This qualitative study investigated three novice counselors' experiences and characterizations of therapeutic relationships. Thematic analyses of interviews and diaries revealed six common themes: (a) the centrality of supervision and training experiences to navigating interpersonal experiences with clients; (b) anxiety about counselors' roles in…

This article reviews the literature on the concept of empathy in the social work profession from the days of Mary Richmond to its use in traditional literature today. Empathy is reexamined in light of recent developments in feminist scholarship, in particular the relational-cultural theory developed at the Stone Center at Wellesley College. Moving…

Explored the level of family therapist complementarity in the early, middle and late stages of therapy performing a micro-analysis of Salvador Minuchin with one family in successful therapy. Level of therapist complementarity was signficantly greater in the early and late stages than in the middle stage, and was significantly correlated with…

Several attitude scales administered to both groups reveal that although pastoral counseling students had stronger Christian religious beliefs and less nondogmatic openness and flexibility of belief, they responded at a higher level of client acceptance than secular counseling students. (Author)

This study measured the interpersonal needs of the counselor and counselee using the FIRO-B Scale to determine their effect on the subject's reaction to a counseling interview. Each counselor and counselee met with a compatible and an incompatible subject within the counterbalanced research designed. The general hypothesis for the study was that…

Tested assumptions about behavioral cues that clients use to infer what helpers intend. Questions and acknowledgments were best predictors of client perceptions. Guiding was perceived more often than advisement actually occurred. Intention of communicating understanding of message shifted from reflection in the analogue to acknowledgment in the…

Explored the concept of support networks to clarify the uses of support responses in counseling relationships. College students (N=33) responded to a survey examining support systems. Classification of data identified 13 support categories. Factor analysis revealed three factors suggesting a category differentiation based on emotion rather than…

In addition to empirical, technical, and theoretical aspects of counseling, there are distinctly human features of the therapeutic relationship that promote change in clients and students. A humanist and a behaviorist reach a consensus as to what most counselors and educators could agree are the human dimensions of helping. (Author)

Describes a career counseling case study where the counselor used social influence theory. Discusses the social influence model, which assumes counseling to be a process of interpersonal influence where counselors encourage clients to reattribute their difficulties to factors they can control, which leads to cognitive dissonance in the client,…

The Invitational Learning model, developed by William Purkey and others, is a philosophical framework for counseling and development based on perceptual theory that emphasizes the importance of an "inviting" stance in human interaction. This paper focuses on the inviting process and its application to professional helping relationships.…

Critically evaluates Bobele's "Therapeutic Interventions in Life-Threatening Situations." Considers therapeutic technique (interactional understanding) to have been placed above ethical and legal requirements of protecting clients or others from life-threatening situations. Finds Bobele negligent in terms of warning and physically…

Responds to foregoing comments by Woody and Woody regarding "Therapeutic Interventions in Life-Threatening Situations." Acknowledges value of their legal perspective, but maintains that the cases presented illustrated systemic therapeutic principles in life-threatening situations, with the article's scope limited to the clinical domain.…

Subjects' attraction to the counselor, self-reported and physiological anxiety, and susceptibility to persuasion were compared using two types of counseling analogues, quasi-counseling and vicarious-participation. Participants in the quasi-counseling analogue were significantly more attracted to the counselor than were vicarious-participation…

Discusses the difficulties encountered when a majority group counselor attempts to establish rapport with a minority group client. Suggests that counselors in training serve in internships in minority group communities. (HMV)