Journal of Humanistic Counseling最新文献

In this manuscript, a new theoretical model is applied to analyze the effects of the early 2020s’ dual pandemics: the coronavirus and anti-Black racial violence pandemics. Grounded in humanistic–existential principles, the nonpossessive caring model emphasizes relational structures, relational caring, and relational nonpossession. The model is applied to the coronavirus pandemic's challenges, such as balancing disease mitigation and the interpersonal control. Through the lens of relational structures, the anti-Black racial violence pandemic is analyzed, examining privilege and oppression's role in shaping police–community dynamics. Nonpossessive caring principles are relevant in policing, supporting Black community members’ experiences, fostering police cultures of directed attention, cultivating curiosity, and valuing community input. This manuscript contributes to existential and humanistic counseling by addressing autonomy and responsibility tensions, offering guidance on existential responsibility amid mandates, and emphasizing marginalized communities’ subjective experiences.

Battling cancer of a spouse during a worldwide pandemic is a unique phenomenon. While the world experienced hardships such as stay-at-home orders, masking mandates, or the COVID-19 infection, caregivers supported their loved ones who were diagnosed with terminal diseases. Racism compounded trauma as Black caregivers were not provided with the same level of respect and care for their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Racial trauma is experienced by Black Americans, even during the pandemic and while grieving losses of loved ones. An autoethnographic approach draws upon my lived experience of racial trauma while caring for my dying husband during the COVID-19 pandemic. This autoethnography informs the role of counselor education programs to prepare future counselors to support minoritized clients who may have suffered from systemic racism, while grieving the loss of loved ones, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and which could also have contributed to racial trauma.

This qualitative study investigated the psychological impact of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-Black violence on client-facing social workers who identify as Black, the coping strategies they used in response to the pandemic, and the ways in which these individuals’ racial and cultural identities impacted their experiences. Such individuals are at unique risk for traumatic stress and burnout. This risk was compounded by the traumatic nature of the dual pandemics and the ways in which they forced confrontation with Yalom's existential givens of human existence: death, isolation, meaninglessness, and freedom and responsibility. Eight client-facing social workers who identified as Black and lived in the United States were interviewed using a 19-item semistructured protocol created by the researchers that addressed the research questions. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis methodology. Five themes were constructed: (1) Changes in treatment due to COVID-19, (2) Emotional toll due to the pandemic, (3) Experiences related to being Black, (4) Beneficial experiences, and (5) Coping with COVID-19 and ongoing racism. Participants’ experiences demonstrated the compounded psychological risk factors they faced as social workers, Black Americans, and survivors of the pandemic, and the ways in which they confronted existential concerns. Participants demonstrated resilience by making new meanings out of their experiences and implied their successful posttraumatic growth. This study demonstrated the need for greater support of Black social workers in social work practice and policy to ease the compounded stressors they face as a result of the pandemic.

The recent emphasis on racial unrest and systemic inequality perpetuated by COVID-19 has made the counseling profession seek more appropriate methods for clients, especially with Black males. Epigenetics, a science examining how behaviors and environment intersect to impact gene expression, could serve as this tool. This article advocates for providing therapy through an epigenetics framework, integrated with existential–humanism to give counselors the tools necessary to work with contemporary Black male clients.

Most theories used to explore existential realities of clients were developed and informed by White Eurocentric philosophers, who overlooked the impact of race and racism on identity. At a time when Black men continue to experience threats to their survival, such as through the epidemics of racial violence and health disparities of COVID-19, it is critical for professional counselors to appropriately incorporate racial and gendered perspectives into existential conceptualizations of client experience. In this paper, we identify four theoretical frameworks for clinicians to adopt in working with Black men's existential realities: Black existentialism, Black liberation narrative therapy, critical race theory, and radical healing psychotherapy. We locate these theories within the context of impacts from the dual pandemics of racial trauma and COVID-19, applying mini-vignettes to demonstrate how each theory can be responsive to the existential needs of Black men.

The primary objective of this study was to explore posttraumatic growth in adults who lived alone during the shelter-in-place (SIP) phase of the pandemic. Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine adults between the ages of 33 and 56 several weeks into SIP. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes emerged from participant interviews: connection, prior recent hardship, gratitude, spiritual practice, and relationship with self. By exploring the experiences of those who thrived while living alone during the SIP phase, this study aimed to provide a nuanced understanding of the psychological processes underlying positive adaptation amidst crisis. Our findings highlight the importance of fostering connections, both interpersonal and intrapersonal, as a means of promoting resilience and growth during times of crisis. The themes of gratitude, spiritual practice, and a positive relationship with self underscore the significance of existential and humanistic concepts, such as meaning-making, self-reflection, and personal growth.

A leading cause of disability, brain injury entails long-term recovery that often necessitates in-home caregiving provided by a spouse, partner, or parent. Women tend to shoulder such caregiving roles, yet few studies investigate the triumphs and obstacles associated with their lived experiences—including counseling and other supports. Anchored in a constructivist tradition aligned with humanistic principles, we utilized narrative inquiry and grounded theory to explore, via interviews, the experiences of 20 women caregivers to family members with brain injury. Our analyses yielded four intersected categories reinforced by a guiding perspective of disenfranchised grief: (1) experiencing dissonance, (2) navigating ambiguous loss, (3) falling in and out of isolation, and (4) losing and reclaiming personal identity. We discuss counselor education and development, individual therapy and psychoeducation, and group considerations.

Existential-humanistic counselors attend to the deeper meanings of the anxious client's experience. The author proposes Lacan's psychoanalytic theory as an integrative, humanistic approach that connects the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and developmental aspects of anxious experience. Anxiety is discussed in terms of the client's gap, lack, nothing, or breathing room, the expectations or desires of other people, and the client's disrupted sense of self. Following an application of the approach with a case example, implications for practice and research are provided.

Graduate students regularly experience anxiety, sleep disturbances, and depression, but little research exists on how to support their mental health. We evaluated the effects of a single-session, online, synchronous, happiness workshop on graduate student well-being, mental health, and physical health. Forty-five students participated in a quasi-experimental study. Students attended a synchronous 2.5-h online happiness workshop, or a no-workshop control condition. After workshop completion and as compared with no-treatment controls, participants reported significant reductions in depression symptoms but no significant changes on seven other measures. At 6 months, participants reported further reductions in depression symptoms. Moreover, across four open-ended questions, 37.0%–48.1% of workshop participants (a) recalled workshop tools, (b) found them useful, (c) had been practicing them regularly, and (d) used them in sessions with clients. Despite study limitations, single-session, synchronous, online, happiness workshops may have salutatory effects on graduate student mental health. Additional research is needed.

Using a sample of 450 emerging adult university students, this study examined the effects of relationship status and gender on meaning in life (MIL) dimensions and the relationship between social media use and MIL dimensions among participants. The MIL Questionnaire (MLQ) and a subscale of the Sources of Meaning and MLQ (SoMe) were used to measure three different life meaning dimensions (presence of meaning, search for meaning, and crises of meaning). Findings suggested that being in a romantic relationship is positively associated with the presence of MIL. Findings also revealed that the time spent on social media and social media satisfaction affects MIL dimensions. Implications for counselors and other mental health professionals are presented and have the potential to impact college students’ MIL issues.