Mental Health Counseling Practice Research Articles

Positive Psychology and Therapy Animals: A Conceptual Integration for Counseling Practice

Animal-assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C) provides several key enhancements to counseling practice, including the promotion of emotional regulation and social skills. Various approaches exist for integrating counseling theories with AAT-C; however, the inclusion of therapy animals in positive psychology practice has yet to be explored in the counseling literature. In this article, we propose an integrated counseling treatment approach that blends AAT-C with the PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) theory of well-being. We review key concepts of PERMA and AAT-C, as well as delineate the beneficial mental health effects of human–animal interactions through the theoretical underpinnings of positive psychology. We then link animal involvement in AAT-C to specific intervention strategies and the understood mechanisms of change described in the PERMA model, followed by the description of a brief hypothetical counseling case example. We conclude with ethical considerations and implications for clinical mental health counseling practice and research.

Evidence-Based Relationship Factors: A New Focus for Mental Health Counseling Research, Practice, and Training

Counselor educators and mental health counselors often have a lukewarm attitude toward counseling research and evidence-based practice. This attitude may be because of a perceived mismatch between evidence-based technical procedures and the relational orientation that most counselors value. To warm up mental health counselors' attitudes toward evidence-based research and practice, we propose a relationally oriented research agenda that focuses on integrating evidence-based relationship factors (EBRFs) into counselor training and practice. Eight EBRFs are defined and operationalized, and specific counselor behaviors are described. Reframing and refocusing counseling research on relational variables has the potential to support current counseling practices and inspire development of a counseling-specific research base. Recommendations for a rapprochement between counselor education research and mental health counseling practice are offered, including a list of brief measures that mental health counselors could introduce into their counseling practice.

The Wellness and Self-Care Experiences of Single Mothers in Poverty: Strategies for Mental Health Counselors

Poverty impacts holistic health and wellness, yet little research in counseling has been conducted exploring the holistic wellness and self-care of marginalized groups. Self-care and wellness are important components of overall mental health, and integrating strategies for self-care and wellness can support mental health counseling practice. A transcendental phenomenological design was used to explore and describe the wellness and self-care experiences of 10 single mothers in poverty. Data were collected using individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, conducted for 45 to 60 minutes each. Major themes that emerged from the data include (a) barriers to wellness and self-care, (b) supports with wellness and self-care, (c) single mothers' awareness of wellness and self-care, and (d) personal strengths of single mothers in poverty. Implications for clinical mental health counselors include utilizing strengths-based approaches, wellness, and advocacy interventions for single mothers in poverty.

Integrated Behavioral Health in Rural Settings: A Course Design

ABSTRACTRurality is a vital component of cultural diversity, making it essential to train future counselors on comprehensive mental health counseling practice with rural populations. In this article, we describe the development of a master’s level course that reflects an integrated approach to providing mental health counseling services in rural communities. First, the pedagogical foundation for the course design and positionality are discussed. Second, the course objectives are outlined, and corresponding teaching methods and creative learning assignments are provided. Last, we discuss the strengths and challenges of the course design and implementation.

QEEG and 3-D electrical brain imaging in mental health counseling practice

QEEG and 3-D electrical brain imaging in mental health counseling practice

Caught in the Middle: Spanish-Speaking Bilingual Mental Health Counselors as Language Brokers

Literature regarding language brokering has primarily focused on family and community members serving as language brokers. However, bilingual mental health counselors often find themselves serving as language brokers as well. In this article we focus on bilingual mental health counselors who work with the growing Spanish-speaking immigrant population in the United States. We examine bilingual counselors without formal training in Spanish who serve as language brokers, and examine the ethical and professional challenges they face. Such challenges highlight the complexities of living in two worlds and providing psychological services in two languages. In examining their roles as language brokers, we discuss implications for future mental health counseling practice, training, and research. We present the ¡BIEN! Bilingual and Bicultural Counseling Services model for training counselors to deliver services to Spanish-speaking clients, along with recommendations for training programs.

Pet Loss and Disenfranchised Grief: Implications for Mental Health Counseling Practice

Counselors who acknowledge and validate the implications of pet loss will help to re-enfranchise an undervalued grief. In the article, pet loss is conceptualized using both a traditional model of grief, Kubler-Ross's stages of grief, and two contemporary models of loss adaptation, the dual process model and adaptive grieving. General grief reactions to pet loss are discussed, along with the negative impact of disenfranchised grief for pet bereavement. Finally, I address the use of grief counseling, self-help, and community resources for bereaved pet owners.

A Phenomenological Investigation of Adolescent Dating Relationships and Dating Violence Counseling Interventions

Despite the prevalence of dating violence, incidences often go unreported due to a lack of awareness among students as to appropriate dating behaviors. This phenomenology investigated how adolescents conceptualize and experience dating relationships. We explored adolescent females’ definitions of healthy and abusive relationships, experiences with unhealthy relationships, and responses to dating violence in order to develop effective strategies to intervene with this population. Implications for school counseling and mental health counseling practice, training, interventions and future research are discussed.

Tablets or Talk? A Critical Review of the Literature Comparing Antidepressants and Counseling for Treatment of Depression

Antidepressants re generally considered to be the standard treatment for depression, despite a large body of research evidence documenting the equal or superior efficacy of counseling. This article provides a critical review of the literature comparing the efficacy of antidepressants and counseling for adults with depression. Highlighted are several issues that must be considered when reviewing the literature, including methodological problems, the placebo effect, trauma and depression, comparative safety profiles, and the marketing of antidepressants. Implications for mental health counseling practice and research, including the suggestion that counseling alone should be the first treatment of choice for most persons with depression, are discussed.

Commonalities Between Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Native American Healing

There are many commonalities between the techniques used in Ericksonian psychotherapy and the healing rituals used by traditional Native American tribes. Milton H. Erickson had some Indian heritage and may have derived some of his therapeutic techniques from his study of tribal healing practices. A review of the literature shows that both approaches emphasize symbolic healing through the use of story-telling, metaphors, ambiguous tasks, ordeals, and rituals. Both also use direct and indirect hypnosis to relieve psychological distress. Implications for the practice of mental health counseling are described.

Introduction: Helping Military Personnel and Recent Veterans Manage Stress Reactions

We were pleased when Dr. Rogers asked us if we would be interested in guest-editing a special section of this journal on issues relevant to working with Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) military personnel and veterans. As Veterans Affairs (VA) clinician researchers we face the timeliness of these issues on a daily basis and appreciate the many ways in which the mental health community outside of the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) can play a role in working with the men and women affected by the current conflicts. We therefore solicited original research, theoretical papers, critical reviews, and case reports from a broad cross section of disciplines. In particular, we sought manuscripts that would provide new ideas or timely reviews directly pertinent to the practice of mental health counseling with those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The resulting submissions were reviewed by a group of clinical scholars with expertise in the areas covered. We would like to thank our colleagues from the VA VISN 19 Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center and Denver VA Medical Center, Drs. Lawrence Adler, Herbert Nagamoto, Beeta Homaifar, and Jennifer Olson-Madden, and from the Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, Dr. Michelle Cornette. We believe the articles selected present a range of ideas and techniques that address the goals of this special section. Application of this information can benefit military personnel, veterans, and their families. The common theme of the three articles selected is deployment-related stress and ways to facilitate coping. Potter and colleagues present data on an in-theater intervention for combat stress control. They also review the types of clinical work being done in the field. Besides informing DoD clinicians about a novel means of service delivery, their article can orient VA and community-based mental health counselors to the types of care their clients may have received in-theater. Corso and colleagues have adapted a range of evidence-based PTSD treatments to use in a primary care setting. Their data suggest that integrating mental health and primary care can be effective and that a behavioral health consultation model can decrease symptoms of PTSD in clients who do not seek traditional mental health services. Finally, from a review of the suicide literature as it relates to members of the military, Martin and colleagues highlight similarities and differences in risk and protective factors for military personnel and veterans compared with the general population. Their material can inform case conceptualization and treatment planning, particularly for counselors new to working with suicidal military personnel and veterans. Readers may be asking why a special section on such topics is necessary. Preliminary evidence suggests that the mental health needs of those who have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are significant (Lineberry, Bostwick, & Rundell, 2006; Milliken, Auchterlonie, & Hoge, 2007; Seal et al., 2008). As such, increased attention to meeting the needs of these individuals is warranted. Ideally, this will be facilitated via DoD, VA, and community partnerships, and can in part be accomplished by collaboratively pooling resources and sharing information across systems. Based on the clinical literature (Lineberry, Ramaswamy, Bostwick, & Rundell, 2006) we expect that the challenges-both physical and psychological--faced by some individuals will require significant intervention, and that the type of care needed will evolve over time. As individuals return from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, clinicians will be seeing clients at differing points in their recovery. Corso et al. (this issue) highlight that many individuals are exhibiting symptoms but do not yet meet the full diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Providing treatments which help these individuals more effectively manage their symptoms may indeed lead to fewer clients developing PTSD. …

Differences in Mental Health Counselors’ Diagnoses Based on Client Race: An Investigation of Adjustment, Childhood, and Substance-Related Disorders

This study of mental health counselors' diagnoses of African-American and Euro-American clients (N=899) found that African-Americans were diagnosed disproportionately more often with disruptive behavior disorders whereas Euro-Americans were diagnosed more often with less severe adjustment disorders. These findings mirror those of researchers from other mental health professions considering different mental disorders. Implications for mental health counseling practice and future research are discussed, and pathways to account for the phenomenon are proposed.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Motivational Interviewing: Enhancing Readiness for Change

The authors advance motivational interviewing and the transtheoretical model of change as a conceptual framework for counseling clients who engage in nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. The major principles of motivational interviewing are applied in a case study of a client who self-injures. Recommendations are made for mental health counseling practice.

Paradigms of Counseling and Psychotherapy, Revisited: Is Social Constructivism a Paradigm?

This article revisits the criteria outlined for definition of "paradigms" of counseling and psychotherapy. It defines the emergence of social constructivism as a philosophy with implications for counseling and psychotherapy. It delimits social constructivism by proposing several social constructivist tenets. Social constructivism is assessed against paradigm criteria, and an opinion is offered as to whether social constructivism represents a paradigm of counseling and psychotherapy. Implications of the paradigm analysis for the practice of mental health counseling are outlined.

Developing JMHC Content-Related Submission Guidelines

Over the past year, the Editorial Board members, the associate editors and I have engaged in an e-mail-based discussion aimed at provided clarification to potential contributors to the journal through the development of content-related submission guidelines. As with many journals, the JMHC receives a number of submissions that are judged as not appropriate for the journal because of the topic. Sometimes these determinations are made at the editorial office upon receipt of the manuscripts and sometimes the decision is made following the initial round of reviews. In either case, this process can be frustrating and needlessly time consuming for both the authors and the editorial board members who are providing their expertise in reviewing manuscripts as a professional service. While it is unlikely that any set of guidelines would completely eliminate the possibility that a manuscript would be judged as inappropriate for the journal based on content domain, the consensus of the board members was that a statement of general guidelines would reduce the potential of this occurring. With this in mind, Dr. Michael Accordino drafted an initial guideline statement that was distributed to the editorial board for comment. This statement was as follows: Topics suitable for the Journal of Mental Health Counseling should relate directly to the practice of mental health counseling (e.g. Assessment and diagnosis, psychotherapy, treatment planning and utilization review, brief and solution-focused therapy, alcoholism and substance abuse treatment, psychoeducational and prevention programs, crisis management, and research), theory related to the practice of mental health counseling, or professional issues that mental health counselors encounter. Manuscripts that only look at counselor-counselee dynamics are more appropriate for Journal of Counseling and Development or Counselor Education and Supervision and are not particularly suitable for the JMHC unless there is a strong explicit connection made to the practice of mental health counseling. Furthermore, any submission to the JMHC must include a discussion of implications for mental health counseling practice. This initial statement of content-related guidelines prompted a number of responses from the members of the editorial board. The major reactions were collated and are paraphrased below. These reactions are not presented in any particular order. * Research participants in manuscripts relevant to the JMHC should not be college students from undergraduate classes unless a strong case can be made for the relevance of the sample to the practice of mental health counseling. * There was concern that the list of topics provided in the initial statement may be seen by potential authors as exhaustive and there was a suggestion to broaden the list by using basic ideas rather than identifying specific foci. * Multicultural issues relevant to practice of mental health counseling should be included in the statement. * International submissions and mental health issues in other nations (as may be particularly useful for those working with immigrant populations) should be incorporated into the statement. * The appreciation of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in research submitted to the JMHC should be highlighted. …

The JMHC: Alive and Well and Moving Forward

I am very honored and excited to be taking over as editor of the Journal of Mental Health Counseling (JMHC). I am especially pleased to be following in the footsteps of Dr. Carole Pistole whose stewardship of the journal over the past three years has been exemplary. I owe Carole a special note of thanks for allowing me to serve the journal as associate editor for research during her term and for her continued support during the transition from her editorship to mine. I am also aware that the current status of the journal is a function of the dedication and hard work of all of the previous editors and their editorial boards and want to recognize that work. Specifically to my development, I take this opportunity to acknowledge the influence of two of JMHC's previous editors to my career: Dr. Earl Ginter (1993) and Dr. Kevin Kelly (1996). Drs. Ginter and Kelly have been instrumental in my development as a researcher and scholar over the years and I continue to consider them among my most valued colleagues. ALIVE AND WELL From my view, this is a very exciting time to take the editorship position of the JMHC. The journal is an integral component of the American Association of Mental Health Counseling (AMHCA) and has been gaining in respect and impact in the professional literature in the social behavioral sciences over the years. Clearly, the professional status of the JMHC is a function of the support of the association, contributing authors, the readership, members of the editorial board, and the editorial support staff. Under the previous editors beginning with Dr. Weikel (1979), the JMHC has consistently grown and moved forward exposing AMHCA members and the broader readership of mental health counselors to relevant and often very progressive articles related to theory, practice, professional issues, and research. This progression and forward movement has been bolstered under the editorship of Dr. M. Carole Pistole and it is clearly my intent to continue the journal's legacy throughout my tenure as editor. Dr. Pistole's (2002) editorial written as she assumed the editorship of JMHC reflects my intent to maintain the focus of the journal on publishing high quality, relevant, and well written articles while taking a developmental approach when needed in nurturing manuscripts and developing scholars along the way. To this end, I am very excited to be working with the members of the Editorial Board and my Associate Editors Alex S. Hall (theory), Bernard S. Jesiolowski (practice), and Loreto R. Prieto (research). Together, we will continue to keep the JMHC alive and well, responsive to AMHCA and the readership, and moving forward. MOVING FORWARD In moving forward, I would like to highlight the editorials of the incoming associate editors. Dr. Alex S. Hall, associate editor for theory is continuing in that position for a second term. Her 2002 editorial focused on empowering the less visible groups and individuals in our society to make their voices heard (Hall, 2002). This included a special mention of youth in our society and the emerging social circumstances that impact their behavioral and emotional development. As with all of the associate editors, Dr. Hall's call for the integration of practice and theory relevant to the work of mental health counselors is as relevant in 2005 as it was then. As associate editor for practice, Dr. Bernard S. Jesiolowski (this issue) has identified the importance of the consideration of context for practice related manuscripts. While he begins his editorial from a very broad contextual perspective, he quickly moves to a concrete discussion of the importance of the multiple contexts most relevant to mental health counselors, the social, political, economic, and professional contexts. These contexts are related to the practice of mental health counseling whether that practice is as a clinician, educator, researcher, or various combinations of those roles. …

The Experience of Grief After Bereavement: A Phenomenological Study With Implications for Mental Health Counseling

Phenomenological methods were used to explore the experience of grief after bereavement. Nine bereaved adults volunteered to participate in open-ended interviews in which they were asked to discuss their experience of grief after the death of a loved one. An analysis of the interviews revealed the following themes in the experience of grief after bereavement: Coping, Affect, Change, Relationship, and Details. Implications for the practice of mental health counseling are discussed.