Counselor Allegiance and Client Expectancy in Neuroscience-Informed Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: A 12-Month Qualitative Follow-Up

Abstract

This article presents summative findings from a 12-month multiphase mixed-methods pilot study examining counselor and client perceptions of neuroscience-informed cognitive-behavior therapy (nCBT) following clinical application. Results from the first 6 months of the study indicated that the counselor's and client's beliefs about the credibility and effectiveness of nCBT (i.e., expectancy) remained stable from pretreatment to 6 months into treatment. The fourth phase of data collection at the 12-month interval followed an explanatory sequential process whereby the qualitative data were connected to earlier merged quantitative data to better understand initial findings from the first 6 months of the study. Results indicate that counselors' initial comprehension and familiarity with the model, counselor–client trust, counselor delivery and suggestion, and client willingness to practice outside of session were key components to the development of counselor and client belief (expectancy) in the model. Implications for nCBT theory development and application are discussed.

Public perceptions on using Virtual Reality and Mobile Apps in Anxiety treatment

“…The lack of personal reference for the non-experienced group may mean that they are less able to conceive the problems VR would need to address as a therapy, and thus rate VR more optimistically than their experienced counterparts. To bolster the effectiveness of VR in therapy, clients should be provided information surrounding the effectiveness and legitimacy of this technology prior to, or early in, the therapy process, since client expectations affect therapy outcomes (Field et al, 2017;Greenberg et al, 2006).…”

Grounding Neuro‐Informed Practice in a Humanistic Framework: A Response to Wilkinson

“…The articles cited in Beeson and Field (2017) alone highlight a burgeoning body of literature that has since grown to include a neuroscience-informed approach to classifying addiction as a relational phenomenon (Luke, Redekop, & Jones, 2018), qualitative evaluation of neuroscience-informed cognitive behavior therapy (nCBT; Field, Beeson, Jones, & Miller, 2017), new models of emotional decision-making (Collura, Zalaquett, Bonnstetter, & Chatters, 2014), and nontechnological approaches to biofeedback (Crockett, Gill, Cashwell, & Myers, 2017). To briefly elaborate on just one such way neuroscience has informed counseling theory, Field, Beeson, and Jones (2015) created a conceptual paradigm, referred to as the waves of the new ABCs, that is informed by research on information processing, responses to perceived threat, bottom-up and top-down emotional regulation, memory reconsolidation, and other relevant neuroscientific findings.…”

“…The nCBT framework's use of neuroscience research to expand, rather than reduce, the exploration of the client's first-person account serves to improve counselors' intentionality and timing of interventions. Countering Wilkinson's (2018) claim that "there is no evidence to date that it has, or will, actually accomplish this task" (p. 72), at least two articles have been published to evaluate the effectiveness of nCBT: Field, Beeson, and Jones (2016) and Field, Beeson, et al (2017).…”

“…We appreciate Wilkinson's conceptualization efforts to develop a new model; however, the simple connection of humanistic terms (e.g., insight, self-awareness, meaning making, self-regulation, preconscious understanding, felt sense) to brain functions seems to replicate the confirmation-through-assimilation-ratherthan-creation problem that Wilkinson highlighted regarding the usefulness of neuroscience to counselors. As we do with all conceptual pieces, we hope that Wilkinson will continue to expand and evaluate the QHN model in the way that other neuroscience-informed conceptualizations have been developed (e.g., Field, Beeson, et al, 2017).…”

Neuroscience Attitudes, Exposure, and Knowledge among Counselors

“…The importance of neuroscience for the future of the counseling profession has been well documented (e.g., Myers & Young, 2012). Neuroscience is guiding the creation of new theories related to cognitive behavioral therapy (Field, Beeson, & Jones, 2015Field, Beeson, Jones, & Miller, 2017) and emotional decision-making (Collura, Zalaquett, Bonnstetter, & Chatters, 2014), approaches to non-technological forms of biofeedback (Crocket, Gill, Cashwell, & Myers, 2017), conceptualizations of outcomes in creative arts therapy (Perryman, Blisard, & Moss, 2019), and conceptualizations of the relational components of addiction (Luke, Redekop, & Jones, 2018). More broadly, the influence of neuroscience on the research and classification of mental functioning through the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (NIMH, n.d.) is growing , and counselors will increasingly need to find and evaluate this research as they become "practice standards of the future" (Myers & Young, 2012, p. 22).…”