Japanese perspective on client inaction and procrastination: Morita therapy

The present paper discusses how client inaction and procrastination are understood and dealt with from the Morita therapist's perspective. Clients stuck in self-defeating patterns of thinking and action are discussed in terms of their futile preoccupations with adverse feelings and failure to recognize their freedom in choosing and implementing action. Clients in Morita therapy come to accept and persevere with unmanipulable feelings, previously used as excuses for their avoiding and procrastinating behaviours. Seven factors inhibiting or retarding clients' desirable action taking are discussed. A contrast is made between Morita and Western cognitive therapies.     

Helping mothers discuss sexuality and AIDS with adolescents

The current study was designed to alter experimentally mothers' style when discussing sexuality and AIDS with their adolescent children. Mothers of 11- to 15-year-olds (N = 50) were assigned to an intervention or control group, resulting in 20 dyads in each group. All dyads were assessed twice, on self-reported and observed communication, AIDS knowledge, and perceived vulnerability to AIDS. Intervention group mothers received two training sessions. Observational data revealed that intervention group mothers reduced their amount of speaking, asked more open-ended questions, acted less judgmental, and discussed dating and sexuality more than did control group mothers. Intervention group adolescents reported increased discussions of birth control and increased daily comfort talking to their mothers. There was some evidence that intervention group girls increased in AIDS knowledge. There was no change in AIDS-related beliefs.     

Long-term consequences of childhood attachment: Implications for counselling adolescents

The theory of attachment draws on several lines of thought to create an integrated body of knowledge about human emotional development. Attachment theory is particularly concerned with the development of human emotions from a life span perspective (Ainsworth, 1991), hypothesizing that observable behaviour is directed by people's emotions, specifically in relation to important figures within their lives. A recent and essential focus for the development of the theory of attachment is that of its long-term implications. Considerable empirical support has been provided for the premise of the implications of attachment security in childhood for psychological maladies in adolescence. The present article focuses on these long-term implications of childhood attachment and presents both an argument for pursuing family therapy when working with adolescent clients and a model for counselling such families based on an attachment perspective.Portions of this work were completed with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, project number 410-91165. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Council.     

Culture-specific counselling strategies for Japanese nationals in the United States of America

The article provides an understanding of unique characteristics of Japanese nationals in the United States of America (USA), their possible acculturation and assimilation levels, Japanese world view (assumptions, values and beliefs), and Japanese developmental psychological functions (Amae, On, Giri, Ninjo, and Ajase Complex). All these factors affect the determination of culturally sensitive techniques and approaches that would be best suited for each Japanese client. Information about assessment tools, and counselling and therapeutic strategies and techniques that may be effective is presented.     

日本大学治理改革——PDCA在国立大学法人评价中的应用

PDCA应用于大学评价是日本大学治理改革的重要方案之一。在立法的保障下,通过PDCA评鉴链,国立大学法人改善教学研究质量和运营状况,落实大学向社会说明责任的义务,同时帮助政府有效配置教育资源。通过PDCA在国立大学法人评价中的应用,日本形成了大学治理改革的有效机制,这一经验对我国大学治理改革具有重要参考价值。     

利用情感功能提高大学日语教学效果

情感是影响教学活动重要的心理因素之一,积极的情感对教师的教和学生的学有促进作用。是提高教学效果的重要条件。了解情感功能对大学日语教学的影响,培养积极情感、发挥情感功能、是提高大学日语教学效果的关键。     

浅谈英语学困生的转化

随着教育教学研究的深入和发展,“学困生”问题已逐渐成为教育领域关注的焦点。如何提高“学困生”的英语水平,是英语教师贯彻全面发展观、全面提高英语教育水平必须解决的一个问题,也是素质教育对英语教学的要求。     

Helping the young child cope with death

Justin and Jenny had prepared for the space shuttle launch by cutting out pictures of Christa McAuliffe from the Weekly Reader. Their mother was a teacher, just like the new astronaut. During the televised launch, the three-year-old boy marched and twirled around. His five-year-old sister stood still and observed intently.Judy Ansell Ketchel is a second-grade teacher in the Southmoreland School District, Scottdale, Pennsylvania.     

High density: School counselling in Israel

School counselling in Israel may be of crucial importance not only to the pupil's well-being but even to the pupil's very existence. However, the uniqueness of Israeli existence turns issues like crisis intervention, cultural awareness, self- and group-identity, and at-risk children into crucial, rather than recommended, determinants of efficient counselling.     

Helping Clients Cope with Change in the 21st Century: A Balancing Act

The national vision to equip all individuals with the knowledge, skills and desire for lifelong learning in order to meet the challenges in the world of work today, and in the future, is a powerful incentive for career services professionals. The authors use the analogy of a chair to discuss four strategies to assist clients in maintaining balance as they cope with uncertainty and change.     

Systemic theory in counselling people with HIV disease

Since HIV disease became a pressing medical and social problem over a decade ago, there have been significant advances in the care and treatment of those who have been infected with the virus. Psychological counselling is a cornerstone of some programmes designed to provide support and care. The emphasis has been on preventing the spread of HIV infection, obtaining informed consent for an HIV test and psychological support in counselling. This paper addresses the provision of psychological support for people with HIV disease in the context of a systemic theoretical framework.     

Considerations in counselling the creatively gifted

This article represents an attempt to allay the myth that the gifted will be successful anyway and, if they are not, they are not really gifted. On the contrary from an early age the gifted suffer problems in peer interaction. They are bored at school, at University, at work, and in personal relationships. Although their work may be excellent they can impair their promotion prospects and even run the risk of dismissal because they do not fit in. Career changes are relatively frequent for this minority.A sample of creatively gifted students has been questioned and followed up since 1973. While it is readily admitted that the sample is small it is strongly suggested that the results make clear that this problem merits investigation. The responses of the creatively gifted students were compared to the responses of a larger sample of students not identifiable as creatively gifted. Of the creatively gifted sample:- only one has gone on for a Ph.D.- the entire group found school and university an alienating experience.-the majority of the females in this group felt that for a girl to be too smart impaired social acceptability.- 66% have contemplated suicide and devised a means.The dangers of perceiving creativity as a unidimensional construct are discussed.     

'I just sit there': shyness as an emotional and behavioural problem in school

Shyness is not unlike many psychological constructs in that it connotes a rich cluster of behaviours, cognitions, feelings and bodily reactions. But when adolescents' shyness creates keen sensitivity to cues of being rejected, preventing them from speaking up for their rights and expressing their own opinions, thereby encouraging self-consciousness and excessive preoccupation with their emotions, it becomes a problem for both these adolescents and their surroundings. This paper presents 10 adolescents' experiences of being shy in a school context to such a degree that it is regarded as being a behavioural and emotional problem. In light of elements from an existential-phenomenological understanding, challenges and remedial measures for these adolescents as well as their peers and teachers are discussed. Finally, focus will be placed on how teachers can promote good relationships and working environments and in this manner prevent shyness from becoming a behavioural and emotional problem in school.     

The Crisis of Relativism: Helping Counselors Cope with Diversity

Counselors are sometimes disoriented by the massive variety of approaches to the helping process. This plurality of counseling methods often pushes both students and practitioners toward an epistemological crisis—“the crisis of relativism.” A developmental scheme outlined by William Perry in 1970 is employed to interpret some of the typical cognitive transitions that can occur among counselor trainees who struggle with diversity. Also, the authors offer suggestions that may meet the particular needs of counselors coping with this multitude of therapy options.     

Educational counselling in Mexico: Developments and perspectives

Conclusion It is necessary to realize the limitations of counselling services in Mexico. In spite of all the efforts taken, the academic preparation of counsellors is not strong enough. As has been mentioned, 50% are psychologists or pedagogues, at best, and the rest, who are not specifically prepared for counselling, are constantly moving away from the helping services. There seems to be little progress. On the other hand, we hope that counselling and the counsellors, once services have been established, might some day be able to resolve those complex problems which the educational system has not been able to resolve or diminish with its own traditional resources, especially problems like school dropout, the correct choice of vocational and academic studies, the distribution of students to the various branches and levels of the educational system in accordance with the actual needs of the country, and a whole series of other tasks, which may fail in an area of myth or may really be related to the possibilities of the discipline. Therefore, it is necessary to set the limits of counsellors' tasks and to define the counsellor's role more clearly in the near future, in order to strengthen the discipline on behalf of our future students.Knowing, understanding and evaluating the relationship that now exists between the counselling tasks of counsellors, the educational Practice and the national and international policy, shall facilitate the future implementation of more solid and feasible programmes. For the time being, having a clear view of what we can do (and not only justifying things we cannot accomplish) should help our students to use our counselling services with higher benefits.     

Student counselling in Hungary in the mid-nineties

The 1993 Law on Higher Education started the modernization of higher education. The most important aim of this development is to gradually elevate the number of participants in higher education to the 30% level that is typical in developed democratic countries, and to increase openness, flexibility and accessibility. Changes in higher education have necessitated a paradigmatic change in higher education counselling as well: the earlier mental hygienefocussed practice has been expanded to independent career orientation and competent career building through comprehensive information services and individual and group counselling aimed at coping strategies improvement. A new trend also is the increasing volume of peer counselling activity and the training of higher education counsellors.     

Developmental implications in youth counselling: Gender socialization

Psychological research has generally supported the contention that the development of gender appropriate behavior is encouraged by socialization processes. Commencing from birth, male and female children are reared and socialized differently. In recent years there has been a trend toward the acceptance of less stereotyped roles (androgyny) in order that children may adapt more easily to the demands of the environments in which they live. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevant findings of this research and to extrapolate possible implications and ramifications for adolescent counselling.     

Helping the Deaf-Blind Child in Class

Heather Murdoch, who teaches deaf-blind children at the Royal School for the Deaf, Margate, offers advice to other teachers who may have a child with these difficulties in their class.