This study evaluated the effectiveness of an 11-session, spiritually focused group intervention with older women survivors (age 55 years and older) of interpersonal trauma (child abuse, sexual assault, or domestic violence) in reducing trauma-related depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress, and anxiety. Forty-three community-dwelling women…

Community-based mental health services are increasingly challenged by waiting lists for individual counseling. A strengths-based, brief solution-focused counseling (BSFC) model was used to increase the number of clients served while maintaining high-quality services. Clients who participated in BSFC experienced both shorter wait times than did…

This article examines the challenges specific to short-term intercultural treatments and recently developed approaches to intercultural treatments based on notions of cultural knowledge and cultural competence. The article introduces alternative approaches to short-term intercultural treatments based on ethnographic inquiry adapted for clinical…

The use of technology in social work practice has risen dramatically over the past 10 years. Clinical interventions such as psychotherapy using telephones, interactive video, and the Internet are gaining in popularity. For a discipline traditionally tied to face-to-face interaction, many concerns about moving to technology-based practices have…

Calls clinical hypnosis valuable treatment modality that deserves to be more widely used by social workers. Presents overview of hypnosis, distinguishing between directive, Ericksonian, and permissive hypnosis. Presents characteristics of hypnotic trance and differing capacities of individuals in trance. Describes how permissive hypnosis is used…

Relates the experiences of a social worker in private practice who offered house calls as an ongoing setting for counseling and psychotherapy to individuals and families. Describes advantages and disadvantages, liability, and target populations. (JAC)

Demonstrates how narrative perspectives provide means of conceptualizing brief psychotherapy following negative life outcomes. Representative case studies illustrate three types of narrative construction following adverse experiences and show how narrative perspectives shift focus from disability and dysfunction to concern for client strengths,…

Discusses the Supreme Court's 1996 decision in "Jaffee v. Redmond" and its importance for the social work profession. Maintains that the Court's establishment of a psychotherapy privilege acknowledges the importance of confidentiality in the psychotherapeutic relationship. (GCP)

Frederic Leer's article "Running as an Adjunct to Psychotherapy" (January 1980 issue of this journal) is criticized by three authors. They focus on the psychological and social effects of running and its usefulness as a treatment for depressed adults. (LAB)

Physical benefits of running have been highly publicized. Explores the equally valuable psychological benefits to be derived from running and examines how mastering a physical skill can be generalized to mastery in other areas of life. (Author)

Examines the literature on the validity of memory work and the evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic interventions based on the recovery of childhood-sexual-abuse memories. Current empirical evidence does not support recovered-memory therapy; in fact, participation in recovered-memory therapy may be harmful to clients. (Author/EMK)

Reveals the potential usefulness of the "medical model" for social work practitioners. Outlines methods of the medical approach that can be used to improve social services and to avoid wasteful or harmful practice. Suggests social workers having negative attitudes about the medical model should reconsider their attitudes. (Author

Group process is defined as the change taking place in interactions among individuals over time. Examines how this occurs within growth-oriented groups that have certain developmental characteristics in common, even though specific group objectives may vary. (Author)

Presents a model of transpersonal intervention that social work clinicians can use when working with terminally-ill clients. Model assumes that individuals possess a level of transpersonal development, with related dimensions of spiritual awareness and personal death perspective; the degree of interrelatedness of these two dimensions influences…

Current research increasingly points to the importance of biological factors in the etiology of psychotic disorders and the concomitant need for a shift in treatment modalities. A scale to assess the extent to which practitioners have made this shift was developed and validated. Results from two surveys are reported. (Author/EMK)