The authors examined outcomes and predictors of outcomes for 85 undergraduates in 3 helping skills classes. After training, trainees used more exploration skills in helping sessions with classmates (as assessed by perceptions of helpees and helpers/trainees as well as behavioral counts of skills), were perceived by helpees as more empathic, talked…

The results of this study provide evidence that counselors become involved in the defensive maneuvers of clients when objective self discrepant information is presented. (Author)

The effectiveness of volunteer therapists to reduce hospital recidivism was investigated using female schizophrenic outpatients. At the end of one year recidivism rates in the volunteer therapist group were significantly lower than in the control group. The majority of recidivists in both groups had returned by the fourth month. (Author)

Two versions of a counselor self-efficacy (CSE) measure were administered to 110 prepracticum counselors: a general version, assessing perceived capability to perform basic helping skills and manage the session process with clients generally; and a client-specific version, tapping capability to perform the same behaviors with a specific, current…

Students described counselors and advisers similarly as more warm and friendly than psychiatrists who were considered more intellectual, analytic, decisive, cold, and critical. Students viewed counselors and advisers as more appropriate sources of help with vocational and educational problems and considered psychiatrists more appropriate for…

This study examines the relationship of race- ethnicity and social class to attitudes toward help seeking, race of therapist, self-disclosure, and self reported treatment outcomes. Findings indicate race alone was not related to attitudes toward psychotherapy, but social class was. (Author)

Proposed a procedure for extending the external validity of analogue research. Hill, Tanney, Leonard, and Reiss's analogue investigation of counselor reactions to female clients was partially replicated using parallel measures obtained in a naturalistic counseling setting. Results bode well for the procedure of translating analogue variables into…

University students (N=48) were individually tested for suggestibility in one of three conditions. Results indicated subjects of higher rated experimenters would demonstrate more suggestibility than subjects of lower rated experimenters. Results did not indicate that subject interaction with lower rated experimenters would elicit less…

Examined the affect and focus of therapists' (N=31) self-talk in relation to other therapy process variables, specifically perceptions of their own helpfulness and their clients' negative reactions, after taking into consideration the perceived strength of the working alliance. Results suggest the importance of the awareness and management of…

A phenomenological approach to self-concept using photography was used. Clients were asked to take 12 photographs in reply to the question, Who are you? Clients in comparison with controls presented significantly more photographs of the past and their families but significantly fewer photographs of themselves, activities, and books. (Author)

Investigated the relation of help-seeking history, sex, and depression to college students' attitudes, beliefs, and intentions about obtaining professional psychological help, using those who represented extremes of the depression continuum. Having sought help related positively to feelings about seeking help. The experience of depression,…

Two studies investigated clients' reactions to evaluations of, expectations for, or willingness to seek counseling as a function of fee conditions and problems. Results indicated fee conditions did not affect willingness to seek help or expectations. Although there were some sex differences on expectancies, there was no interaction effect for sex…

Data collected from six university level encounter groups indicated that perceptions of group leader self-disclosure, mental health and helpfulness were all positively correlated. (Author)