The role of self-esteem as a professional and personality construct has been obscured by its panacea role. Definitions of self-esteem and related terms are distinguished. Self-esteem is discussed as a developmental construct, a personality construct, and as a therapeutic goal. Therapeutic, educational, and counseling implications are discussed.…

Discusses spirituality as a spiritual phenomenon that is independent of, yet open to, matters of personal religion and belief in God. Proposes that an elaborated psychology of spirituality helps therapists focus the psychotherapeutically relevant and spiritual issues in the client's presentation; build on the client's healthy commitments; and…

Responds to Gelso's (1995) and Arnkoff's (1995) responses. Asserts that counselor theoretical orientation should be seen as multifaceted and incorporating four elements: Theoretical School Affiliation, Espoused Theory, Inferred Theory in Action, and the superordinate Personal Therapeutic Belief System. (JPS)

Article discusses how theory plays an essential role in the development and evaluation of interventions for children's psychosocial problems; and applies principles of developmental psychopathology to the treatment of dysfunction in children. It delineates the benefits of incorporating theoretical and empirical findings from developmental…

Developmental psychopathology and principles advance in Hughes' target article can be useful to promote development, evaluation, and application of empirically supported interventions (ESIs), but embracing a pathological framework is extremely limited given the diversity in theoretical approaches relevant to school-based ESIs. Argues that in order…

Reviews and critiques SCMCT (Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training) as presented in this issue of JCP; finds it both ambitious and comprehensive. Discusses distinctions between supervision and training, supervisory interventions, and the advanced supervision experience. Points to questions which require further research. Discusses the…

In her strength-based model to train counseling psychologists, Smith (2006 [this issue]) criticizes deficit models of counseling. Rather than focusing on at-risk adolescents' victim status, she argues that counseling psychologists should concentrate on identifying at-risk youths' cultural and individual strengths. One can infer from her new…

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III Revised rubric of identity disorder is linked to career theory and research findings on vocational identity, career indecisiveness, vocational maturity, and to the theories of Erikson and Kohut. Identity disorder has been found in career counseling clients. It appears that the brief…

There seems to be a preoccupation with "the family" today, and a current competition for the role of Family Saviour within the helping professions. Practitioners are much more conscious about protecting their territory from infringement by competitors in the current funding situation of human services. Overlapping professionals doing variations on…

Counseling is one of the processes through which men and women may learn to take increasing responsibility for their self-creation as they apply what they learn in classrooms and elsewhere to their life-planning. Counseling is a learning process. Each person is in the process of creating his or her own life; this process will be enhanced by high…

While established approaches to therapy help the individual adapt to an essentially fixed world, Social Therapy (a 15-year-old clinical, educational, and developmental psychology practiced in clinics and private practices in New York, Boston, and other cities, with applications to crisis, the epidemic of abuse, and educational failure) seeks to…

Career development and vocational choice theories have been criticized as inaccurate and not useful as models for the practice of career counseling. It may be that theorists have not extended their theories into practice concepts, since current literature is lacking in attempts to relate theory to practice. Because of this void in theory-practice…

Holistic epistemology of systems must neither reify the system nor obscure the dynamics of the members. The sometimes diverging perspectives of the psychodynamic/growth and structural/strategic approaches actually converge in the realization that personal experiencing and social structure are not dichotomous phenomena but are related through the…

The world of work has changed dramatically over the years. Many researchers have enhanced career development theories, and recently there have been efforts to explore the possible convergence of the major theories or, at least, more effectively bridge theory and practice. This document explains several theories that can be used to revise current…

The following article provides a look at the creative process through the eyes of positive psychology. It describes first how creativity fits into the theory behind this field, then goes on to trace how a positive psychologist might consider this construct: observing how it functions therapeutically in the natural environment, then theorizing…