Racial resentment can affect the treatment relationship between client and therapist, especially if they are of different races. All psychotherapists must recognize anger in Black clients as a healthy response to oppression and help them to find constructive outlets for these feelings. (Author/GC)

Used multidimensional scaling to investigate how theistic or atheistic values of an analogue counselor influenced trust of the counselor by 49 religious psychotherapy clients and 51 religious leaders. All 100 subjects were Mormons. Results suggest that subjects would be more likely to trust counselors more who self-disclosed a belief in God. (NB)

Responds to previous article by Gelso and Carter (this issue) on components of psychotherapy relationship: working alliance, transference configuration, and real relationship. Notes that, although Gelso and Carter have revised their earlier model of counseling relationship by including 19 propositions about how components of model interact and…

Responds to comments by Greenberg and by Patton (both this issue) addressing ambiguities in Gelso and Carter's article (this issue) on components of psychotherapy relationship. In reply, discusses issue of how general theory ought to be to have maximal impact on research and practice. Questions number of Greenberg's assertions about Gelso and…

Examined within-session interactional behavior in four brief-therapy cases, two characterized by high alliance and two by low alliance. Coded message units along dimensions of power and involvement. In all cases, there was general pattern of high power for therapists and low power for clients. High-alliance clients evidenced larger proportions of…

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)

The dodo-bird verdict has haunted the literature on psychotherapy outcome since its early beginnings. It is based on the counter-intuitive finding that often highly diverging treatments do not differ much in effectiveness. There is evidence that much of the common effect of different treatments can be related to unspecific factors as opposed to…

Ethical guidelines of the 4 major professional associations representing counselors and psychotherapists are reviewed. To help clarify thinking about writing up clinical cases, 3 kinds of cases are described. The author concludes that the current guidelines for clinician authors in writing about clients for publication or presentation are…

This review identifies two areas of therapist in-session functioning that contribute to positive psychotherapy outcome. The first area discussed is therapist interpersonal characteristics, or non-specific factors, and therapist interventions that contribute to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance. Alliance has been shown in…

This three-part workshop presentation explores the ideas of Milton Erickson on the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic use of metaphor, and applies these ideas to experiential education and adventure therapy. Part 1 introduces the practitioner to the core philosophy within an Ericksonian approach: "utilization" of a client's…

A precisely defined conception of the therapeutic alliance is offered that focuses on the patient's active collaboration in the tasks appropriate to the treatment process. The importance of the therapeutic alliance as a change measure in process research is underscored, and its place as a primary indicator of outcome is developed. (Author/BL)

This study analyzed Carl Rogers's session with Gloria in "Three Approaches to Psychotherapy" to determine how Rogers's conversational style functioned to enact his core conditions of empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard. Rogers's conversational style was found to be congruent with his espoused theory as well as a…

Delineates five selected hypnotically based techniques of client resistance management pioneered by Milton H. Erickson: acceptance; paradoxical encouragement; reframing; displacement; dissociation. Explains how techniques can be applied to nonhypnotic mental health counseling. Discusses relevant clinical, theoretical, and empirical issues related…

Compares Zen Buddhism and psychotherapy of Milton Erickson. Explores their similarities with respect to theory, change relationship between teacher/student and therapist/client, and acceptance of nature. Compares Ericksonian psychotherapy with Zen-based Morita therapy to concretize philosophical underpinnings of both systems. (Author/ABL)

Clarifies role of insight in strategic therapy and distinguishes between therapist-ascribed meaning and interpretation, as well as client-ascribed meaning and insight. Argues that insight-oriented and strategic therapists share much in common and that insight has a role in the practice of strategic therapy. (Author/NB)