The paper discusses the six major ego functions, ego disturbances in mentally retarded children, and case examples of the use of art therapy to promote ego development. Identified are the following ego functions: control and regulation of instinctual drives, autonomous functions, reality testing, object relationships, defense, and synthesis. The…

During the last 20 years, the Netherlands has established a name for itself throughout the gay communities in the world as a tolerant country for homosexuality. This document addresses some theoretical issues that play a major role in gay affirmative counseling and psychotherapy in the Netherlands and discusses some examples of the work in the…

A person who lacks confidence in communicating is viewed as slightly neurotic, possessing a general trait of high anxiety. The person tends to avoid interaction situations and does not initiate interactions. As a consequence, he or she probably has poor social relations and low self-concept, feels alienated from others, and finds it difficult to…

The potential moderating role of self-esteem and ego development on client transference is examined. These are two developmental factors that the literature has suggested might influence people's perceptions of early caretakers and thus of therapists, leading to transference in the therapy situation. Transference was operationalized as (a) the…

The paradigm of modern psychology has been the determinism of Newtonian physics. That model earns psychology status as a science yet tunnels it to a linear way of unraveling human functioning. Responding to demands for a more holistic approach to psychological practice, it is necessary to redefine the "self" and other terms. Chaos,…

Enhanced self-attitudes following a psychotherapeutic encounter almost always serve as an indicator of therapy success. In an attempt to enhance self-attitudes through the use of positive mental imagery, undergraduate students (N=72), divided into 4 groups, participated in 4 experimental sessions. The experimental groups imagined themselves…

Becoming a psychotherapist involves more than acquiring skills and knowledge. It involves a change in the way the psychotherapist trainee sees himself. Proponents of most psychotherapeutic modalities acknowledge that a clinician's fundamental clinical tool is his self. The therapist's self is involved in the spontaneous process of…

Recent literature which proposes a more active therapeutic stance with Afro-American clients is consistent with general trends in clinical theory. Therapists are beginning to appreciate the usefulness of the concept of the "self." Rychlak (1979) notes that a humanistic approach in psychology emphasizes the importance of an introspective…

Frankl's logotherapy, a technique of searching for meaning in life, is presented as a counseling theory which borders religion but does not overlap, by taking both the mentally healthy individual and the patient in psychotherapy to this boundary, and challenging him/her to decide whether religion can be an integral part of life meaning and…

Bibliotherapy is defined as "a process of dynamic interaction between the reader and literature--interaction which may be utilized for personality assessment, adjustment, and growth." A review of the literature dealing with bibliotherapy and a discussion of its uses are contained in this paper. The review indicates that bibliotherapy, if properly…

As part of a larger study examining the relation between cognition and emotional understanding, 70 children in kindergarten and third, sixth, and ninth grades were interviewed about four dimensions of emotional understanding: knowledge, control, causality, and multiple feelings. Children were asked about each of these dimensions with regard to…

The use of poetry as a valuable part of the psychotherapeutic experience has gained increasing acceptance and usage in recent years. Poetry provides a viable modality for releasing intense emotions and reducing anxieties and hostilities. Poetry therapy was used with an 18-year-old male who was experiencing sexual orientation disturbance to examine…

The possible influence of cognitive dissonance in psychotherapy was examined by conceptualizing therapy as an effort justification process. It was predicted that freely choosing to undergo a highly effortful procedure would aid in positive therapeutic change. Subjects (N=52) participated in a weight-reduction experiment in which the degree of…

Psychological androgyny is becoming the new standard of mental health at a time when social, political, and economic realities enable women to expand career options. To examine the influence of client sex on the treatment planning of clients, therapists responded to two hypothetical cases of male and female clients whose presenting problem was…

The disabled reader's measurably low success in processing print creates tension, stress, and increasingly negative perceptions of the reading act and of the reader's own beliefs about his or her personal competencies. The task of the reading specialist might be facilitated by conscious and increasingly skilled application of psychotherapeutic…