Investigation of the effect of group counselling based on schema therapy on academic expectation stress in high school students

This research is a preliminary evaluation study to determine whether group counselling based on schema therapy has an effect on academic expectation stress in high school students. In this study, a 2 × 3 split-plot design was used. The Academic Expectation Stress Inventory was applied for data collection purposes. The effect of group counselling based on schema therapy on academic expectation stress was tested using a two-factor ANOVA for mixed measurements. As a result of the analysis, the intervention*time effect was found to be significant with regard to academic expectation stress. The findings obtained in the study reveal that group counselling based on schema therapy creates a significant decrease in adolescents' academic expectation stress level, and this decline continues, as shown in the follow-up test. As a result, it can be said that the group counselling programme based on schema therapy, which was developed as a preliminary evaluation study, has the potential to reduce the academic expectation stress level of high school students.     

Mother-blaming in family therapy: An empirical investigation

Abstract

This study tested two hypotheses derived from the feminist critique of family therapy in a sample of AAMFT members. The stimulus was a brief vignette of an initial therapy session with a family presenting a teen-aged child as the identified patient. It was hypothesized that family therapists would rate the mothers in the vignette as more dysfunctional than fathers. It was also hypothesized that mothers would be asked to bear more of the burden of change in treatment plans written by subjects. Neither hypothesis was supported. However, respondents did rate the concerned parent, regardless of sex, as more dysfunctional. Since this is a role often occupied by women, this finding may indicate some gender bias.     

A self psychological and relational approach to group therapy for university students with bulimia

Bulimia is a complex disorder that can significantly interfere with psychosocial functioning. It is a particularly significant problem among adolescents and young women in college and university settings. The preponderance of literature on group therapeutic approaches for this disorder is from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. In this paper, we present a psychodynamic group therapy approach for female university students, informed specifically by self psychological and relational frameworks. Through clinical illustrations, we demonstrate how the group provides selfobject experiences, including mirroring, idealizing, twinship, and adversarial experiences, and how the group becomes the arena through which group members can experience, express, and understand emotions. The interpersonal context of the group uniquely provides opportunities for members to examine their bulimic symptoms in relation to interactions that take place outside of or within the group.     

Running: An adjunctive group therapy technique

Group therapists who work with severely disturbed patients know that group sessions are often characterized by verbal rambling, frequent and prolonged pauses and high levels of anxiety on the part of group members. This article focuses on the use of a group activity— namely, running—as an adjunct to group psychotherapy. A brief case report will illustrate the application of this innovative treatment technique; then issues that may arise when one leads a running group are dealt with in a question- and -answer format.The author wishes to express his appreciation to Mrs. Vera Kohn for editorial assistance in the preparation of this article.     

Focused group therapy: An integrative approach

Focused Group Therapy (FGT) was developed within a research project on treatment for burned out patients on long-term sick leave. The core of FGT is to find and formulate an individual focus expressed in behavioural terms. This focus is then worked with in the here-and-now of the group therapy. It is argued that the use of common factors in group therapy, rather than a special technique, improves the clinical work. Thesupport factor in group therapy is understood in terms of cohesion, therapeutic alliance and goal-corrected empathic attunement. Thelearning factors that are stressed are the experience of being a part of a developing group, building on similarities instead of differences, affective communication and the implicit knowledge developed in new ways of dealing with interpersonal relations. Theaction factor is considered to consist of challenging interpersonal situations corresponding to the individual focus, which are mastered in the here-and-now of the group.     

Decision difficulty and illusion of transparency in Japanese university students

People tend to believe that their inner thoughts are readily apparent to others. This study was conducted to examine effects, related to the difficulty of making decisions of personal preference, on the illusion of transparency, that is, the tendency people have to regard their own preference as more apparent to others when they have made their decision easily as opposed to situations in which they felt their decision to be difficult. In three studies in which the customary "transparency" experimental paradigm was used, university students were asked to rank choices of wedding dresses (Studies 1 and 3) or Korean movie stars (Study 2). Analysis suggested that the less difficulty participants felt in making their judgments (the first and last preference vs mid-ranking preference), the more they expected judgments to be transparent, especially when they had the clear intent to convey their thoughts to others. However, observers discerned first preferences no better than mid-ranking preferences. How inner subjective information contributes to the illusion of transparency is also discussed.     

An investigation of vocational indecision in college students: Correlates and moderators

This study investigated the relationships among fear of success, locus of control, and vocational indecision in college students and the extent to which these relationships are moderated by sex and ability. Subjects, 103 female and 98 male undergraduate students, were administered measures of fear of success, locus of control, and career indecision. In addition, American College Test (ACT) composite scores were available for 154, or 77%, of the subjects. Results indicate that vocationally undecided college students are more external in their locus of control, are more fearful of success, and have lower ACT scores than decided students. Multiple regression analyses for the prediction of vocational indecision yield mixed results, as the power of prediction of the independent variables of locus of control and fear of success were influenced by the sex and ability level of the student. Results, implications for future vocational indecision research, and implications for counseling assistance of vocationally undecided students are discussed.