In this article, the authors present an interdisciplinary discussion of the multiple dimensions of racism and formulate conceptions of its impact on the formation of healthy personalities. They describe how racism has both ideological and structural components and perpetuates itself recursively at the macro-(e.g., group, institution) and microlevels (e.g., interpersonal). As one consequence of its embedded, cyclical nature, efforts to treat client problems that involve issues of race and racism will necessarily entail piercing distortions in reality, encouraging self-moral development, and eliciting risk-taking behaviors. To take part in transforming current structures of racism, counseling psychologists are urged to extend these strategies beyond the therapeutic milieu. Implications for practice, training, and research are presented.

This exploratory investigation assessed changes in perceived multicultural therapy competencies and level of White racial identity development following a multicultural course. Results indicate that completion of a diversity-related course appeared to increase trainees' multicultural therapy competencies and to facilitate the adoption of more sophisticated White racial identity ego statuses; these changes remained stable at a 1-year follow-up. Findings from the qualitative analyses underscore the importance of racially and ethnically diverse speakers and panels in promoting multicultural therapy competencies.

The counseling profession' heavy reliance on the psychotherapy role has been criticized as being unresponsive to the needs and experiences of ethnic-minority clients. The use of other counseling roles and techniques indigenous to the client's ancestral culture have been proposed as alternatives to psychotherapy; however, no schema currently exists to help counselors select an appropriate helping role or strategy. This article describes one schema that is based on the variables of locus of problem etiology, level of acculturation, and goals of counseling. Limitations of the current model and the need to develop other selection schemata are discussed.

Black women were exposed to Black or White female counselors who used verbal statements reflective of either a cultural or a universal content orientation. The effects of counselor content orientation, counselor race, and participants' cultural mistrust levels on the frequency and depth of participant self-disclosures, ratings of counselor credibility, and willingness to self-refer were examined. Counselor content orientation related significantly to depth of disclosure and willingness to self-refer, with participants revealing more intimately and reporting a greater willingness to return to counselors when exposed to the cultural as opposed to the universal content orientation. Lower cultural mistrust levels also were related to a greater number of disclosures with Black counselors. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.It is generally recognized that client self-disclosure is essential to the development of the therapeutic alliance and to counseling effectiveness (e.g., Cozby, 1973;Jourard, 1971;Ridley, 1984). As "the route to intimacy" (Fisher, 1990, p. 8), client self-disclosure is best facilitated under conditions in which counselor and client are able to form a meaningful bond. Furthermore, counselors are more likely to evoke these authentic expressions of self when they are able to demonstrate that they genuinely understand and have concern for their clients. Several studies have attempted to address ways in which counselors can facilitate meaningful disclosures from their clients. These investigations have principally focused on various characteristics of therapist disclosures (see review by Watkins, 1990).A potential hindrance to client self-disclosure is counselor-client racial dissimilarity. Studies have shown that Black clients report lower levels of rapport with White counselors than with Black counselors, prefer Black counselors to White counselors, and report greater counseling satisfaction with racially similar counselors than with racially dissimilar counselors (see reviews by Atkinson, 1983Atkinson, , 1985

Dyadic interactions composed of Black clients and White or Black race-avoidant counselors in 1-time quasi-counseling sessions were influenced by myriad factors, including how these clients responded to influential purveyors of a race-neutralizing climate. Using C. E. Thompson, R. Worthington, and D. R. Atkinson's (1994) data set, 24 of these interactions were analyzed to identify significant patterns in the counseling process. The following core categories related to interactional quality were uncovered: smooth, exasperated, constricted, and disjunctive. The following factors explicated these interactional quality categories: (a) whether and how the client introduced race or race-related concerns, (b) client racial identity perspectives; and (c) client affiliation (or lack thereof) with the counselor based on race. The implications of these findings are discussed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract