Professional Helper Research Articles

Pastoral Identity and Communication

Communication in the helping professions can be influenced both by the needs of the client and by the particular selfconcept of the professional helper. Reporting empirical research among 270 Dutch Catholic pastors and Protestant ministers, this paper analyses the relative importance of pastoral selfconcept and client needs for pastoral communication. Five questions are answered: what is the structure of the pastoral selfconcept; how do pastors conceptualize the complementary role of their partners in pastoral communication; how do the parishioners conceive themselves as clients in pastoral communication; how do pastors and parishioners perceive the function of pastoral communication; how much agreement is there between pastors and parishioners about their respective identities and about the functions of pastoral communication ? The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of pastoral selfinterest and in relation to the structure and process of pastoral communication.

From helper to human: a reconceptualization of the nurse as person

This paper explores the nature of the nurse as person, as represented by nursing literature and in the author's own research, by considering the tendency nurses have to perceive as different the characteristics of nurses and patients as human beings. Nursing scholars have tended to categorize nurses and patients into discrete 'compartments' that are convenient for descriptive purposes, but nevertheless have had a tendency to limit people's essential humanness. The metaparadigm concept of person in nursing can take on a different meaning if people are regarded in terms of their oneness, rather than by their separateness. A brief introduction will be given to some meanings generated in some nursing research, which described the effects of ordinariness as they were manifested by nurses and patients in everyday nursing unit life. The possibility is raised that a reconceptualization of the nurse could describe the nurse, not only as a professional helper, but also as a human, whose effectiveness is enhanced through a sense of shared humanity with patients.

Social Skills and the Professional Helper John and Mary Collins John Wiley, 1992; pp210; £12.95; pbk

Social Skills and the Professional Helper John and Mary Collins John Wiley, 1992; pp210; £12.95; pbk

The relationship between false self compliance and the motivation to become a professional helper: Part II — A case presentation

Abstract Part I of this paper (Hanna, 1990) focused on theoretical considerations, a literature review, and selected clinical and educational features related to a single, genetic constellation important to the occupational choice of professional helper: False Self compliance within a prolonged symbiotic merger with a caretaker who is, in some degree, narcissistically deprived. The main characteristic of this merger is that during early childhood these future professional enablers perceive that they are expected to play an important role in maintaining their parents’, usually their mother's, narcissistic equilibrium. Part II is a case presentation which demonstrates the clinical relevance of the theoretical presentation in Part I. Case vignettes are used to explore the vicissitudes of the patient's False Self‐compliance, a defense against various relational anxieties that were activated in the form of transference resistance. The special significance of countertransference is also illustrated and discussed.

The relationship between false self compliance and the motivation to become a professional helper: Part I

Abstract This paper, the first in a two‐part series, focuses on a single, genetic constellation important to the choice of becoming a professional helper: False Self compliance within a prolonged merger with a caretaker. The main characteristic of this merger is that the professional helper, during early childhood, accurately perceives that he or she is needed to help to maintain parental narcissistic equilibrium. Clinical evidence is provided to support this formulation and some implications for the education, the professional functioning, and the treatment of the professional helper are explored.

The interpretation of self-care: A difference in outlook between clients and home-nurses

In this article, the client's interpretation of self-care and that of home-nurses are compared [1. Agthoven W.M. van and Zorg op Maat. Het afstemmingsproces tussen wijkverpleging, kliënt en informele zorgverlener. Instituut voor Sociale Geneeskunde, Vrije Universiteit (The process of directing self-care, informal and formal assistance). Department of Social Medicine, Free University, Amsterdam, 1985.] Self-care is defined, by two components: the decision (as to) what to do and the execution of the care. In estimating the client's capacity for self-care a limited number of discrepancies play a role on the physical level and many more on the psychosocial level. It is particularly in psychosocial care that a severe distortion occurs if the professional helper makes an estimate of the client's capacity to cope with the psychological and social aspects of care. The client finds himself much more capable, in this respect, than the home-nurse. Moreover, the client estimates the role of this professional helper in providing advice and guidance much lower than the helper in providing advice and guidance much lower than the helper indicates. Varioius discrepancies in outlook of client and home-nurse concerning self-care were indicated in the study and discussed in relation to Freidsons concept ‘social construction of illness’ and Scheff's ideas about ‘negotiating responsibility’.

Self-Help Groups and Professional Helpers

In recent years the self-help group movement has grown by leaps and bounds. The relationships between these groups and professional helpers has been a tenuous one. Although now there is a greater receptivity toward professionals by these groups, there is still considerable skepticism about their respective roles. This article suggests innovative solutions for mutual benefits for these groups and the professionals. Through a derivative paradigm the role of the professional helper within self-help groups is presented.

Fellowship, Helping and Healing: The Re-Emergence of Self-Help Groups

This article reflects upon three important facets of self-help, e.g., fellowship, helping and healing; it provides an historical and social science base for the re-emergence of a significant voluntary phenomenon—i.e., self-help groups in their contemporary formats, while comparing and contrasting the approaches and limitations of profes sional helper interventions with the positive consequences for personal and/or social change through experiential knowledge gained by members of self-help groups.

A Comprehensive Systems Approach to Promoting Mutual Aid Self-Help Groups: The New Jersey Self-Help Clearinghouse Model

This article describes the programs (including consultative services) offered by the New Jersey Clearinghouse which are designed to address seven primary needs or goals of self-help and professional helper constituencies: e.g., promoting the in creased identification, awareness, utilization, development, understanding, profes sional interface, and networking of MASH groups. The New Jersey model relies on a computerized IBM System 34 operation, embracing a state-wide data base, a printed self-help group directory as well as toll-free telephone lines within New Jersey.

Book reviews and books received

Abstract Abstract Ruth Holdsworth: Using Tests in Vocational Guidance. ICON Series 7. Stourbridge: Institute of Careers Officers, 1978. £3.50. Students in Need: Essays in Memory of Nicholas Malleson. Guildford, Surrey: Society for Research into Higher Education, 1978. £5.50. Sue Walrond-Skinner (ed.): Family and Marital Psychotherapy: a Critical Approach. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. £4.75. Stephen G. Weinrach: Career Counseling. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. £11.20. Albert Mehrabian: Basic Behavior Modification. New Vistas in Counseling Series, Volume IX. New York: Human Sciences Press, 1978. £6.95. Arnold Jennings: Management and Headship in the Secondary School. London: Ward Lock Educational, 1978. £7 hardback; £3.50 paperback. Jean Rudduck: Learning through Small Group Discussion. Guildford: Society for Research into Higher Education, 1978. £4.20. Ann Hurman: A Charter For Choice: a Study of Option Schemes. Windsor: NFER, 1978. £8.50. R.D. Hinshelwood and Nick Manning (eds.): Therapeutic Communities: Reflections and Progress. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. £5.50. Bruce Hugman: Act Natural: a New Sensibility for the Professional Helper. London: Bedford Square Press, 1978. £3.95. Bill Jordan: Helping in Social Work. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. £4.95. S.L. Garfield and A.E. Bergin: Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavioral Change (2nd edition). New York: Wiley, 1978. £24.50. Guy Neave: Research Perspectives on the Transition from School to Work. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1978. 21.50 Dutch guilders.

“Weep with those who Weep”: Understanding and Helping the Crying Person

The expression of pain, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, in the form of tears is often difficult for the professional helper to deal with. However, crying is a God-given gift and a therapeutic outlet. Scriptural examples give us a wide range of situations where crying is treated as normal and expected behavior. The role of the counselor is thus to support and encourage crying rather than to inhibit it or “put it down” as a sign of instability or spiritual immaturity. The professional helper who understands the emotions and responses evoked in him by a crying individual is better able to support people in distress. There are practical ways the counselor can “lower the crying threshold,” thus encouraging the release of tension through tears.

Pastoral care of the behaviorally different

Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." "Many" is an adjective that aptly describes the numbers of individuals in this country who suffer from some form of severe mental impairment, mental illness, or maladaptive behavior pattern. Conservative estimates tell us that there are currently 10 million persons who can be called neurotic, two million psychotic, four million antisocial personalities, 10 million alcoholics, one million hard-drug users, seven million mentally retarded, and six million disturbed teen-agers. It is inaccurate to say that these are patients, because it is highly unlikely that most of them will ever see a professional helper. If all of them should require hospitalization on any one day, we would be short 39,700,000 hospital beds. There are 300,000 hospital beds in this country today for psychiatric patients. This is a decrease of some 200,000 in the last two decades. The movement from hospital inpatient to community-based outpatient treatment facilities has particularly characterized the last decade.1 Hospitals in many parts of the country have been closed sometimes with minimal thought being given to what would happen to patients in the process. The exodus from inpatient to community-based care has frequently led to a sterile promised land as insuffi ciently funded community mental health centers and neighborhoods have been unable to bear the burden of the former psychiatric patient outside the hospital. In thinking about the chronic condition of mental illness or behavioral pathology we must remember that most have never seen a mental-health professional, some receive only intermittent drug monitoring as outpatients, and the minority remain in the hospitals as patients. We must add to this a new type of chronic, long-term patient who is caught between the inability of the community to tolerate his or her behavior and the pressure on professional hospital staff to "Get them out!" This is the chronic patient with multiple admissions. Frequently 35 or younger, this patient may have more than 12 hospitalizations, some of which lasted only a few hours. It is clear that the