ABSTRACT
This article presents a study of the effects of tachistoscopic presentation of affective words on subjects' conceptualizations, intentions, and responses to a simulated client. The participants, 36 counseling students, were assigned randomly to one of the following treatments: subliminal presentation of negative emotional concepts; subliminal presentation of positive emotional concepts; supraliminal presentation of positive emotional concepts. After the tachistoscopic presentations, all subjects were exposed to a simulated client, whom they were asked to evaluate, respond to, and report the cognitive intentions that guided their responses. Significant effects were found in the subliminal presentation of positive emotional concepts on subjects' conceptualizations, intentions, and responses. Some significant effects also were found for the supraliminal presentation, but only for the client evaluation measure.
Subject(s)
Psychotherapy , Subliminal Stimulation , Adult , Emotions , Female , Humans , Male , Unconscious, Psychology , Visual PerceptionABSTRACT
This study compared the therapeutic progress of three randomly assigned groups (n = 14 in each group) of community mental health center clients: (a) clients who viewed a slide/sound presentation about all available therapists and chose their own therapist; (b) clients who viewed the presentation and were assigned to a therapist by the center's clinical director; (c) clients who were assigned to a therapist by the clinical director without seeing the presentation. There were no significant differences among the three groups in their initial reaction to the clinic, number of therapy sessions, type of termination, severity of presenting problems, General Well-Being Schedule scores, Current Adjustment Rating Scale scores, or therapist's satisfaction with therapy. Further analysis revealed that three out of four clients had improved significantly as a result of therapy. It was concluded that in the absence of research evidence demonstrating the efficacy of client choice on therapy outcome, support for the notion of client choice must be based solely on social, ethical, and legal considerations.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/therapy , Patient Participation , Psychotherapy , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Community Mental Health Centers , Female , Humans , Male , Massachusetts , Middle Aged , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care , Professional-Patient Relations , Psychological TestsSubject(s)
Counseling/education , Interview, Psychological , Adult , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Oregon , Psychiatry/education , Schools, Medical , Students, Medical , Teaching , Videotape RecordingABSTRACT
Communities are giving relatively little attention to the problem of reintegrating institutionalized mental retardates into their home communities. Findings indicate that 25 percent of a group of institutionalized retardates may be capable of being reintegrated into community living. These retardates appear to be brighter, have been institutionalized a shorter period of time, and are in more consistent contact with their homes than those considered terminal cases. The data suggest that many retardates possess a variety of skills valuable to community adjustment, but that the lack of adequate community services may prohibit their leaving the institution.
