We investigated the relation between counselors' causal explanations for clients' presenting problems and subsequent treatment assignments. After an intake interview counselors rated presenting problems on four attributional dimensions and on several other variables thought to influence counselor judgment (e.g., severity and duration of problem and treatment urgency). The results demonstrate that ratings of duration of problem and attributions of stability of cause best predicted treatment decisions. Specifically, a linear relationship emerged; as stability of cause and duration of problem increased, assignments to long-term treatment were more likely. We conclude that attributional processes may play a role in counselor decision making not previously acknowledged and discuss implications for practice and further research.The contributions of Martin Marder and the staff counselors at the Pennsylvania State University Center for Counseling and Psychological Services are gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Donelson R. Forsyth and Janice Swecker for their assistance in various stages of this project.
Counselors may feel anger when clients do not behave according to their expectations of what is a good client. Client resistance, client impositions, verbal attacks on the counselor, and overinvolvement by the counselor in client dynamics seem to be relatively common occurrences that annoy counselors. Possible counselor responses to these feelings are discussed.
One hundred one counselors/therapists from 13 agencies completed a 16-item questionnaire describing their reactions to behaviors of three clients that a previous study had shown were irritating or annoying to therapists. The subjects' reactions to certain "rules" of therapy and their ambiguity tolerance were also examined. Counselors' reactions were most negative to client impositions and attacks and least negative to client resistance and involvement in client dynamics. Several rules were significantly correlated with counselors' annoyance, but there was no relationship with counselors' ambiguity tolerance.Therapists' annoyance or anger with clients has largely been ignored in the research literature, but a number of authors have discussed their clinical observations of therapists' anger and its impact on clients. Cahill (1981), Rothenberg (1971), and Rubin (1969 all stressed anger as a positive, caring drive. Cahill (1981) made an important distinction wherein anger occurs in the context of a relationship in which the object of the anger is trusted and pursued. In contrast, he suggested that hostility originates in disappointment, rejection, and punitiveness.Anger, however, has its more noxious aspects, often arising in situations in which the individual feels less powerful, useful, whole, or valued (e.g., Gaylord, 1984;Rothenberg, 1971). Novaco (1976) implicated anxiety in the arousal of anger, suggesting that anger functions as an ego defense, a protective reaction to feelings of vulnerability.For therapists there is also the danger that annoyance/anger at clients' behavior might be a manifestation of countertransference and, as such, might be a reflection of the therapist's own unresolved neuroses. Discussing negative countertransference, Singer (1965) commented that "it is important to distinguish between realistic negative attitudes such as annoy-SUZANNE R. FREMONT received her PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia and is currently Assistant Director of the Counseling Center at the State University of New York College at Cortland. Her interests include the training of counseling professionals and outreach programming in campus communities. WAYNE ANDERSON has a PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia and is presently Chair of the Joint Training Program in Counseling Psychology. He has a dual appointment at the University of Missouri as a professor of psychology and as a counseling psychologist with the Counseling Services. His research interests are the psychology of the aggressive offender (murder and rape) and the effects of counselor self-disclosure on client behavior. He has recently coauthoredBwftmiu:^ Book/or Therapist and Client.
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