Does Counseling Need the Mind?

In this article, the author argues that the language used in counseling practice is largely a common sense language using mentalistic words. Basic mentalistic assumptions and challenges to those assumptions are outlined. The practical consequences of retaining or discarding mentalism in counseling are discussed. The author concludes that mentalistic language persists in counseling practice because it offers a useful vocabulary, but that the counseling field could benefit from adopting a path similar to that used in the cognitive sciences.     

Toward a Developmental Understanding of the Counseling Specialty: Lessons From our Students

Trends in professional practice and training have led to a debate concerning the need for an increasing remedial emphasis within the counseling field. Proposals for an integration of the counseling and clinical specialties have been opposed by those arguing that a specialty differentiation captures meaningful differences. This article hypothesizes that the counseling specialty is distinguished by its reliance on a developmental metatheory, which makes unique assumptions regarding distress, change, and the helping process. This metatheory is rooted in a rich theoretical and empirical tradition and has generated innovations in practice that transcend usual remedial forms of helping. It is proposed that the value of developmentalism and the counseling specialty are most evident in the developmental interventions of college counseling.     

First- and Second-Order Change: Implications for Rationalist and Constructivist Cognitive Therapies

Inquiry into the nature and process of change is fundamental to the domains of counseling and psychotherapy. Particularly relevant to counselors is an understanding of the distinction between first- and second-order change. This article clarifies the distinction and suggests a relationship between these two types of change and Mahoney's (1988) recent metatheoretical contrast between rationalist and constructivist approaches to counseling. Specifically, it is proposed that rationalist approaches are guided by first-order assumptions about change whereas constructivist approaches are based on second-order principles and processes. Within this context, a number of implications for the counseling practitioner are discussed.     

Best Practices: A Critical Yet Inclusive Vision for the Counseling Profession

Substantial controversy has surrounded the concept of best practices (BPs) in counseling; in particular, the consequences of deriving practice guidelines from empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Criticisms of EST methodology, assumptions, and findings are summarized, and implications for core counseling values, including multiculturalism, are discussed. The authors further elaborate an inclusive view of BP that can facilitate the use of research to inform and enhance counseling services while rectifying problems associated with methodological and theoretical bias.     

All the World Is Not a Stage: Emerging Contextualist Themes in Counseling and Development

Classical stage-based theories of human development, drawn from organismic worldviews, possess many shortcomings when extended to counseling applications. In attempting to reduce development to linear, hierarchical sequences, these theories fail to account for the interactional nature of change processes and implicitly pathologize developmental diversity. Responding to these shortcomings, counselors are turning to contextualist models of development that emphasize process over outcome. In this article I review key assumptions of contextualism, as embodied in social role theory and the life-span developmental tradition, highlighting relevant theory and research. I propose that two vital forces within current counseling—constructivism and interactional counseling—are animated by contextualist notions of development. Specific implications of contextualism for future counseling research and practice are outlined.     

Physical Facilities for Elementary School Counseling

This article describes 3 desirable counseling centers for elementary schools with student populations of four to eight hundred. Adaptations for schools outside these population limits will readily be seen. 4 assumptions about the counseling setting are discussed: that it should (1) be attractive, (2) permit group as well as individual counseling, (3) encourage the use of play media in counseling, and (4) permit observation of counseling. Functional aspects of the counseling setting are presented in diagram and outline form. It is hoped that this presentation will encourage dialogue relative to the setting for elementary counseling, and that some direction may be found by those who are planning counseling offices or centers.     

Contributions of Teleoanalytic Theory and Techniques to School Counseling

Counselor educators should be concerned with presenting varied theoretical approaches to school counseling. This article develops the teleoanalytic position and acquaints the reader with Adlerian concepts and procedures. 10 assumptions for understanding personality are set forth. Unique counseling procedures that develop from this rationale, such as Early Recollections, Family Constellation, and “The Hidden Reason,” are described.     

Spirituality and Multimodal Therapy: A Practical Approach to Incorporating Spirituality in Counseling

The purpose of this article is to describe how the dimension of spirituality can be added to an existing counseling theory, multimodal therapy (MMT; A. A. Lazarus, 1984), to provide counselors with a practical approach to incorporating clients' religious and spiritual beliefs in the counseling process. An explanation of MMT is given, as well as its supporting research. The context of spirituality in counseling is discussed, and the process by which it can be integrated into the MMT model is explained. Two case studies are described to demonstrate how spiritual issues can be assessed and used to strengthen the counseling process. Finally, implications for counseling are discussed.     

Help or hinder? When recommendation signage expands consideration sets and heightens decision difficulty

This research examines whether recommendation signage helps or hinders the consumer when faced with choosing from large product assortments. In spite of frequent usage and retailer intuition suggesting that providing recommendation signs (e.g., “Best Seller,” “Award Winner”) should help consumers in the choice process, we propose that signs can hinder choice for consumers with more developed preferences by adding to the complexity and difficulty of the decision process. In three experiments using horizontally differentiated products in multiple categories, we provide evidence that recommendation signs create preference conflict for consumers with more developed preferences, leading these consumers to form larger consideration sets and ultimately experience more difficulty from the decision-making process. In addition, we show that these effects are mitigated for consumers with less developed preferences and when the choice is from a small assortment. The results suggest that recommendation signage may not be an effective tool for aiding choice from large assortments; instead signage can exacerbate the difficulties associated with having too many choices, with implications on purchase quantity.     

A Model for Planning Career Continuation and Change Through Increased Awareness,Knowledge, and Skill

A 3-stage sequence based on increased awareness of assumptions, knowledge of relevant information, and skill in taking appropriate action (AKS) is presented as a model for outplacement counseling. The rationale, structure, assumptions, principles, and evaluation of an outplacement counseling program using this AKS model are discussed.     

Routine screening: informed consent, stigma and the waning of HIV exceptionalism

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended that HIV screening should become routine for all adults in the United States. Implicit in the CDC proposal is the notion that pre-test counseling would be more limited than at present, and that written informed consent to screening would no longer be required. If widely implemented, routine testing would mark a tremendous shift in the US HIV screening strategy. There are a number of considerations used to determine what screening tests should be routine, and HIV fits the bill in almost every regard. Yet the stigma associated with HIV infection remains, making the CDC's recommendation highly controversial. Will minimizing requirements for pre-test counseling and special written informed consent lead to unexpected or unwanted HIV testing, or do these stringent counseling and consent requirements needlessly scare people away? Will widespread and routine testing be associated with declining stigmatization, or will it drive some patients away from seeking desperately needed health care? These are high stakes questions, and we're about to find out the answers.     

Disciplinary Counseling: A Contradiction?

Many counselors appear to be operating on false assumptions (shibboleths) regarding counseling. The removal of these shibboleths leaves one more receptive to examining the basic assumptions underlying the linkage of discipline and counseling. Discipline and counseling may be seen as similar in terms of their educational goals, and counseling is used as a tool for the disciplinary counselor to implement the attainment of these common goals. Unresolved problems remain, however. Counseling is used during only a portion of disciplinary activities; thus there seems to be a misplaced emphasis on counseling in the title of the disciplinary counselor. Such inaccuracy may have unfortunate implications. Because of the usually accepted meaning of “discipline,” the title of disciplinary counselor is confusing and possibly damaging to both the profession and the students it intends to serve.     

Individual Psychology as a Basis for the Counseling of Low Achieving Students

The counseling of low achieving students by use of a method bated on the principles of the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler is described. The basic assumptions and techniques are presented along with excerpts from counseling sessions.     

Counseling and Guidance in Non-Public Schools

The provision of counseling and guidance services in the secondary schools of one of the nation's largest non-public school systems is examined and compared with services offered in publicly supported schools from the same geographical area. Findings indicate that the non-public school lags far behind the public school in the provision of counseling services for its pupils and that the persons assigned to counsel in non-public schools are not as well qualified as the public school counselors. This lag is traced to a difference in financial support, and a recommendation is made to investigate methods of solving this problem.     

A Proposal for Researching Possible Relationships Between Scientific Theories and the Personal Theories of Counselors and Clients

Current views from the philosophy of science encourage speculation about the relationship between the personal commitments of scientists and scientific theories. Increasing numbers of psychologists also have speculated about relationships between the development of personal and scientific theories. The author describes several assumptions that link scientific and personal theorizing. A research program is outlined that might refine and test such assumptions in the context of counseling. The overall goal of the article is to argue that research into the scientific and personal theories of researchers of counseling and the personal theories of counselors and clients may answer long-standing questions about the relationship between scientific and practical knowledge in counseling. Scientists are people. (Source unknown)     

Counseling Theory: The Problem of Definition

It is proposed that (a) research in counseling and counseling practice do not generally make explicit their roots in counseling theory, (b) this lack of connectedness to theory may represent a weakness in our theories for failing to be useful, (c) this fault may be a function of our current definitions of theory, and (d) we should focus upon philosophical premises at this time. The philosophical premise of syntony is used to illustrate how many of the commonly accepted assumptions which set our standards are not necessarily so, and how the broadening of such assumptions may encourage more activity in theory development. Counseling approaches which do not qualify as theory must at least qualify in the realm of rationale by making explicit their philosophical or value premises.     

Microaggressions,Multiculturalism, and Gifted Individuals Who Are Black,Hispanic, or Low Income

The authors hypothesize that gifted individuals are subject to microaggressions based on their unique characteristics. These microaggressions are perpetuated when gifted individuals are also Black, Hispanic, or low income. Research from the field of gifted education is combined with the counseling and psychology literature to explore the common assumptions that may lead to microaggressions. Multicultural considerations for counseling are discussed through the context of giftedness. Recommendations for counseling culturally different and low‐income gifted students are presented.     

The pastoral counselor as specialist within ministry

The article attempts to demonstrate the continuity of the specialized ministry of pastoral counseling with all Christian ministry. By the use of a case fragment from a pastoral counseling case, it attempts to raise three central issues which, in terms of how they are dealt with, can determine whether or not a particular experience of counseling is Christian ministry. These issues are: the role of the minister and the context for ministry; the way in which the method of counseling can be shown to be related to a norm for Christian ministry; and the way in which the counseling process is interpreted and understood.His article is an extensive revision of an address given to the annual convention of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors in April, 1980.     

Humor and Counseling: Close Encounters of Another Kind

The basic premise of this article is that humor has a place in counseling. The paper touches on some of the more prominent theoretical explanations of humor, presents assumptions that seem pertinent to any rationale for using humor in counseling, points out the reasons counselors may have overlooked its value, and considers the uses and abuses of humor. Finally, the implications of using humor, both in terms of training and research, are considered, and a five-point scale for assessing its effectiveness in counseling is presented.     

"Facilitated consensus," "ethics facilitation," and unsettled cases

In "Consensus, Clinical Decision Making, and Unsettled Cases:' David M. Adams and William J.Winslade' make multiple references to both editions of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) Core Competencies for Healthcare Ethics Consultation in their discussion of two assumptions that are supposed to be at the heart of the facilitated consensus model's inability to handle unsettled cases; that is, that: 1. Consultants "should maintain a kind of moral impartiality or neutrality throughout the process," "explicitly condemn[ing] anything resembling a substantive 'ethics' recommendation, and 2. "What counts as the proper set of allowable options among which the parties are to deliberate will itself always be clearly discernible' Herein, I argue that neither of these assumptions is required by ASBH's ethics facilitation approach. I then conclude by suggesting that, despite their fundamentally mistaken interpretation of the ASBH approach-perhaps even because of it-Adams and Winslade have made two important contributions to the ethics consultation literature.