What Counselors Should Know About the Use and Interpretation of Psychological Tests

The effective use of tests in counseling depends on the choice of appropriate tests for the particular individual and problem under consideration, as well as the proper interpretation of test scores and their integration within the total assessment process. The knowledge needed for these purposes is discussed with reference to, first, statistical and technical knowledge about tests, and second, substantive psychological knowledge about the behavior domain that the tests assess. Because of the rapid accumulation of knowledge in both areas, counselors need to keep abreast of current developments through continuing efforts to update their knowledge.     

A Theory-Based Empirical Classification of Family Problem-Solving Behavior

A method for classifying family interaction behavior is presented that underlies several related studies of variation in families' modes of interpreting and interacting with the social environment. Evidence is presented for the existence of three dimensions of family problem-solving behavior that: (a) are consistent with theory of variation in families' orientations to the environment; (b) are useful for interpreting differences within nonclinical as well as clinical samples of families; and (c) have been shown, within current samples' ranges, to be essentially independent of surface markers of family variation and accumulated skills of family members.     

A Queer Supplement: Reading Spinoza after Grosz

This article critiques Elizabeth Grosz's understanding that queer theory is unproductive insofar as it disrupts the specific identities of gay and lesbian. Reconsidering ideas about desire, the body, and identity that Grosz takes from Gilles Deleuze's work on Friedrich Nietzsche and Baruch Spinoza, this essay argues that, despite her productive reworking of homophobia in terms of “active” and “reactive” forces, Grosz's application of Spinoza is only partial. Focusing on Spinoza's evaluation of bodies, the essay both critiques Grosz's approach to experimental desire and observes Spinozist preoccupations in order to talk about the experimental body. It concludes that if Grosz were to attend more seriously to the Spinozist imperative to analyze a body in terms of its capabilities—that is, its power to be affected—the epistemological basis of her argument would change. It would be difficult to dismiss the plurality and sensibility of a queer body or its challenge to lesbian and gay as the source of a primary identity.     

Beyond Different Worlds: A "Postgender" Approach to Relational Development

Approaches to gender in therapy either reinforce or challenge existing gender differences and inequalities. The authors suggest a way to help clients move beyond gender constructions from the past. They argue that perceived gender differences are rooted in power differences that limit relational development for both women and men, and perpetuate unequal relationship structures. As an alternative to the "two different worlds," gender-as-culture framework, they present an approach to therapy based on an expanded version of Bowen's notion of differentiation. The article helps therapists recognize four "gender traps" that interfere with relational development and suggests strategies for helping clients differentiate from old gender patterns.     

Toward Training for Competence in Multicultural Counselor Education

This article reviews the literature on multicultural counselor education. Counselor training models from social-organizational and counseling psychology are reviewed in terms of their focus on sensitizing counselors to cultural difference. It is recommended that counselor training programs place more emphasis on assessment of counselors' cultural values and attitudes, the therapeutic relationship between counselors, and clients' and counselors' application of cultural knowledge in counseling sessions. Este artículo revisa la literatura sobre la educación de consejeros multi-culturales. Se revisan los modelos de entrenamiento de consejeros sacados de la psicología social/organizational y consejerial en términos de su enfoque en la sensibilización de consejeros a las diferencias culturales. Se recomienda que los programas de entrenamiento de consejeros pongan más énfasis en la estimación de los valores y actitudes culturales de los consejeros, la relacion terapéutica entre consejeros y clientes, y la aplicación del conocimiento cultural por el consejero en las sesiones de consejería.     

Outcomes of Systemic/Strategic Team Consultation:

This is the third in a series of reports on a small-sample study of systemic/strategic team consultations. It sheds new light on aspects of the therapeutic alliance in Milan-informed therapy. Ratings of the end-of-session interventions and ratings of the therapist's relationship skills (warmth, active structuring) significantly predicted client improvement at 1-month and 3-year followups. These results dispute the Milan team's idea that an intervention's effects are unpredictable. Also, our findings challenge the way some teams have adopted an impersonal, emotionally unresponsive style under the guise of "neutrality." In view of this and other recent studies, we conclude that systemic/strategic therapists should devote more attention to collaborative and affective qualities of the therapeutic alliance.     

Consultation: A New Strategy For CETA

Program changes inherent in the CETA concept have markedly decreased the effectiveness of previous program management and liaison strategies. Some reasons for this decrease and a new set of skills for working at the interface between prime sponsors and subcontractors and/or the regional offices are presented. These skills, formulated within a consultation model and based on solid behavioral strategies, are one way to increase CETA program effectiveness.     

Privacy and the new technology

Technology has been charged with destroying personal privacy. Some look to technology itself for solutions and countermeasures to the threat; others seek to control the threat by laws. But protection by control of human incentives holds most promise. Schools, for example, suffer from datamania, which might be alleviated by proper control of incentives. This article suggests several steps we can take to avoid any individual gain from acquiring information about others.     

The Future of Cross-Cultural Counseling: A Delphi Poll

The probable future of cross-cultural counseling, for the next 10 years, was predicted using the Delphi Method—the best available forecasting tool. A panel of 53 identified experts in the field of cross-cultural counseling completed a 49-item questionnaire that addressed future developments in the areas of theory and research, training and preparation, and social organization. Results indicated many probable changes in all areas and several areas that remain unclear for the next decade. Nominations for the current top cross-cultural training programs, journals, and books were also solicited, resulting in a strong consensus.