Creative Approaches to Address Online Dating in Counseling

Within the last decade, online dating has become an increasingly popular method for meeting potential partners. Online dating comes with a unique set of opportunities and challenges that may affect the overall mental health of our clients. Hence, it is essential for counselors to be prepared and able to discuss online dating in counseling. The authors of this article introduce three potential creative interventions to assist in addressing online dating within counseling.     

Sequential Tree Analysis of Work Stressors: Exploring Score Profiles in the Context of the Stressor-Stress Relationship

In recent years concerns about whether the different measures of work stressors provide adequate information on the stressors themselves have led a number of reviewers to suggest that old constructs should be reconsidered and alternative approaches to measurement considered. One such alternative approach would be to consider the relationship between different work stressors in terms of score profiles and whether different score profiles emerge at different levels of tension. Sequential tree analysis was used to segment or split a sample into homogeneous subgroups reflecting the stressor or combination of stressors that reflected different levels of tension. The visual display that emerged from this analysis suggests that: (1) when considering the relationship between stressors and tension it is important to recognize that while absolute levels of work stressors scores may be low this is no reason to assume that the stressor-tension relationship will be correspondingly low; and (2) although individuals may report the same overall score for a work stressor, their experience of that stressor may be quite different. Finally, these results point to the need to consider the impact that generalizing work stressor scores may have on intervention strategies.     

Understanding,resisting, and overcoming oppression: toward psychopolitical validity

My first objective in this paper is to synthesize, synoptically, the literature on oppression and liberation with the contributions to this special issue. To fulfil this aim I introduce a framework for understanding, resisting, and overcoming oppression. The framework consists of psychopolitical well-being; experiences, consequences, and sources of oppression; and actions toward liberation. Each of these components is subdivided into 3 domains of oppression and well-being: collective, relational, and personal. Experiences of suffering as well as resistance and agency are part of the framework. My second objective is to offer ways of closing the gap between research and action on oppression and liberation. To do so I suggest 2 types of psychopolitical validity: epistemic and transformative.     

Cognitive Barriers to Successful Weight Management: 7 Stymie Beasts

This paper focuses on one of the most significant barriers, especially for teenagers and their families, to the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for weight management: high rates of attrition. Cognitive barriers contribute to attrition and to decreasing commitment to full engagement in the process (deliberate practice). Excuses capture the essence of one type of those cognitive barriers. Excuses are defined as shifts in attribution from self-focused causes of struggles to achieve goals to more externally-focused causes—resulting in decreasing full engagement. Those excuses (shifts in attribution) do not just happen. People make decisions to implement those shifts away from personal responsibility. Ten cognitive biases lie at the heart of such problematic delusional decision making. This paper identifies seven excuses created by that biased decision making as anthropomorphisms called Stymie Beasts. Such unique simply worded visually distinctive creatures may help improve recall and focus on these powerful antagonists to successful weight control. Then, the use of two CBT techniques, Therapeutic Understanding of Science (TUS) and Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), illustrated with examples for all seven Stymie Beasts, shows how CBT may prevent and dismantle those Beasts (excuses). Ideas for future research using randomized controlled trials to test these notions are also presented.     

Promoting positive outcomes through strengths interventions: A literature review

This paper reviews studies of strengths interventions published between 2011 and 2016. Strengths interventions aim to promote well-being or other positive outcomes by facilitating strengths identification, and sometimes also strengths use and/or development. The present review provides an overview of the different strengths interventions that are investigated, their effectiveness, and moderating and mediating factors. Results of the 18 (quasi-)experimental studies that were identified through a systematic literature search showed that all types of strengths interventions had positive outcomes in terms of well-being, job outcomes (e.g. work engagement), personal growth initiative, and group or team outcomes (e.g. class cohesion). Hope, positive affect, authentic self-expression, perceptions of the employment relationship, and feelings of social worth were identified as mediators, whereas extraversion and having specific strengths (e.g. persistence) were identified as moderators. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for future research and practice.     

Individuals With Visual Disabilities and Substance Use Disorders: Recommendations for Counselors

Given the prevalence of substance use disorders in individuals with visual disabilities, counselors must be prepared to address the distinctive needs of this population. The authors summarize evidence‐based interventions, offer contextual considerations, and provide recommendations for counselors.     

Cognitive stimulation for healthy older adults through computer-based programs: a review of the literature / Estimulación cognitiva para personas mayores sanas mediante programas computarizados: una revisión de la literatura

Abstract

Cognitive stimulation programs are widely used as a preventive tool for cognitive decline in older adults, as they can favour positive ageing by maintaining older persons’ autonomy and preserving their cognitive functions. Because of this, and due to its potentially easy application on a large scale and at a low cost, the incorporation of technologies for the cognitive stimulation of older adults has become an area of growing interest. This review outlines the advantages and disadvantages of computer-based cognitive stimulation programs aimed at healthy older adults, focusing on aspects that influence their effectiveness and future direction. Twenty-five articles were considered, including original studies, literature reviews and meta-analyses, published between 2013 and 2017. It was concluded that there is a need to generate more randomized studies with active control groups to assess the effectiveness of cognitive stimulation through computer-based programs, as well as develop designs to establish strategies that increase older adults’ adherence and ensure their motivation to carry out these activities.     

Narrative career counseling: My career story and pictorial narratives

The present article addresses the questions of what changes during narrative-informed career interventions and what prompts client reflection. We interrogated two case studies that both used the interventions of Pictorial Narratives (Taylor & Santoro, 2016) and My Career Story (Savickas & Hartung, 2012). Being heard and validated were elements that prompted client change through increased reflexivity and agency. And, reflexivity and agency were fostered by encouraging clients to consider the contrast between problem and preferred pictorials and to connect the perspective from early recollections to possibilities in a reconstructed career narrative. This pair of contrasting symbols prompted deep sense-making and new realizations that primed purposeful actions in the real world to reconstruct career and life. In addition to addressing the questions posed by the organizers, this article describes how the Pictorial Narrative methods, when used in career counseling, can been integrated with the My Career Story workbook to enhance client reflection and agency. The two case examples illustrate this unique integration of constructionist career counseling interventions.     

The experience of meditation for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and their caregivers – a qualitative analysis

There is a lack of studies about psychological interventions for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and their caregivers. We investigated the experience of a meditation training program tailored for ALS needs. People with ALS (pALS) and their caregivers that joined a meditation program for ALS were interviewed at the end of the program. Verbatims were analyzed with a qualitative approach. Both pALS and their caregivers reported a positive impact on their psychological well-being, promoted by an increase in acceptance and non-judgmental attitude. Furthermore, coping strategies seem to improve, with a positive effect on resilience skills. The ALS meditation training program seems to be an effective psychological intervention for the promotion of well-being in pALS and their caregivers.