The purpose of this study was to help counselor trainees learn to respond consistently to client negative affect such as anger and depression. Fifty graduate students were randomly divided into five groups that were exposed to different kinds of videotaped counselor training procedures. The group of main interest was exposed to a training procedure that enabled the subjects first to verbally practice responding to client negative affect and then to observe a model counselor's response. When these subjects counseled either angry or depressed role-playing clients, they responded more consistently to client feelings than subjects exposed to other training procedures. An analysis of covariance with repeated measures was used to analyze the data.Negative affect expressed by clients has long been a focus of attention for counselors. Feelings such as anger, guilt, and depression are typically considered important areas for discussion and analysis. Frequently, the persistence of one of these feelings is the central problem presented by the client. If it is not the central problem, the content regarding the problem is often related to such a feeling: The dissolving marriage may be permeated by anger, poor academic performance sometimes results in excessive guilt, alcohol dependence can be associated with prolonged states of depression.Recently, several writers have been concerned with the role that negative affect plays in the counseling process (e.g.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the subjective experience of college students in leadership. Six participants, 4 females and 2 males, from a large, southeastern university were interviewed regarding their experiences; each response was transcribed and thematically analyzed to identify a perceptual background, as well as prominent figural themes through which the participants' experiences could be described. Three interrelated themes, people, action, and organization emerged from the ground of positive experience. Through examination of students' experiences in leadership roles, aspects of motivation, skills-building, and interacting personality variables may be more specifically targeted for future investigation.

Conducted a study of client expectations of psychological services in Yucatan, Mexico, under the sponsorship of a grant from the Organization of American States. The Expectations About Counseling-Brief Form (EAC-B) questionnaire was translated and administered to 488 subjects across age, sex, and experience with psychological services. Subsequent analyses supported the reliability and robustness of the Spanish EAC-B, with factor structure similar to the EAC-B in English. Some relation was found among age, sex, prior counseling experience, and expectations about counseling. Implications of these data for future research and comparison with U. S. subjects are discussed.

The problem of teaching counselor trainees to respond consistently to client negative affect is identified. A means of measuring the consistency of affective responding is described. Thirty counselor trainees at the prepracticum level were randomly divided into three groups. The first two groups were taught how to respond consistently to client negative affect, and the third group served as a control. Modeling and didactic teaching procedures were employed with the first two groups. When all the subjects counseled an angry role-playing client, the subjects in the first two groups responded more consistently to the negative affect than those in the control group. There was no difference in the consistency of responding between the modeling and didactic groups.

Alcohol addiction is one of the most prevalent and debilitating psychiatric disorders among the general population. Yet, little has been published on what it is like for men to actually experience this disorder. The purpose of this study was to identify commonalities in the experience of alcohol addiction among seven male members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Using a phenomenological approach, the participants completed an audio taped, unstructured, nondirective interview in which they were asked to describe their experience of alcohol addiction. The interviews were then transcribed and read by a phenomenological research team. Four themes were discovered: Emotions, Control, Awareness of Others, and The Turning Point, as well as a temporal ground. The authors conclude that mental health professionals should encourage alcohol addicted persons to talk about their experiences and to help them identify feelings and develop new coping skills.