Counseling Theory Research Articles

Teaching the Working Alliance: Bridging the Gap Between Counseling Microskills and Establishing Meaningful and Productive Relationships

Purpose:This article conceptualizes teaching alliance as a framework to guide educators in teaching the affective components of working alliance (WA) through enhanced student–teacher relationships and augmented curricular focus on therapeutic bonds.Method:Drawing on the extant literature, and integrating counseling and educational theory, this article reviews the origins and evolution of the WA, conceptualizing WA as an evidence-based practice, counselor competency, and hallmark of professional identity.Results:Teaching alliance pedagogies are conceptualized across the curriculum, in clinical supervision, and as an innovative course designed to deepen understanding of the cognitively complex, affective components of WA. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for research, education, and practice.Conclusion:Early and increased curricular focus on the nondirective aspects of the teacher–student relationship offers promise in facilitating students’ self-actualizing tendencies and the ultimate achievement of counselor competence and strong professional identity.

Career Counseling and Family Therapy

Mark Savickas, PhD, has taught career counseling at Kent State University for 40 years while also serving as a professor of Family and Community Medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University. His 80 articles, 45 book chapters, and 500 presentations to professional groups have dealt with vocational behavior and career counseling. He published Career Counseling (2011) and edited Convergence in Career Development Theories (1994 with R. Lent), Handbook of Career Counseling Theory and Practice (1996 with B. Walsh), Vocational Interests (1999 with A. Spokane), the Handbook of Vocational Psychology (2005 with B. Walsh) and the four-volume Major Works in Career Studies (2012 with K. Inkson). An interview with Mark Savickas, PhD, relating to his contributions career counseling revealed many connections between career and family counseling, including the how career concerns are a part of the family constellation. The interview examined the evolution of the career construction interview and similarities in the narrative processes that serve as a foundation for the theory.

Advocating Workers‐Within‐Environment: A Critical Perspective for Addressing Career Concerns

The author provides a critical analysis of career theory and practice before presenting a theory of counseling for career concerns. The critical analysis identifies 3 core critiques of current career counseling approaches. The advocating workers‐within‐environment theory is described as a humanistic social justice approach focusing on critical consciousness development.

Book Review: The Sage Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy

In its introduction, the Sage Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy (ETCP) is offered as “the first encyclopedia of its kind.” The introduction notes that the ETCP’s goal is to provide “descriptions of most of the major theories of counseling and therapy” to give users a “quick grasp” of theories. As for what theories are, the editor states that theories are critical “drivers” for a clinician’s understanding of personality as well as for their approach to therapy. He sees this crucial role of theories as based on their heuristic function. That is, for clinicians theories can support hypotheses about theories, as well as research on, changes to, and development of better theories (xxxix). The editor goes on to recognize that even when psychotherapists or counselors are operating with the same theory, their actual delivery of service may very well differ (xl).

Book Notes

Book Notes Alexander Khaleeli, Brian Welter, and Amina Inloes The Silent Qurʾan and the Speaking Qurʾan: Scriptural Sources of Islam Between History and Fervor by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, trans. Eric Ormsby, 2016. New York: Colombia University Press, xviii + 273 pp., £45.00, $65.00. isbn: 9-780-23117-378-0. In this latest volume, Amir-Moezzi returns once again to the early Shiʿi Hadith literature as he sets out to trace its development through the turbulent formative period of Islamic history that, for Shiʿi Muslims, began with the demise of the Prophet in 11/632 and came to an end at the time of the major occultation in 329/941. He approaches this task through a philological and historical survey of a series of significant Imāmī Shiʿi works and authors that date from this period. Amir-Moezzi begins by studying the controversial Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilālī, before considering al-Sayyārī’s Book of Revelation and Falsification, al-Ḥibarī’s commentary on the Qurʾan, and al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī’s Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt. His study culminates with al-Kulaynī’s opus, al-Kāfī. In its overarching themes, the present work builds on Amir-Moezzi’s earlier contributions to the field. As both the title and the choice of works surveyed suggest, a recurring concern is the relationship between the sayings of the Shiʿi Imams and the text of the Qurʾan, with a particular focus on the esoteric or mystical aspects of nascent Shiʿism. This study is accompanied with the copious footnotes we have come to expect from this erudite author (taking up over one-third of the physical text!) and also enjoys contributions from two other respected scholars of Shiʿi Studies, Etan Kohlberg (with whom Amir-Moezzi published a critical edition of al-Sayyārī’s Book of Revelation and Falsification) and Hasan Ansari, on the chapters on al-Sayyārī and al-Kulaynī, respectively. It is expected that The Silent Qurʾan and the Speaking Qurʾan will serve to stimulate further lively debate about the nature and history of early Shiʿism. [End Page 531] Alexander Khaleeli The Islamic College, London, UK Islamic Counselling: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, by G. Hussein Rassool, 2016. Hove, UK & New York: Routledge, xiii+ 282 pp., £100. isbn: 9-780-41574-264-1 (hbk). G. Hussein Rassool has written Islamic Counselling for both Muslims and non-Muslims. The book introduces Sunni Islam to Western counsellors who face more and more Muslim clients and need a quick reference to understand them. While not overwhelming the non-believer with terminology, he does introduce and define Sunnah, jinn, hadith, ṣalāt, and a host of other terms and traditions. A glossary of Islamic terms at the book’s end would have helped such individuals. The Muslim audience, in turn, will come away with a deeper understanding of how Western notions and practices of counselling fit into their beliefs, and why some are more appropriate than others. The first part introduces Islamic beliefs and practices and their influence on the personality. The secular West often forgets religion’s deep impact on the individual, and tends to judge as intolerant anyone offended or unsettled for religious reasons. Rassool explains how religion can positively build the self. The author’s distinction between religion and spirituality further refines this discussion. The book’s second part evaluates the major secular counselling theories, including psychoanalysis, humanistic client-centred therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and solution-focused brief therapy. Rassool favours the last of these, highlighting how its positive, goal-oriented outlook parallels Islam’s optimistic anthropology. He outlines why the others fall short, some more than others. While the more pessimistic, backward-thinking nature of psychoanalysis is contrary to Islam, the author does hold out some possibilities for CBT, noting: ‘There is wide consensus among Islamic scholars and practitioners that the underlying principles on which cognitive therapy rests are congruent with Islamic values. It is the nature and the methodology in which cognitive therapy is operationalised in the Western counselling paradigm that creates the dissonance’ (146). This tentative willingness...

The SAGE encyclopedia of theory in counseling and psychotherapy

The SAGE encyclopedia of theory in counseling and psychotherapy

The Effect of Problem-Solving Counseling Program on Anger and Subjective Well-being among Juvenile Delinquents

This study, through group counseling applying problem-solving counseling theory, part of positive psychology, wanted to improve anger control and subjective well-being among juvenile delinquents and to contribute to suggest positive directions and methods in dealing with them. The research findings are as follows: • The problem-solving group counseling program was effective in reducing anger of risky adolescents. • The problem-solving group counseling program was effective in improving subjective well-being among risky adolescents. • The problem-solving group counseling program was more effective than the comparative group counseling program. Consequently, the analysis showed that the problem-solving group counseling program was very effective in reducing anger among risky adolescents and solving psychological problems of them.

AFRICAN MARRIAGE COUNSELLING AND THE RELEVANCE OF WESTERN MODELS OF COUNSELLING

This article explores the relevance of Western models of marriage counselling in the African context and specifically with Zulu couples. It argues that because of different worldviews, there are elements of western therapeutic approaches with couples that do not fit with the beliefs and values of many African people. The article examines some of the philosophies that underlie marriage in contemporary Zulu society, as well as the worldview, values and practices of Zulu people with regard to marriage. It then examines a selection of Western marriage counselling approaches in order to establish whether the Western based marriage counselling theories that are taught and practiced by social workers in South Africa today are relevant when used with Zulu couples.

Discovering Equations in Relation of Process to the Counseling Process

Each counselor understands counseling freely as all counseling theories are explained without equations. Therefore, there are two kinds of mistakes in counseling. One is counter-transference, the other is a mistake wherein the counselor forces his thought and induces certain thoughts in the client. The counselor assists in aiding the client’s real intentions to be converted to the client’s consciousness from their unconsciousness. It is equal to a process in which the methods rearrange and unify the thoughts from a chaotic state. For example, such methods include the KJ (Kawakida Jiro) method, the SEIQoL-DW (Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weighting) method, dialectics, the process discovering equation. In this report, the counseling process is compared with a process of discovering equations from observed values. In the process of discovering equations, it is important that the curve of equations smoothly continues. On the curve, the contact point and the gradient of the tangent line must not break off. Similarly, it is important that a counselor easily understands a client. Therefore, it is a necessary condition for counseling that the counselor’s and client’s original characters are smoothly patterned and that the communicating method of the counselor must be equal to that of the client. It will be useful for preventing two kinds of mistakes in counseling if counseling can be represented using equations and graphs.

Approche individualisée ou standardisée de l’accompagnement des demandeurs d’emploi : une recherche inspirée de la théorie du conseil adaptatif

This research, based on the theory of adaptive counseling, puts forward the concept of individualization of support in order to enhance its effects. Two groups of adult workers submitted to a career transition period have tried either a standard counseling service – based on a supportive job searching – or an individualized counseling service – inspired by the adaptive counselling theory. Both groups have positively benefited from the main results of counseling. However, as a result, the individualized counseling service seems to decrease professional indecision, but it also underlines an increasing feeling of self-esteem, and shows a more accurate sense of general satisfaction concerning the counseling sessions. This reflection deals with the limits of this kind of research, and it puts forward some concepts linked to the individualization of counselling for job seekers.

Detrimental Association: An Epistemological Connection of Dysfunction Within and Across Paradigms

The notion of common factors in counseling and psychotherapy theory is not new. This article contends that detrimental associations are the root of dysfunction and are common to all theories of counseling and psychotherapy. The article defines detrimental associations as organic or auxiliary connections formed by clients that lead to dysfunction. Associations deemed detrimental include a variety of aspects of a client's life, depending upon the theoretical lens through which dysfunction is viewed. The article explores how detrimental associations are conceptualized by level and across theories and paradigms and discusses implications for professional counseling.

Narratives of Developing Counsellors’ Preferred Theories of Counselling Storied Through Text, Metaphor, and Photographic Images

Reflective practice is integral for developing counsellors to maintain self- awareness and to recognize influences upon one’s personal theory of counselling. In this exploratory narrative inquiry research, four doctoral level counselling psychologists participated to uncover “What are the personal stories of developing counsellors and in what ways are lived stories reflective of counsellors' personal theories of counselling?" The researcher employed a butterfly metaphor, and photographs to illustrate lived stories. Dawn, East, Crystal, Sean, and the researcher’s own lived stories elucidated personal counselling theories and approaches. The view that all theories are constructed portraits of theorists' lives is substantiated. A strong link between lived stories and preferred theories in counselling is demonstrated. Directions for future research are provided.

Psychological Counseling Processes of Prospective Psychological Counsellors: An Investigation of ClientCounsellor Interactions

Psychological counseling and have long aimed to contribute to development and effective use of known therapeutic effect mechanisms (helping skills) in practice. Research on this issue has frequently discussed and searched as to whether psychological counsellor is effective or whether one specific counseling method is more effective than another. Findings in this direction can be collected under outcome research heading (Schindler, 1996; Straus & Wittmann, 2000). Outcome studies going back many years indicate an abundance of findings which suggest that is both genuinely effective and that a wide variety of different counseling approaches have various effects. No matter which counseling theory is adopted, as stated by Lambert, Bergin, and Garfield (2004), main purpose is to help client to feel better. Therefore, it is very important to identify those factors stimulating changes in client.Considering conducted so far, Grawe (1988) states that actually the science of psychotherapy rarely focuses on its own problems. According to Grawe (1988) and Meyer (1990), real problem is psychotherapeutic phenomenon itself (things going on); in other words, a change can happen at end of psychotherapeutic intervention process. Thanks to procedural developments, both psychological counseling and have acquired a new dimension, especially since 1990s (Grawe, 1992; Greenberg, 1991). With these procedural developments, counseling process has been able to be investigated at micro analytical (behavioral) level. It is now considered that by discussing interaction between client and counsellor in connection with results of psychological counseling, abetter understanding of nature of counseling process can be reached. Which procedural preferences of counseling process may be investigated is an issue that has long been discussed by researchers (Heppner, Wampold, & Kivlighan, 2008; Sanberk, 2014). With this being said however, actual number of studies investigating client-counsellor interactions within counseling process are limited (Gazzola, Iwakabe, & Stalikas, 2003; Greenberg, 2007; Klein & Elliott, 2006; Williams & Hill, 2001).Grawe (1989) indicates that effectiveness of counseling process can no longer be revealed with simple evidence. According to Grawe, it is important not only to know effect mechanisms in counseling process, but also which ones cause change and to what extent they do (Grawe, 1989). For instance, answers to such questions as Under which conditions do psychological counsellors explanations and instructions' affect client more (positively) and What concrete contributions can a counsellor make to cause a change in a client's life and/or behaviors and then help these changes to become permanent? reveal effort in this direction. As stated by Bastine, Fiedler, and Kommer (1989), main questions that researches are trying to answer include What variables play a role in change?, What are indicators showing that a change has occurred?, and In how many different ways can process that provokes a change be classified? However, before finding answers to such questions, it first needs to be determined as to how interaction between client and counsellor should be observed, in other words, type of observation should be determined. The interaction in counseling process can be observed without a standardized tool (directly); a procedural preference in this direction can serve purpose better understanding process (Brandi, 2005; Schindler, 1996). Furthermore, observation's focus should not be only client or counsellor, but should; on contrary, include both sides interacting with each other. Hence, some researchers have developed various observation systems that enable reciprocal investigation of client-counsellor interactions (Connolly, Chris, Christoph, Shapell, Barber, & Luborsky, 1998; Schindler, 1989). …

CÁC LÍ THUYẾT TRONG THAM VẤN NGHỀ

CÁC LÍ THUYẾT TRONG THAM VẤN NGHỀ

Psycho-therapeutic process for prevention of recidivism in sexually violent predators

It is a descriptive research Ex Post Facto Research, studying the phenomenon of Sexually Violent Behaviors (SVB) carried out by Sexually Violent Predators (SVP) and its underlying philosophical nature and psychological factors under the light of scientific reasons. It also makes an attempt to discover the right Psycho Therapeutic Process for prevention of recidivism in SVP. It proposes a triadic Psycho Therapeutic Process: 1. Experiential Conditioning. 2. Modeling. 3. Conscience Development (EMC) reflecting upon psychological and guidance and counseling theories. This study can also be a hypothesis for further scientific research explorations: to find out the causal relationship between SVB and SVP with the help of statistical approach, to formulate additional theories and concepts, to have an experimental research to measure the success rate of the process EMC, to lay down specific interventions based on this research and to offer suggestions, recommendations, and directions to the Government and to the community regarding the prevention, prevalence and rectification of the problem of SVB by SVP.

College Peer Counselor Teaching Modalities

This study examined extended influences of peer helping courses on graduates’ self-reported experiences of interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and ongoing engagement with the training. The 109 participants included 49 college graduates who completed a peer counseling theory course, 47 graduated psychology concentrators who took a peer practicum that included both theory and supervised practice, and a comparison group of 13 graduated psychology concentrators who took neither peer counseling course. Participants in both peer training courses reported continuing effects on their interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and engagement with the training, with greatest effects reported by the psychology concentrators in both peer training courses. The small comparison group provided additional perspective on these findings. Suggestions for future research are offered, including potential benefits of more widespread utilization of college peer counselor training and the need for further follow-up studies on those who have been trained as peer counselors.

When Being Old Pays Off

This study examines the effects of implicit and explicit motives at work. Specifically, we hypothesize that congruency of implicit and explicit motives (i-e congruency) affects work motivation. Integrating research on age-related gains in self-regulation strength, we expect that negative effects of low i-e congruency on work motivation are more detrimental for younger than older workers, because they possess fewer self-regulation skills. The age moderation effect should be further qualified by motive-specific incentives, such that low i-e congruency has most detrimental effects for younger workers when many, as compared to few incentives, are present at work. We tested our hypotheses in a study with N = 756 workers at three measurement points. Results supported the main effect of i-e congruency on work motivation in the achievement and affiliation motive domains, and the moderation effects of age and incentives in the achievement motive domain. Implications for theories of motivation and age-sensitive counseling and coaching interventions are discussed.

The Development of Counseling Skills to Enhance the Effectiveness of Individual Counseling

This research was conducted on an empirical basis, where the findings show various phenomena of low counseling communications and basic skills on the implementation of individual counseling, by teachers in Junior High Schools, particularly in Solo. To overcome such problems, an appropriate approach was used by means of counseling communication basic skill model to improve the individual counseling capability. Therefore, the main key to the solution of students’ cases is by mastering the counseling communication basic skills. This research was especially aimed to: (1) develop a model of counseling communication basic skills, so as to improve the individual counseling capability, (2) know the effectiveness of the counseling communication basic skills model as to improve the capability of individual counseling among guidance and counseling teachers in State’s Junior High Schools. This research used the Research and Development techniques. Guidance and counseling teachers in Junior High school were assigned as the subjects of this research, and the research was carried out in several steps, which started from preliminary study, model development, rational validation, and empirical validation. In the process of research, the model of counseling communication basic skills was rationally validated by experts and empirically verified, so as to be considered and to enrich the knowledge of guidance and counseling, and develop the basic skill of communication for individual counseling. The basic skills of counseling communication implemented into the individual counseling covers; (1) the skill of attending and responding to the clients, (2) leading skill, (3) reflection skill, (4) summarizing skill, (5) confronting skill, (6) interpreting skill, (7) directing and suggesting skill. To measure the knowledge of counseling theory, inventory of four optionalquestionnaires were applied, while to know the basic knowledge of individual basedcounseling, observation sheet was used in this research. The data of this research was

Narrative innovation in life design counseling: The case of Ryan

The main aim of this research is to study the patterns of narrative change in a case of life design counseling (LDC). The innovative moments coding system (IMCS) was used to conduct an intensive analysis of the career counseling sessions. This coding system is grounded in a narrative conception of the self, and suggests that narrative change results from the elaboration and development of narrative exceptions to a client's core problematic self-narrative. The results supports the adequacy of the IMCS to the study of change in career counseling and reveal that the intervention promotes a pattern of change characterized by three types of innovative moments: action, reflection, and protest. The results are discussed taking into account their implications for career counseling theory, research and practice.

Connecting Theories to Practice: A Model for Categorizing Theories According to Use

In modernist fashion, counseling theories are ordinarily categorized according to their common conceptual features. This system of classification generally does not serve counseling practitioners, who use theories to help clients. The author proposes a practitioner-based, postmodernist model of classification that organizes theories according to the ways that they can be used.