients. A research method called “concept‐mapping” was used to develop an understanding of what was helpful in counseling. Thirty‐five (9 male, 26 female) previously suicidal clients (M = 38 years) performed card sorts on 65 statements derived from qualitative interviews of 9 (2 male, 7 female) previously suicidal individuals (M = 42 years). Participants identified 3 therapeutic processes that contributed to overcoming their suicidal thoughts and behaviors: (a) validating relationships, (b) working with emotions, and (c) developing a new identity.     

Group counseling to enhance adolescents' close friendships

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of group counseling on adolescents' intimacy with a close friend. The study population was comprised of 174 residential and day students of seven ninth-grade classes in a residential school in Israel. All participants were socially disadvantaged, with a problematic family background. They were randomly divided into experimental and control conditions: group counseling versus an in-class enrichment program. School personnel in the helping professions conducted all counseling groups after receiving training and supervision. Results of the counseling intervention showed a significant late effect in intimacy growth with a close friend. None of the three covariates (gender, residency, divorce) had a significant impact on results. The results support, to some extent, the dual process model of relationship development.     

The Treatment of the Young Delinquent by J. Arthur Hoyles

On the rationale that group psychotherapy focuses on interaction processes in close relationships, our study sought to investigate the hypothesis that small group therapy would be effective in enhancing intimate friendship in a dyadic relationship. The study group consisted of 102 elementary school students who had been referred for counseling help. Matched by age, sex, and similarity of problem, each pair of students was divided into an experimental group (N = 55) and a control group (N = 47). The experimental group contained eight small treatment groups and the control group contained seven matching small groups, leaving one special education group with no control. The results support our hypothesis that group psychotherapy positively affects intimate friendship of girls and boys. They further suggest the boys' need for such an experience, since without it they markedly deteriorate in intimate friendship. Implications for the group leader are derived from the correlations between gains in intimate friendship and group intimacy.     

Close relationships and health: The interactive effect of positive and negative aspects

Most health research focuses on the independent associations of positive or negative aspects of close relationships with health outcomes. A small but growing literature has begun to examine interactive effects of positive and negative aspects. These interactive effects frequently predict health independently or above‐and‐beyond main effects of either the positive or the negative aspects, suggesting unique relationship processes or emergent features of these close relationship patterns. Our goal in this review is to lay out the existing approaches to studying the interactive effects of positive and negative aspects of close relationships and to review available evidence linking these interactive effects to health outcomes. We conclude by discussing important unresolved issues and highlighting critical directions for future research.     

Developmental Relational Counseling: Applications for Counseling Men

Developmental relational counseling (DRC) is a conceptual model designed to help people gain a deeper awareness of their relational functioning. DRC is informed by relational‐cultural theory and influenced by the Enneagram personality typology and cognitive and narrative theories. This article outlines the DRC model in counseling practice with men. Men involved in counseling services may use this approach to expand their personal awareness and promote mutual understanding in their relationships.     

Neurotic-Symbiotic Counseling Relationships

Two individuals can be so closely involved with one another in a counseling relationship that they become mutually interdependent and yet neither experiences growth. This paper discusses several kinds of these neurotic-symbiotic counseling relationships and examines some possible reasons for the continuation of counseling in the absence of therapeutic change. Some general characteristics of neurotic-symbiotic relationships are discussed, and a comparison is drawn between these growth-preventing relationships and those that are productive of growth.