Counseling Commons^™

Ptsd From Childhood Trauma As A Precursor To Attachment Issues, Christy Owen

Fidei et Veritatis: The Liberty University Journal of Graduate Research

The past 20 years have been turbulent regarding Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), with conflicting research about its causes, effects, treatment, and prognosis. The current diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 fails to adequately address this disorder. A number of deviant and maladaptive behaviors common amongst children with RAD are not even mentioned in the diagnostic criteria. As such, the diagnostic definition is almost unidentifiable or incompatible with real-life conduct manifestations of the disorder. Rather, this author contends that RAD is foundationally a unique and extreme form of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from Early Childhood Trauma. The child endured unspeakable neglect and ...

Sources Of Referral In Student Financial Counseling, Shinae Choi, Suzanne Bartholomae, Clinton G. Gudmunson, Jonathan Fox

Journal of Financial Therapy

This study evaluates sources of referral to financial counseling and varied declines in financial stress across the financial counseling process. College students came to counseling most often through self-referral. Younger students and women were more likely to respond to institutional referrals. There were two clearly discernable periods of decline in financial stress, smaller interim declines occurring after requesting appointments and larger declines that occurred in counseling sessions. The interim declines, however, were only operative for those who were self- or institutionally-referred and not for those who entered on a social-referral. A possible explanation is that social-referrals have already had “someone ...

Financial Empowerment And Health Related Quality Of Life In Family Scholar House Participants, Chelsey Franz

Journal of Financial Therapy

Research demonstrates an association between poverty and health. Populations in poverty suffer from poor mental and physical health, and thus, poor health-related quality of life. Research also indicates people living in the lower socio-economic categories experience higher levels of stress that are associated with these health declines. Family Scholar House, a local community intervention designed to alleviate poverty and improve socio-economic status by providing college education and support to single parents, combats these health outcomes by addressing the five social determinants of health (economic stability, education, social and community context, health care, and neighborhood and built environment). Quantitative analysis indicates ...

A Collaborative Approach To Address Student Behavior And Academic Achievement Across Systems, Beverly Ngozi Okereke

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Academic achievement and in-classroom behaviors are two significant child outcomes that affect student success in school. According to Systems Theory, in order to truly understand the factors that affect these outcomes for children, one must look to the major systems that encapsulate the child (including their school and home environments). This project is a meta-analytic review that examined the effectiveness of measures representing each system in predicting child achievement and behavior: School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) for the school as a system, level of parent involvement (high versus low) for the home system, and student motivation (intrinsic versus extrinsic) for ...

Online Supervision Case Analysis: The Case Of Kelly, Thommi Odom Lawson

Journal of Counseling and Psychology

Providing supervision to graduate counseling students using secured online technology is becoming a trend given the advancements in technology, students’ attending extended campuses rather than traditional universities, and convenience. Building a strong working alliance between the supervisee and supervisor is critical, particularly when the parties involved are establishing the relationship remotely. This article analyzes a case involving online supervision through the application of the Supervisory Working Alliance Model and the Individual Psychology Supervision Model. The supervisory relationship is discussed, and issues such as developing a working alliance virtually, the supervisory relationship, multicultural competency, and supervisor/supervisee evaluation are addressed.

Linking Insight To Behaviour Change In A Life Coaching Intervention For Women, Tracy A. Robinson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Solving a problem with insight provokes a change of mind and concomitantly, behaviour. This mixed method study examined moments of insight during life coaching to determine whether having moments of insight led to more meaningful and sustained behavior change. Moments of insight and non-insight were tracked over nine life-coaching sessions with a population of women (N=6) and their coaches (N=6). Validated measures of problem-solving ability, psychological well-being, and mindfulness were collected before and after the intervention, along with behaviour change goals, Wheel of Life® satisfaction, and a personal strength profile. At eight weeks post intervention, sustainability was assessed ...

Symptoms, Contributing Factors, And Screening For Perinatal Mood And Anxiety Disorders In U.S. Latinas: A Literature Review, Jennifer N. S. Massie

Master's Projects

This literature review was conducted to gather the published information on the topic of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in the Latina population in the United States. Academic databases were searched for articles published between 2005 and 2016. 60 articles were considered, and a final sample of 36 articles and websites was included in this review.

Evidence suggests that Latina women in the perinatal period (pregnant and up to one year postpartum) in the United States of America tend to have a higher risk and incidence of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders than White women, and a higher risk and ...

Exploring Masculinity For A Healthy Campus Culture, Jason M. Gant

Master's Projects

1 in 5 female students is and will be sexually assaulted in college. This is a public health issue as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sexual violence (SV) is a significant problem in the United States. SV refers to sexual activity when consent is not obtained or not given freely. Anyone can experience SV, but most victims are female. The person responsible for the violence is typically male and usually someone the victim is familiar with. The person can be, but is not limited to, a friend, coworker, neighbor, family member and even classmate. Boys ...

Meaning-Making In Early Adolescence: Practices And Perspectives Of School Counselors, Jill E. Schwarz

The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Adolescence is a crucial life stage involving aspects of identity development and decision-making that have potential life-long consequences. A sense of meaning is related to many beneficial factors during adolescence, including psychological health, academic engagement, and overall well-being. This qualitative interview study was designed to investigate middle school counselors’ perspectives and practices regarding exploring meaning with their early adolescent students. Analysis of ten individual interviews and a focus group revealed that the school counselor participants did engage in work with middle school students around meaning-making. They primarily helped students to find meaning through identity exploration, specifically focusing on navigating challenging ...

Experiences Of Anti-Bisexual Prejudice In A Bisexual Adult Sample And The Impact On Mental And Physical Health, James Edward Arnett

Doctoral Dissertations

This cross-sectional study examined the relationships between minority stress (e.g. anti-bisexual experiences and internalized biphobia), trauma and depressive symptoms, and self-reported physical health for a sample of online-recruited, bisexual adults. Using a minority stress framework that included physical health and conceptualizing experiences of discrimination/prejudice as a type of trauma, a model was hypothesized in which experiences of anti-bisexual discrimination would uniquely relate to trauma-related symptoms (as would exposure to other, general traumatic events) and indirectly impact physical health through these trauma symptoms. Also, it was predicted that anti-bisexual experiences would directly relate to internalized biphobia, with internalized biphobia ...

Suicide Response Preparedness In Counseling Students: A Study Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Simulated Behavior, Breanna Paige Banks

Doctoral Dissertations

Suicide, or “death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with (sic) intent to die as a result of the behavior,” is a major public health concern in the United States. Professional counselors are likely to encounter a suicidal client even before completing their educational training. Due to the frequency of counselor trainees’ encounters with suicidal clients, these students are likely to face this challenge as early as their first practicum experience. Due to the complexity of assessing and treating persons at risk for suicide, student counselors not explicitly trained in these practices are at risk for not identifying and adequately managing ...

“Invisible Citizens To Visible Subjects”: Multicultural Counseling Competence With The Arab American Population, Dareen Basma

Doctoral Dissertations

The Arab American experience entwines with politics, world affairs, race issues and more recently, in coping with refugee status. The counseling field has been increasing focus on multicultural competence, advocacy, and inclusion of marginalized populations, emphasizing it as a critical component in counselor training and education (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). Multicultural counseling competence requires demonstrated competence in the areas of multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills when working with diverse populations (Sue et al., 1992). Despite the significant mental health implications identified among the Arab American population, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the multicultural training, education and practice of counselor trainees ...

Internalized Heterosexism, Religious Coping, And Psychache In Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Young Adults, Jon Raymond Bourn

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychache, or unbearable psychological pain (Shneidman, 1993, 1999), has been found to be the most proximal predictor of suicidality. There is evidence that heterosexism (Crain-Gully, 2011), including internalized heterosexism (IH; Bourn & Miles, 2015), is related to psychache among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. The current study sought to further examine the relationship between IH and psychache, by identifying potential factors that moderate and mediate the relationship between IH and psychache. It was hypothesized that, in a sample of religiously-identified LGB young adults, (a) IH would be significantly, negatively correlated with positive religious coping (PRC) and significantly, positively correlated with ...

Life Balance In Adult Healthy Siblings Of Individuals With Childhood Cancer., Yolanda Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Siblings of children who were diagnosed with cancer in childhood experience significant stress and psychological difficulties as a result of the cancer. Furthermore, the needs of siblings have often been overlooked in the cancer literature, prompting the need for more studies. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the life balance and social support outcomes of adults who grew up in the household with a sibling that was diagnosed with cancer. The study sample consisted of 120 adult healthy siblings who grew up in a household with a sibling that was diagnosed with cancer prior to age 19. Participants ...

Burnout And Attrition Experiences Of New Professional Clinical Mental Health Counselors: An Application Of The Indivisible Self Model Of Wellness, Adam Forrest Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

Professional burnout is a phenomenon common to professionals working within the helping fields (Figley, 2002). Though common, little exists in the way of formal theories to define and understand the phenomenon and how it may be understood in a progressive, developmental sense (Paris & Hoge, 2010). To date, burnout has primarily been understood and researched through the study of other constructs that fit within the global definition of burnout (Newell & MacNeil, 2010), as well as more constructivist approaches to the phenomenon, stating there are no predictive cycles or types of experiences that result in a perceived sense of professional burnout (Sang Min, Seong Ho, Kissinger, & Ogle, 2010). This study sought to capture the perceptions and lived experiences of new professional clinical mental health counselors who self-reported feelings of burnout that resulted in subsequent attrition from the field of counseling. Using a qualitative directed content analysis approach, this study explored the application of the Indivisible Self Model of Wellness (Myers & Sweeney, 2004) to participant experiences of professional burnout. The analysis of these interviews yielded five key findings: the impact of administrators and mental health treatment systems on the experience of new professional counselors; the reliance on mental health professionals as friends and supports as well as strain in relationships with partners; physiological and behavioral changes impacting a counselor’s overall sense of physical health; the complicated and conflicting emotions related to burnout and attrition; and the progressive, cumulative nature of burnout. I discuss these findings as they relate to implications ...

Keeping Up With The Times: Improving The Modern Counselor Through Professional Identity Development, Technological Policy, And Positive Risk Taking, Patricia C. Weatherford, David Brooks, Lynne B. Allred

Journal of Counseling and Psychology

Awareness of ‘best practices’ and ‘critical issues’ assists counselors-in-training as they attempt to navigate the expectations of their programs and prepare for their future careers. This article identified the development of a professional identity as a significant goal for counselors-in-training and a curriculum responsibility for counselor educators. The authors also identified two critical issues that counselors-in-training and working professionals face currently. The first critical issue addressed is how technologies fit into counseling practices and their impact on the counseling process. The second critical issue is the potential impact of counselor-client willingness to take a risk with therapeutic options. New and ...

Ptsd In The 20th Century American Military: Its Diagnosis, Effects, Treatment, And Management, With A Focus On The Vietnam War, Christy L. Connell

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Soldiers have been affected by PTSD for as long as war has existed. The American Military in the twentieth century is no exception. PTSD did not become a diagnosable disease until 1980, and before then it was misdiagnosed as different anxiety disorders and neuroses. Symptoms, treatment options, and long-term affects of PTSD are also discussed. Though other other wars in which America was involved are mentioned, those that receive a more thorough analysis are World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Although PTSD is an increasing problem in modern times for those involved in military conflicts, there ...

Positive Counseling With College Students, Courtney Butler, Courtney Watford, Shamanda S. Burston, James P. Morgan, David Carscaddon

Journal of Counseling and Psychology

College students face multiple challenges and can find college life to be overwhelming at times. In this paper, we examine how positive psychology, which embraces a strengths-based focus, has much to offer college students and their counselors. After providing an overview of positive psychology, we examine how positive psychology can be integrated into counseling generally and then more specifically into working with college students. We examine a number of different issues that college students face, and we offer different positive psychology techniques that have been found to be beneficial. Moreover, we provide a case study to demonstrate the benefits of ...

Perceptions Of Being A Woman And Strategies For Women’S Body Image Resilience, Lauren L. Mclean, Amanda C. Laguardia

The Qualitative Report

Although the negative effects of female body objectification are well established, there is a lack of qualitative research examining how women can develop resiliency against body image issues and low self-esteem. Through the current phenomenological qualitative study, we sought to explore how participants defined being a woman, particularly a woman with healthy self-esteem. In addition, we explored several resiliency strategies, based on Choate’s (2005) theoretical model of body image resilience, that women could potentially use to combat some of the effects of objectification. Results indicated that female participants experience normative beliefs and gender expectations that a woman with a ...

Responding To Race Related Trauma: Counseling And Research Recommendations To Promote Post-Traumatic Growth When Counseling African American Males, Amanda M. Evans, Carrie Hemmings, Christopher Burkhalter, Virginia Lacy

The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The application of Post-Traumatic Growth, a resiliency based approach, for counselors working with African-American male clients who have experienced race-based trauma is described. The role of cognitive processing and meaning making are reviewed. Implications for counseling, education and research are provided.