Intersections of personal vs. collective trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic: the hijacking of the human imagination

This paper explores how the deadly shadow of COVID-19 passing over the Earth constitutes a collective trauma that frequently opens up or ‘triggers’ un-remembered personal trauma, and it provides clinical examples of these intersections. The paper further explores how the human imagination, which we normally utilize to make meaning out of traumatic experience, can be hijacked by fear – leading to avoidance of suffering and to illusory formulations and alternative realities such as conspiracy theories. Alternatively, the imagination can be employed in more realistic and creative ways – leading through conscious suffering to healing and wholeness. Which path the imagination takes is shown to depend on the capacity of individuals to feel the full reality of the human condition in general and the exquisite vulnerability of our existence as fragile human beings at this moment in history. Ernest Becker’s analysis of our ‘denial of death’ and his urgency to embrace our common human vulnerability is explored in relation to Jung’s early tendency to deny the body. The author proposes that the more creative uses of the imagination, connected to a more humble and realistic apprehension of our common destiny, may be seen in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement that swept the world in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.     

Examining the Association Between Self-Reported Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Demographic Variables Among Counselors

The authors examined the association between demographic variables and self-reported multicultural counseling competencies among counselors. A national sample of 220 counselors affiliated with university counseling centers participated in this investigation. Counselors responded to 40 Likert-type statements about multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and relationships. Results from a series of multivariate and univariate analyses indicated that Asian American and Hispanic counselors reported more multicultural knowledge than did White counselors, and African American, Asian American, and Hispanic counselors reported more competence in multicultural awareness and relationships than did White counselors. No effects were found for other demographic variables. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Laboratory control of thumbsucking by withdrawal and re-presentation of reinforcement

A 5-year-old boy was shown cartoons, and punished for thumbsucking during alternate cartoons by turning off the cartoons for as long as his thumb remained in his mouth. Thumbsucking weakened during such periods. During alternate periods of uninterrupted cartoons, thumbsucking promptly recovered, suggesting a quick discrimination process. Two other 5-year-old boys were shown the same cartoons; withdrawal of the cartoons was made contingent upon thumbsucking for one, and randomly yoked for the other. Then their roles were reversed. Contingent withdrawal and re-presentation of the cartoons controlled thumbsucking rate; yoked withdrawal and re-presentation did not.     

The Doctoral Degree in Counselor Education and Supervision

The doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) is a terminal or final degree in the field of counseling. This article, provides an abbreviated look at the development of the CES doctoral degree, reviews the development of accreditation standards, reports on current status of the doctoral degree, and comments on the possible future of the CES doctoral degree.