Writing and Publishing Books in Counseling: A Survey of Authors

This article presents data and ideas from 74 authors who published books in the field of counseling. The process of writing and publishing books is reviewed, and information is provided on typical timetables, book contracts, and remuneration. Suggestions are provided for selecting publishers and obtaining and negotiating contracts. Authors were generally very satisfied with the experience of writing a book.     

Assessing and Constructing a Meaningful System: Systemic Perspective in a College Counseling Center

The author describes an application of family systems therapy to treatment in a college counseling center. This approach organizes treatment around the “meaningful system” rather than the family system and includes nonfamily significant others in treatment. Using the Brief Therapy model of the Mental Research Institute, the author addresses special considerations in providing systemic treatment in a college counseling center, assessment and construction of a meaningful system, and specific working procedures. Two case illustrations are provided.     

COMING HOME TO THE ARCTIC COLD: ANTECEDENTS TO FINNISH EXPATRIATE AND SPOUSE REPATRIATION ADJUSTMENT

Building on repatriation adjustment research for U.S. managers and spouses, this study is one of the first to identify potential cross-cultural differences by assessing these processes theoretically and empirically in a non-U.S. sample. Focusing on Finnish expatriates and spouses, this study examined anticipatory and in-country variables related to work, interaction, and general repatriation adjustment. Specifically, time overseas, time since returning home, role discretion, and role clarity were significant correlates of Finnish repatriates' work adjustment. Time overseas, culture novelty, and social status correlated significantly with repatriates' adjustment to interacting with home country nationals. Time overseas and time back home correlated significantly with repatriate' general adjustment. For Finnish repatriates' spouses, time back home, culture novelty, and housing conditions correlated significantly with adjustment to interacting with home country nationals. For spouses' general adjustment, time overseas, time back home, culture novelty, and housing conditions were significant correlates. Implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are explored.
Coming back home was more difficult than going abroad because I had expected changes when going overseas. During repatriation it was real culture shock! I felt like an alien in my own country. Surprisingly, I was totally unprepared for the long, harsh, cold, dark Arctic winter. My attitudes had changed so much that it was difficult to understand Finnish customs. Old friends had moved, had children, or just vanished. Others were interested in our experiences, but only sort of. Most simply could not understand our overseas experience or just envied our way of life. (Finnish Spouse returning from Australia)     

Identity Development and Worldview: Toward an Optimal Conceptualization

Positive self-identity is not easily attained in this culture. This premise is supported by the pervasive number of “-isms” (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism) and their adverse impact on those who are defined as inferior by the dominant way of perceiving. Examination of the conceptual system that predisposes people to these “-isms” concludes that (a) it is the nature of the conceptual system that is inherently oppressive and (b) all who adhere to this conceptual system have a difficult time developing and maintaining a positive identity. This article postulates a new way of describing the identity development process under oppression using optimal theory (Myers, 1988). From this optimal worldview, oppression is perceived as self-alienating and yielding a fragmented sense of self, based upon devaluation by self and others. Therefore, identity development is a process of integrating and expanding one's sense of self. Optimal theory provides a new inclusive model of identity development, which is described, along with its applications for counseling practice. No es facíl obtener una identidad positiva de uno mismo en esta cultura. Esta premisa se apoya en la gran cantidad de “-ismos” (e.g., racismo, sexismo, heterosexismo, “edadismo”) y los impactos adversos en la gente que sería definida como inferior por la manera dominante de percibirlo. La conclusión de un examen del sistema conceptual que predispone a las personas a estos “-ismos” es que (a) la naturaleza del sistema conceptual es inheréntemente opresivo, y (b) todos aquellos que se adhieran a este sistema conceptual tendrán dificultades con el desarrollo y mantemiento de una identidad positiva. Este artículo postula una nueva manera de describir el proceso del desarrolo de la identidad bajo opresión utilizando la teoría óptima (Myers, 1.988). Desde esta visión universal óptima, se ve a la opresión como autoalienación y creadora de un sentido fragmentado del yo, basado en la devaluación por uno mismo y por los demás. Por tanto, el desarrollo de la indentidad es un proceso de integración y amplificación de la percepción de uno mismo. Esta óptima teoría nos da un modelo inclusive nuevo del desarrollo de identidad, lo cual se describe, junta con sus aplicacions para la práctica de consejería.     

Family Rituals

Family rituals, consisting of celebrations, traditions, and patterned family interactions, are defined and illustrated in this paper. The power of ritual practice in families is explained by three underlying processes — transformation, communication, and stabilization — concepts whose roots lie in anthropology and ethology. We propose that all families struggle with finding a suitable role for rituals in their collective lives but their actual achievement varies greatly. Commitment to ritual and adaptability of ritual practice throughout the family life cycle are important considerations. The utility of these concepts in the assessment and treatment of families is discussed.     

Positive illusion in close relationships

The literature regarding self-other comparisons suggests that self-enhancing perceptions are prevalent, including forms of “illusion” such as excessively positive self-evaluation, unrealistic optimism, and exaggerated perceptions of control. Concepts from optimal distinctiveness theory served as the basis for two experiments examining whether illusion functions similarly when the context of evaluation involves a relationship. In both experiments participants rated themselves, the best friend, and the average other—or their own romantic relationships, the best friend's relationship, and the relationship of the average other–using scales measuring positivity of evaluation, optimism regarding the future, and perceptions of control. In both experiments, participants exhibited centrality-based differentiation, rating targets more favorably to the degree that the target was more central to their social identity. Patterns of differentiation differed for the two contexts: In the individual context, participants differentiated themselves and their friends from the average other. In the relationship context, participants differentiated their own relationships from the relationships of friends and average others. Also, participants rated individuals as more controllable than relationships. Participants in Experiment 2 provided information regarding potential predictors of illusion. Analyses of these data suggest that favorable centrality-based differentiation may be partially accounted for by impression management, global self-esteem (particularly in the individual context), and commitment level (particularly in the relationship context).     

The effects of mortality salience on intergroup bias between minimal groups

We tested the hypothesis, derived from terror management theory, that mortality salience would increase intergroup bias between minimal groups. After assignment to groups, participants wrote about death or a neutral topic, and rated the personality characteristics of the ingroup and outgroup. Results supported the hypothesis.     

Maternal Distress and Parenting in the Context of Cumulative Disadvantage

To read this article's abstract in both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, please visit the article's full‐text page on Wiley InterScience ( http://interscience.wiley.com/journal/famp ). This article presents an emergent conceptual model of the features and links between cumulative disadvantage, maternal distress, and parenting practices in low‐income families in which parental incarceration has occurred. The model emerged from the integration of extant conceptual and empirical research with grounded theory analysis of longitudinal ethnographic data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three‐City Study. Fourteen exemplar family cases were used in the analysis. Results indicated that mothers in these families experienced life in the context of cumulative disadvantage, reporting a cascade of difficulties characterized by neighborhood worries, provider concerns, bureaucratic difficulties, violent intimate relationships, and the inability to meet children's needs. Mothers, however, also had an intense desire to protect their children, and to make up for past mistakes. Although, in response to high levels of maternal distress and disadvantage, most mothers exhibited harsh discipline of their children, some mothers transformed their distress by advocating for their children under difficult circumstances. Women's use of harsh discipline and advocacy was not necessarily an “either/or” phenomenon as half of the mothers included in our analysis exhibited both harsh discipline and care/advocacy behaviors. Maternal distress characterized by substance use, while connected to harsh disciplinary behavior, did not preclude mothers engaging in positive parenting behaviors.