Counseling scholarship has increasingly demonstrated the utility of relational-cultural theory (RCT) in promoting the relationship-building and growth-fostering connections many clients require to manage problems in living. The authors applied RCT to counseling clients with traumatic stress disorders rooted in traumas of an interpersonal nature (e.g., child abuse, interpersonal partner violence, sexual assault). An overview of traumatic stress disorders and RCT, as well as the ways in which RCT can inform trauma conceptualization and treatment approaches with victims, is provided.

No abstract

Hoarding disorder (HD) is a newly added mental disorder in the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In this article, the symptoms, characteristics, and features of HD are described, along with diagnosis and assessment strategies. The most efficacious treatments for counseling clients diagnosed with HD are also discussed.

on-suicidal self-injury (hereafter referred to as self-injury or SI) is a relatively common behavior among adolescents, with researchers suggesting that upwards of 15-30% of high school students have engaged in this behavior at least once (Muehlenkamp, Claes, Havertape, & Plener, 2012). Shapiro (2008) defined SI as an act of self-harm that occurs in the absence of suicidal intent and involves tissue damage caused by scraping, biting, burning, constricting, cutting, hitting, gouging, inhaling, picking, scalding, scratching, stabbing, and/or severing. The prevalence of SI peaks during the adolescent years and diminishes in early adulthood (Muehlenkamp et al., 2012). Self-injury is seemingly an increasing phenomenon, and school counselors are more frequently called upon to address behaviors related to self-injury

No abstract