Eric M. Sauer

Respective Contributions of Therapist and Client Adult Attachment Orientations to the Development of the Early Working Alliance: A Preliminary Growth Modeling Study

The authors investigated the temporal relationship between client and therapist attachment orientations and early working alliance. Attachment was measured by self-report after the 1st session of therapy. The working alliance ratings were completed after the 1st, 4th, and 7th therapy sessions. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that anxiously attached therapists had a significant positive effect on the client working alliances after the 1st session but significant negative effects over time. No other therapist or client attachment variables or related interactions had a significant effect on client working alliance ratings. Results also indicated that time was a significant positive predictor of client working alliance ratings.

Counseling psychology in the United States of America

The profession of counseling psychology in the United States of America has evolved and developed over the last six decades. The current article provides a brief historical overview and highlights counseling psychologys emergence in the US with particular attention to the influences surrounding the birth of counseling psychology in the 1950s. A review of major developments in counseling psychology in the US is provided along with a discussion of the current definition and description of the field; philosophy; licensure, registration and certification; professional organizations; and international linkages.

Guidelines for cognitive behavioral training within doctoral psychology programs in the United States: report of the Inter-organizational Task Force on Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology Doctoral Education.

The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies initiated an interorganizational task force to develop guidelines for integrated education and training in cognitive and behavioral psychology at the doctoral level in the United States. Fifteen task force members representing 16 professional associations participated in a year-long series of conferences, and developed a consensus on optimal doctoral education and training in cognitive and behavioral psychology. The recommendations assume solid foundational training that is typical within applied psychology areas such as clinical and counseling psychology programs located in the United States. This article details the background, assumptions, and resulting recommendations specific to doctoral education and training in cognitive and behavioral psychology, including competencies expected in the areas of ethics, research, and practice.

Client attachment orientations, working alliances, and responses to therapy: A psychology training clinic study

Abstract The authors examined the associations between client attachment orientations, working alliance, and progress in therapy. Ninety-five clients at two university-based training clinics completed measures of adult attachment, attachment to therapist, and working alliance immediately preceding the third counseling session with therapists-in-training. A standardized measure of progress in therapy was administered at intake, third counseling session, and termination. Hierarchical linear modeling findings indicated that stronger working alliances and secure attachment to therapist were significantly associated with greater reductions in client distress over time. Higher levels of adult attachment anxiety were significantly associated with greater distress ratings at the outset of treatment. Directions for future research and suggestions for developing therapeutic relationships in the context of specific client attachment orientations are discussed.

Disentangling the Effects of Depression Symptoms and Adult Attachment on Emotional Disclosure.

Individuals with high levels of depression symptoms and individuals with insecure attachment orientations have been shown to limit their use of emotional disclosure as a means of emotion regulation. However, little is known about how depression symptoms and insecure attachment orientations might jointly predict whether individuals engage in emotional disclosure. The authors addressed this question using both inter- and intraindividual approaches. College students (N = 121) completed measures of depression symptoms, adult attachment orientation, and generalized disclosure tendencies. To obtain an intraindividual measure of emotional disclosure, participants also completed an online daily diary in which they rated the intensity of the days most unpleasant event and their disclosure of that event for 7 days. Results indicated that depression symptoms were negatively related to generalized disclosure tendencies and to intraindividual daily intensity-disclosure slopes. Attachment avoidance was negatively related to both generalized disclosure tendencies and to daily disclosure, and attachment anxiety moderated the relation between daily event intensity and disclosure. The authors discuss the implications for theory and counseling psychology practice.

Defining characteristic or unrealistic ideal: Historical and contemporary perspectives on scientist-practitioner training in counselling psychology.

Counselling psychologists have affirmed their allegiance to the scientist-practitioner (S-P) model through all of the disciplines major conferences in the United States of America, and the philosophy has been critical to training across the globe. Despite the centrality of this training approach to counselling psychologys identity, no comprehensive overview of the fields history with the model has been undertaken. A review spanning sixty years describes the evolving relationship between the S-P model and counselling psychology and also points to historical and current challenges within that relationship.

Implementing the Boulder Model of Training in a Psychology Training Clinic

The scientist–practitioner (S–P) model of training has guided professional psychology in the United States for nearly six decades. However, since its inception, the model has been hotly debated and implementation of the model has been chronically problematic. One counseling psychologist who is working as both a faculty member and psychology training clinic director describes how scientific principles can be retained in a practice setting. He overviews the Boulder model of training, provides a brief review of the psychology training clinic (PTC), describes his current work setting and unique faculty appointment, and outlines five strategies for integrating science and practice in applied clinical settings. He also highlights how embracing the Boulder model has promoted a strong professional identity and presents the PTC as a model professional home for S–Ps.

Counselling psychologists as scientist-practitioners: Finding unity in diversity

This paper introduces the Special Issue on counselling psychologists as scientist-practitioners. The primary goal of the Special Issue is to examine the evolving nature and current status of the scientist-practitioner (S-P) model in counselling psychology from the perspectives of four early career counselling psychologists who illustrate the implementation of the S-P identity in their particular work settings. A concluding commentary by a senior counselling psychologist describes the evolution of the model throughout his career and highlights the role of context in defining scientist-practitioners.

Living the scientist-practitioner model in a psychology training clinic*

Counselling psychology has long espoused the scientist-practitioner model. An early career counselling psychologist working in a doctoral program as both a faculty member and training clinic director describes his current work setting, his relatively recent scientist-practitioner training, and the ways in which embracing this model promotes a sense of professional identity. He also presents the psychology training clinic as a model professional home for counselling psychologists and scientist-practitioners. Specific strategies for developing and maintaining an integrated identity are reviewed.

Perfectionism affects change in psychological symptoms.

The primary goal of this study was to examine how perfectionism affects psychological symptoms during the course of treatment. We examined session-by-session symptom changes in a sample of 105 adult clients who presented for counseling at a psychology training clinic housed at a large Midwestern university in the United States. Using a recently developed measure of perfectionism (Short Almost Perfect Scale [SAPS]) that possesses good psychometric features, we were able to investigate effects of both maladaptive (high self-criticism) and adaptive (high standards with low self-criticism) perfectionistic characteristics on indicators of personal and interpersonal psychological distress across time. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that both symptomatic distress and interpersonal problems improved over the course of therapy. Maladaptive perfectionism was associated with higher levels of interpersonal problems and distress at the outset of therapy, and related differentially to change patterns in symptom distress and interpersonal problems over the course of treatment. Maladaptive perfectionism, however, was not related to level of symptoms at the end of therapy. Adaptive perfectionistic characteristics were associated with fewer interpersonal problems at the beginning and end of therapy. Results suggest the value of assessing perfectionistic characteristics at the onset of treatment, even for clients not presenting with obvious concerns linked to such individual differences.