Giving psychological meaning to consultation: Consultant as storyteller.

Discusses the role of storytelling in consultation. Data from tests and other instruments often relies heavily on numbers which clients may not interpret or integrate correctly, therefore, storytelling is a skill necessary for good consultants in the field of science to develop. There are many variants of storytelling in psychology found in psychoanalytic therapy, narrative therapy, and projective techniques. The use of tacit communication and short stories in organizational consultation is examined, and the idea of an organization's core ideology as a master story is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist participation in metaphor generation: Collaborative and noncollaborative styles.

Examined how therapists and clients construct, express, and apprehend metaphors. Five client-generated and 6 therapist-generated metaphors were selected across 4 therapy dyads, with 1 therapy session being focused on in each dyad. The clients had been in therapy for 12 sessions, and the therapists had 5–20 yrs of experience. Each S's and therapist's recollections of the metaphoric events were stimulated by audiotape playback within 24 hrs of the therapy session. Participants' recollections included thoughts and feelings that had been kept private in the therapy session. A qualitative analysis of the participants' accounts revealed that each dyad entailed 1 of 2 distinct patterns of metaphoric communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlations of male college students' verbal response mode use in psychotherapy with measures of psychological disturbance and psychotherapy outcome.

Compared verbal response mode use by 31 male college student clients in 3 sessions of time-limited psychotherapy (selected from an average of 17.2 sessions) with measures of clients' psychological distress, disturbance, and change, which were gathered at intake, termination, and 1-yr follow-up as part of the Vanderbilt Psychotherapy Project. Results show that (a) clients who were more distressed tended to use a higher percentage of Disclosures (revealing subjective information) and a lower percentage of Edifications (conveying objective information), perhaps reflecting greater preoccupation with inner troubles; and (b) clients who improved more were those who participated more, as measured by their estimated total number of utterances, a product of talking more in each session and remaining in therapy for more sessions; but (c) there was no relationship between clients' percentage of Disclosures and their improvement in psychotherapy, as hypothesized, even though percentage of Disclosures was correlated with process ratings of intrapsychic exploration. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client attachment to therapist: Relations to transference and client recollections of parental caregiving.

This study examined the relations between client attachment to the therapist and therapist perceptions of transference, as well as between client attachment and recollections of parental caregiving. Participants were 51 client-therapist pairs in ongoing therapy. After a therapy session, clients completed a measure of their attachment to their therapists and a measure of their perceptions of parental caregiving during childhood. Therapists rated levels of positive and negative, and amount of, client transference. Both secure and preoccupied-merger attachment were positively related to both negative transference and amount of transference. Level of avoidant-fearful attachment was not correlated with any type of transference. Insecure attachment to the therapist was associated with more negative recollections of parental caregiving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of the medium on children's story apprehension.

Compared children's apprehensions of an unfamiliar story either read to them from an illustrated book or presented as a comparable televised film. 24 younger and 24 older children (mean ages 7.6 and 9.6 yrs, respectively) were randomly assigned to one medium condition and individually presented the story. Response measures examined recall of story content as well as inferences about characters and events. Ss exposed to the televised story remembered more story actions, offered estimates of shorter elapsed time and distance traveled for carrying out a repeated story event, and relied more on visual content as the basis for inferences. In comparison, Ss who were read the story in picture book form recalled more story vocabulary, based their inferences more on textual content, general knowledge, and personal experience, and made more use of the storytelling situation as an opportunity to ask questions and make comments about the story. To the extent that children have repeated experience with specific media, such differential medium effects on apprehension suggest important implications for children's cognitive development. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How storytelling shapes memory and impressions of relationship events over time.

In 4 longitudinal studies, the authors explicated how storytelling about relationships biases subsequent impressions in the direction of the story told. In Study 1, storytelling about a relationship conflict vignette biased impressions of blame 2 weeks later, even with memory bias neutralized. Study 2 tracked 2 distinct and variable influences on blame,—storytelling heuristic and memory mediated mechanisms—over a 40-week period. Heuristic but not memory mediated effects depended on story quality. In Study 3, the need for structure moderated use of the storytelling heuristic. In Study 4, storytelling biased impressions of real-life relationship conflicts 8 weeks later. In light of past research indicating that storytelling and idealization characterize satisfied relationships, the present results suggest that the cognitive side effects of storytelling may help cause idealization and satisfaction in relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Same difference: Black therapists' experience of same-race therapeutic dyads.

Do Black therapists experience their work with Black clients differently than their work with other clients? A phenomenological study of 12 Black psychologists, social workers, and counselors working in college counseling centers examined these therapists' lived experience of same-race therapeutic dyads. The therapists described the unique aspects of their therapy with Black clients, as well as how they learned to perform that work. The implications of this study are vital not only to Black therapists, but also to educators and supervisors of Black therapist trainees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client initial disturbance and outcome in psychotherapy.

Evaluated 34 clients seen by 19 therapists in a counseling center by 6 different criteria of outcome, including pre- and posttherapy MMPI difference scores, and ratings by clients, therapists, and supervisors completed at the end of therapy. Measures of initial disturbance consisted of self-report inventories and ratings by therapists, supervisors, and judges. It was found that in general, none of the measures of rated disturbance were related to outcome criteria, but small to modest inverse relationships were obtained between the measures of subjective disturbance and global ratings of outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clients' deference in psychotherapy.

14 psychotherapy clients were interviewed about their recollections, assisted by tape replay, of an immediately preceding therapy session. A major category derived from a grounded theory analysis of the interview protocols was client's deference to the therapist, constituted of 8 lower level categories: concern about the therapist's approach, fear of criticizing the therapist, understanding the therapist's frame of reference, meeting the perceived expectations of the therapist, accepting the therapist's limitations, client's metacommunication, threatening the therapist's self-esteem, and indebtedness to the therapist. The P. Brown and S. Levinson (1987) model of politeness in discourse both informs and is informed by the results of this study, which are also discussed in terms of recent literature on the client's covert experience and in terms of their implications for the practice of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain serotonin synthesis rates in rhesus monkeys determined by [11C]alpha-methyl-L-tryptophan and positron emission tomography compared to CSF 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid concentrations

OBJECTIVE: This study examined occupational therapists' use of the occupational form of goal setting as therapy and its impact on clients. METHOD: The study method was qualitative, using participant observation and interviewing as the main source of data. RESULTS: The findings illustrated that therapists work both to give substance to the occupational form and to create the context of an implied narrative that imbues it with particular meanings. Simultaneously, clients' experience of meaning is influenced by a personal volitional narrative. When the two narratives do not coincide, therapists' efforts to maintain the occupational form intensify as they encourage clients toward attitudes and performances that do not resonate with the clients' experience of reality. CONCLUSION: The findings underscore the importance of recognizing that occupational forms are embedded in social processes and perspectives that inevitably come into play when occupational forms are used as therapy.     

The time-course of analytic psychotherapy: A semiotic phenomenonology.

The distinctness and linear order of "beginning" and "termination" in analytic psychotherapy is questioned by examining therapy as a process of multiple transitions between experience and hermeneutic representation. It is argued that critical points (CPs) such as beginning and termination may be established at the level of experience, but must be rendered relative at the level of representation, to allow the therapeutic discourse semiotic freedoms essential for its development. This approach subjects CPs to a "middleness principle", whereby all phases of therapy must be analyzed according to the way they connect to preceding and subsequent experience. Such analysis is afforded by redefining CPs according to the way they shape the therapeutic discourse, which is illustrated in fragments of therapeutic conversation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some ethical concerns regarding the individual psychotherapy of the married client.

A brief review of the literature establishes the high potential for disturbance of a client's marital relationship following individual psychotherapy. Several problems possibly inherent in the conduct of therapy with only one member of a marital dyad are discussed, as well as some of their probable sources. The importance of informed consent to treatment is stressed with regard to ensuring that potential clients are aware of the possible negative effects of therapy on their marital relationship. The systemic view of the spouse as necessarily involved in the maintenance and modification of the client's complaints, provides an alternative to individual psychotherapy: The spouse must be a part of their therapy from the beginning. It is suggested that the ethical responsibility of the therapist is toward the greatest overall benefit for the client and should concern the interpersonal as well as the psychological environments of the clients they serve. (French abstract) (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exercise in values exploration for play therapists.

Counselors are ethically required to be aware of their own value systems to avoid imposing their values onto clients. This is as true for clients who are children as it is for clients who are adolescents and adults. Play therapists may tend to view children as being more in need of direction than adults in choosing their values; however, the ethical principle of autonomy applies to children as well as adults. Counselors acting in accordance with this principle allow clients to make their own choices, determine their own values, and set the course of their own lives (Remley & Herlihy, 2007). This article describes an experiential activity that can be used in classes or workshops for play therapy students or licensed play therapists to enhance their awareness in the area of values when working with children. Discussion prompts and suggestions for processing the activity are illustrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-racial psychotherapy: What the therapists say.

41 White and 37 Black psychotherapists with an average of 8.2 yrs' experience completed a 41-item questionnaire regarding psychotherapy with same- and opposite-race clients. White Ss did not experience racial issues in psychotherapy with the same salience that Black Ss did, yet they reported higher levels of subjective distress in cross-racial treatment. This distress focused on negative attitudes of clients, therapists' feelings of not being able to help or confront opposite race clients, or being oversolicitous or too distant with opposite-race clients. Both therapist groups reported equivalent abilities to empathize with opposite-race clients, but Blacks and Whites differed on a number of questions of racial attitudes and stereotyping. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapists' attitudes toward clients reporting mystical experiences.

Studied the proportion of therapy clients who report mystical experiences, the diagnostic attitudes of their therapists, and the influence of personal and professional factors on attitudes toward these clients by analyzing the survey responses of 285 32–82 yr old psychotherapists (primarily males). Of the 20,670 clients seen during a 12-mo period, 4.5% reported a mystical experience; 67% of Ss had seen at least one such client during that period. Psychodynamic and behavioral therapists attributed significantly more pathology to such clients than did humanistic/existential therapists. Responses suggested that some therapists were biased in their diagnostic attitudes toward clients reporting mystical experiences. 50% of Ss said they had personally had a mystical experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of life stories.

Recent years have witnessed an upsurge of interest among theorists and researchers in autobiographical recollections, life stories, and narrative approaches to understanding human behavior and experience. An important development in this context is D. P. McAdams's life story model of identity (1985; see also records 1993-97296-000 and 1996-06098-001), which asserts that people living in modern societies provide their lives with unity and purpose by constructing internalized and evolving narratives of the self. The idea that identity is a life story resonates with a number of important themes in developmental, cognitive, personality, and cultural psychology. This article reviews and integrates recent theory and research on life stories as manifested in investigations of self-understanding, autobiographical memory, personality structure and change, and the complex relations between individual lives and cultural modernity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On misattributing good remembering to a happy past: An investigation into the cognitive roots of nostalgia.

Reflections on the past are often accompanied by an experience of nostalgia, or positive sentiments about some prior stage of one's life. In the current study, we provide evidence suggesting that nostalgic experiences may occur because of positive feelings that accompany the act of successful recall, rather than reflecting the true nature of the past. In a series of experiments, we employed an encoding manipulation to cause some words to support more detailed recollections than others. In turn, we measured the effect of these manipulations on judgments of both pleasantness and the emotional valence of a prior stimulus encounter. We demonstrate that recollections rich in meaning are unique in biasing people to judge having previously seen a stimulus in an emotionally positive context. In contrast, pleasantness judgments appear to be guided primarily by perceptual fluency. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that the subjective experience of nostalgia represents a misattribution of successful remembering to a pleasant past. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The meaning of life as an organized process.

Reports on 2 studies with 26 Ss (aged 19–56 yrs) that used a self-confrontation procedure with 4 types of life-meaning organization (self-enhancement, contact/union with the other, and coexistence or absence of self-enhancement and contact/union with the other) to assess the meaning of life. The meaning of life is viewed as a motivated story that is organized thematically into a composite whole through repeated acts of self-reflection. The subjective meaning of life is thus a part–whole experience, in which a particular part is influencing the whole more than other parts at a given time, implying that life meaning can change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating psychosocial rehabilitation in a community-based faculty nursing practice

1. When clients share their experiences with students, the experience helps sensitize students to the stigma of mental illness, and also facilitates the client's recovery. 2. Encouragement from staff, clinicians, other clients, and family members that they can succeed at this next step in what most often motivates a client-consumer to "try" something new or "try again". 3. Client involvement in community activities is effective in normalizing daily life experiences and in breaking down the barrier of stigma.     

African American and European American therapists' experiences of addressing race in cross-racial psychotherapy dyads.

Using Consensual Qualitative Research, 12 licensed psychologists' overall experiences addressing race in psychotherapy were investigated, as were their experiences addressing race in a specific cross-racial therapy dyad. Results indicated that only African American psychologists reported routinely addressing race with clients of color or when race was part of a client's presenting concern. European American psychologists indicated that they would address race if clients raised the topic, and some reported that they did not normally address race with racially different clients. When discussing a specific cross-racial dyad, African American therapists more often than European American therapists addressed race because they perceived client discomfort. Only European American therapists reported feeling uncomfortable addressing race, but therapists of both races perceived that such discussions had positive effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)