Anxiety Level, Need for Counseling, and Client Improvement in an Operational Setting.

Abstract

Branca & Podolnick, 1961) have revealed the role of anxiety in relation to conditioning, performance under stress and in social learning situations. It is generally conceded that in mild anxiety, performance may be improved by increasing the alertness and motivation of the subject (Shaffer & Shoben, 1956, Patterson, 1958. Large amounts of anxiety simply lead to or strengthen egodefensive responses (Weiner, 1959;Sinha & Singh, 1959;Mandler & Sarason, 1952).The Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) developed by Taylor (1953) and the Anxiety Index (AI) developed by Welsh (1952) have been used to measure level of anxiety. Both have been developed from the MMPI. Welsh found that his Anxiety Index was useful in predicting improvement in therapy for several groups. Parker (1961) tentatively concluded that the AI might be of practical importance in determining which persons would be judged by the counselor as being highly motivated or less motivated for counseling.

Research in counseling psychology: 1964.

“…Demos (1964) reported a positive relationship between counselor competence and the degree of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and respect exhibited in sample interviews. Client characteristics were studied by Heilbrun (1964), who extended his series of studies on the Counseling Readiness Scale, and by Ehrle and Auvenshine (1964) who found a relationship between client anxiety and the degree of improvement in a rehabilitation center.…”