Discusses the politics of marital therapy, using behavioral marital therapy as an illustrative model. Views marital therapy as inherently political with therapists continuously adopting political postures unknowingly. Inadvertent consequences of this insensitivity to the political context of their work are to reinforce traditional values, many…

Studied factors associated with family treatment: attendance and continuation as related to chronicity of the presenting problem, nature of referral source, initial clinical perceptions of family and predictions about termination, and family attendance in evaluation and treatment sessions. Attendance and continuation were not related with family…

Surveys the universal and mental health values of 121 Muslims in the United States and their counseling preferences. Respondents were generally well educated and highly religious. They responded high in the universal values of benevolence and conformity; low in power, hedonism, and stimulation; and high in many humanistic mental health values.…

Explored an interactive framework for understanding how gender influences the counseling process in religious counseling. Found that female counselors were perceived as more religious and effective than were their male counterparts. Results illustrate that the effects of gender on the counseling process can be predicted with an interactive model.…

Summarizes the concept of Islamic spirituality and its emphasis on personal and community forms of worship. Explains the concept of the "middle path," briefly describes the five pillars of faith, and shows how integration of various realms (spiritual, social, moral, and individual) allows Muslims to live a peaceful life. (RJM)

The notion of relational control in therapy has evolved as a concept over the past 30 years. This paper reviews the evolution of the construct of relational control as it relates to counseling and therapy. It analyzes the various ways that relational control has been used in process research and explores the manner in which counselors and clients…

Listening requires a great awareness of self, words, facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and eye contact. This article examines the importance of these factors in the development of the therapeutic relationship. Among some of the characteristics of effective listening treated here are qualities within the client/therapist…

Over three hundred school psychologists were surveyed about their working practice and their views with regard to treating seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents. The survey questionnaire sought the following details: 1) Demographic information; 2) Professional opinions about serious emotional disturbance; 3) Personal working practice with…

Although recognition of problems posed by critical client statements and recommendations for counselors' understanding, empathy, and confrontation abound, interventions to aid counselors in coping with critical client statements are rare. Graduate-level counselor trainees (N=40) were assigned to one of four methods of supervision: interpersonal…

This extensive abstract describes a study which investigated the therapeutic effectiveness and satisfaction of telephone therapy. Subjects were female outpatients who came to the mental health center for counseling. Treatment groups received face-to-face therapy, telephone therapy or delayed therapy (control group). The measures used with the…

Examines the function of interpretation in counseling independent of its theoretical content. Reviews theory and research to yield three contrasting models of the function of interpretation in the change process. Discusses the relative merits of the three models of change and their implications for research. (Author)

Various perspectives on the training of group workers are presented in nine articles. Topics considered include: (1) problems in training hospital group leaders; (2) training leaders in a behavorial-cognitive approach; (3) micro-counseling and teacher-less approaches to training; and (4) the impact of race and gender on group work. (RC)

Explores the issues of patient homogeneity, external validity, internal validity, choosing and implementing specific treatment modalities, therapist experience and attitudes, therapist age, reliability and validity of measures, and problems obtaining follow-up information when studying treatment of depressed elderly patients. (Author)

Examines people's stereotypic beliefs about women. Compares Hispanics to Anglos and Mexico to the U.S. in order to investigate the impact of ethnicity and national culture, respectively, on stereotypic beliefs. Investigates differential mental health standards ascribed to men and women and the influence of counseling orientation on these beliefs.…

Presents the author's personal journey as a beginning therapist, the changes that have taken place in his personal and professional worldview as a result of conceptualizing therapy as a hermeneutic process. Concepts learned in approaching biblical studies have been applied in approaching family therapy. (LKS)