Jill D. Duba

Treating Infidelity: Considering Narratives of Attachment

This article presents a counseling model for treating infidelity based on the integration of key aspects of attachment theory into a narrative therapy approach. The authors describe specific guidelines for their model after first reviewing personal attachment styles with a proclivity toward infidelity and providing a brief review of initial treatment considerations. Finally, they present a case example illustrating the use of narrative therapy and attachment theory as a model for treating infidelity.

End-of-life Decision-Making: A Preliminary Outline for Preparing Counselors to Work with Terminally-ill Individuals

End-of-life care is continuously becoming an issue of paramount importance given an increase in medical advances, the aging of the population, and the movement toward contributing toward a quality of life among terminally ill patients. However, there is a dearth in literature related to this topic specifically in terms of preparing counselors to become competent in working with such clients who are facing death and who may be seeking ways of hastening their death. The authors provide learning objectives related to this area as well as ways of infusing such objectives into the counselor education curriculum.

A Turkish Perspective on Family Therapy: An Interview With Hürol Fisiloglu

Hürol Fisiloglu, is an associate professor of clinical psychology and currently teaching at Middle East Technical University, Department of Psychology, Ankara. He received his Ph.D. at State University of New York at Buffalo. His main fields of interest are family and marriage functioning, intergenerational relationships, family and marriage therapy,-divorce and remarriage processes, family and handicapped children, family cohesion, marital adjustment, single parents, remarried families, and consanguineous marriages. The views of Hürol Fisiloglu shared in the interview are based on his own experiences as a therapist. He noted that they should not be taken as a representation of the Turkish culture as a whole. This interview took place in August 2003.

Musical “Tune-Ups” for Couples Brief Treatment Interventions

Some couples seek counseling to address warning signs. They may not be facing a relationship crisis but may be more concerned about where they are headed. Hence, a marriage makeover may not necessarily be needed, but instead couples in counseling may benefit from something rejuvenating. In such cases, brief interventions or techniques may be helpful. This article addresses how musical interventions can be used in couples counseling. A case example is introduced.

Using Play Therapy Techniques in a Bowenian Theoretical Context

Bowen theory focuses on the concept of emotional functioning, specifically among and within the family. The goal of therapy is to engage the family members in understanding the patterns of dysfunctional behavior. Little attention, however, is paid to incorporating children into the family systems work. Play therapy, within the framework of the Bowen theory, encourages participation from all family members, points to the interactions of the family members with each other, and links these systemic patterns to the reason why the family was referred to therapy. This article describes the basic tenets of the Bowen theory and how the play therapy techniques of art, sandtray, and puppets facilitate therapeutic interventions when using this model. A case study is provided.

The Multidimensional Nature Of The Quest Construct Forgiveness, Spiritual Perception, & Differentiation Of Self

The study examined relationships between differentiation of self, sacred loss/desecration, and decisional or emotional forgiveness. A convenience sample (N = 437) completed an on-line survey. After controlling for impact of the event, impression management, hurtfulness, and religiousness, sacred loss/desecration partially predicted forgiveness. Sacred loss significantly predicted one measure of emotional forgiveness, and desecration significantly predicted two measures of decisional forgiveness and one measure of emotional forgiveness. Four differentiation of self scales were examined in separate hierarchical regression analyses as predictors of forgiveness, controlling for impact of the event, impression management, and hurtfulness. Each differentiation of self scale significantly predicted reduction of negative emotion, and two differentiation of self scales significantly predicted inhibition of harmful intention. Differentiation of self partially mediated the relationship between sacred loss/desecration and emotional or decisional forgiveness. Implications for clinical practice and future research are considered.

Structural Techniques for Engaging Reluctant Parents in Counseling

Parents sometimes present their children for counseling with the hope that counselors can resolve or ameliorate their childrens “pathology.” Often what is presented or understood by parents as the individual pathology of children in fact has a relational component involving parental interactions with the children. However, some parents may initially be reluctant consumers of the counseling process. Yet, parental involvement is important because parents may not only be contributors to the problem that their children are experiencing, but the best resource to assist their children in developing positive mental health. This article describes structural interventions for engaging reluctant parents in counseling.

The Marriage of Research and Practice: An Interview with John M. Gottman.

Dr. John M. Gottman is one of the most prolific researchers/ authors in marriage and family therapy. He is author or coauthor of more than 35 books and 115 professional articles. Research performed by Dr. Gottman during his career has led to a greater understanding of single subject research method, couples’ communication, conflict resolution in marriages, factors that influence success of marriages, emotional intelligence in children, and mathematical models of marriage and family interactions. He is recently pursuing interventions related to transitions into parenthood. His research has won him numerous professional awards, including the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Distinguished Research Scientist Award, the American Family Therapy Academy Award for Most Distinguished Contributor to Family Systems Research, and the American Psychological Association, Division of Family Psychology, Presidential Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Research Contribution. Dr. Gottman, with his wife and collaborator Dr. Julie Schwartz-Gottman, cofounded the Gottman Institute, whose purpose is twofold: to serve couples directly while also providing training to mental health specialists and health care providers. For more information on the Gottman Institute, access their Web site at http://www.gottman.com or call the institute at (888) 5239042. This interview took place in October 2002.

Integrative and Biopsychosocial Therapy: An Interview With Len Sperry, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Len Sperry is professor and director of the doctoral program in counseling at Florida Atlantic University as well as clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is board certified in clinical psychology and psychiatry. Dr. Sperry is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association. He has numerous publications, namely, 40 professional books and more than 300 articles and chapters. Some of his books and co-authorships include Assessment of Couples and Families: Contemporary and Cutting-Edge Strategies, Family Therapy: Ensuring Treatment Efficacy, Brief Therapy With Individuals and Couples, Handbook of Diagnosis and Treatment of DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorders, and Effective Leadership: Strategies for Maximizing Executive Productivity and Health.

Book Review: A New Psychotherapy for Traditional Men (1998). Gary R. Brooks, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 262 pages.

characteristics of clients differ from those of patients, whereby expectation of both may differ in some considerable ways. Chapters 6 and 7 are about shared issues of training and providing interventions. Chapter 6 is designed to increase helpers’ tools for working with clients. Kottler argues that with such tools in hand, helpers need to become action minded and must make the needed efforts to experiment with their newly acquired skills, techniques, and training, whereas chapter 7 is about the nuts and bolts of how to plan and intervene with clients in a short amount of time. Could it be the case that Kottler believes as well in the characteristics of brief/solution-focused therapy? The worth of chapter 8 is somewhat unclear to this reader. Kottler recommends that helpers need to transfer relevant skills and techniques annexed in groups into other therapeutic settings. What is missing in this phase of the book is what the author may well consider the nuts and bolts of group work, important to helpers who work with varying groups. Perhaps readers looking for a more comprehensive set of ideas on groups might have to refer to one of the works of Gladding (2003) titled Group Work: A Counseling Specialty. Chapter 9 is about self-reflection as a helper. Kottler raises this issue for beginning helpers to understand the integration between the messenger and the message, and alludes to a number of provocative questions. A few of these questions are as follows: “What haunts you most?” (p. 133), “In what ways are you not fully functioning?” (p. 134), and “How do you ‘medicate’ yourself for excessive stress?” (p. 134). From these questions, Kottler contends that the helper can have a better appreciation of where the helpee is coming from and thus develop needed empathy and understanding. These assertions and questions remind this reader of the necessity for human service workers (and trainees) to have an experience of being helpees (in which, for example, the roles of helper and helpee become reversed). In this way, soon-to-be helpers are able to also develop an appreciation of their clients for their uniquely strange but courageous position as presenting themselves as helpees. This kind of exposure and shift in perspectives, for example, is clearly needed in all, if not most, counseling situations. In addition, the chapter alludes to some of the triumphs of helping, especially where the helper is mindful of the ethical underpinnings of helping, such as the following: informed consent, keeping proper records, doing no harm, and confidentiality. The chapter ends with useful exercises beneficial to helpers. This reader reads this book with the understanding that the book presents a casual overview of far more complex underpinnings of engaging clients in a therapeutic exchange. While the book’s treatment of ethical and legal issues draws no separation, the chapter addressing these issues needs a more cohesive integration of materials. It is this reader’s recommendation that the contents of this book, in the next revision, stay strictly on a practical level commensurate with its chosen title for the sake of its intended target population; inadvertently vacillating between theory and practice could lead to general confusion vis-à-vis the population of students for whom it is intended. Overall, beginning students in all helping professions should benefit from Kottler’s account of the nuts and bolts of becoming a helper.