Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Countertransference (Psychology) Pastoral counseling'

This qualitative study was an exploration of therapists’ countertransference (CT) in therapy sessions addressing client sexual issues. The purpose of the study was to better understand how therapists experience and manage CT in or between sessions and how they appraise their work when sessions addressing client sexual concerns trigger their vulnerabilities. The study included interviews with 10 licensed, experienced therapists who described their experience and management of CT in and between therapy sessions that focused on client sexual issues. The researcher employed a qualitative methodology to understand the many layers of influence and facets of therapists’ CT.

Six conclusions emerged from this study. First, the findings support the claim that CT is a dynamic and co-created process. Second, evidence from this study suggests that cultural CT operates both overtly and subtly. Third, the findings suggest that client sexual issues are not consistent, primary triggers of CT. Therapists in this sample experienced CT related to client sexual issues, but only when an additional client behavior or trait also affected the therapist’s vulnerability. Fourth, the data suggest that CT commonly manifests by narrowing therapists’ perceptual fields and empathetic strain. Fifth, flexibility in the therapeutic process and resolute boundaries that the therapist sets support effective management of CT. Finally, CT events may result in a rupture of the therapeutic relationship or may facilitate therapeutic gains. This study adds to existing research that depicts CT as a dynamic, multifaceted, and layered process that occurs between a therapist and a client.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the supervisory alliance and countertransference disclosure of social work trainees in direct practice. Eighty-six social work trainees in direct practice, receiving supervision in field placement, (N = 86; 89.5% female, 8.1% male; 73.3% White, 11.6% Hispanic\Latino; 5.8% Asian/Pacific Islander, 4.7% bi-racial; 3.5% African American/Black) completed Internet-administered self-report questionnaires assessing comfort with and likelihood of countertransference disclosure in supervision, supervisory alliance bond, and demographic items. Analyses revealed statistically significant positive correlations between the supervisory alliance and comfort with and likelihood of countertransference disclosure among trainees. These results build on past findings regarding the importance of the supervisory alliance in relation to trainee disclosure among various mental health practitioners. The results of this study have significance for clinical supervision practices in developing supervisee competencies and promoting client welfare.

Keywords: Supervisory Alliance, Countertransference Disclosure, Social Work, Use of Self

The study examined the sense of self-efficacy that clergy experience while providing pastoral care by analyzing 104 pastors' responses to the Counselor Activity Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES). The variables that predicted higher self-efficacy scores included the number of years the participant worked as a pastor, the number of hours spent each week in counseling activities, and the number of counseling/pastoral care courses completed during seminary or pastoral training. Training with clinical pastoral education (CPE) and lay counseling activities, however, predicted lower CASES scores. This regression model accounted for 29% of the variance in CASES scores. Clergy reported significantly lower self-efficacy in their counseling skills in the Counseling Challenges factor of the CASES than in the Helping Skills and Session Management factors. This suggests that the pastors experience the lowest counseling self-efficacy (CSE) when faced with challenges such as severe psychopathology or manipulative individuals. The results carry implications for the training and continuing education that is offered to clergy. The study suggests that it could be beneficial with clergy training to focus on the areas in which CSE was lowest and on the variables that are associated with higher CSE.

Problem: The literature suggests that religious orientation and ethnic identity inform the religious coping process, which is better understood in the context of a particular stressor. However, research on this topic is limited, particularly among ethnic minorities.

Method: A survey was used to collect data on religious orientation, ethnic identity, and religious coping from a sample of 319 adults who had lost a significant other within 36 months of the study. A total of 11 variables were measured using The Means-Ends Spirituality Questionnaire, the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised, and the Brief RCOPE.

Results: A canonical variate labeled "religious engagement" was a predictor for religious coping. Further analyses using multiple regression found that variables associated with traditional religious expressions (Devotional Spiritual Means), spiritual ends with a transcendental focus (Approach-unseen-autonomous Ends, Avoidance-unseen-external Ends), and Ethnic Identity were relevant predictors of Positive Religious Coping while Transcendental Means was a relevant predictor of Negative Religious Coping.

A stepwise discriminant analysis found that "ethnic identity and conservative religious orientation" discriminated between ethnic groups. Cases with higher levels of ethnic identity and conservative religious orientation were more likely to be classified as Black/African American or Hispanic/Latino/a, while those with lower levels were more likely to be classified as White.

Conclusions: When coping with bereavement, individuals who engage in traditional expressions of spiritual worship and strive to achieve ordinary and transcendental spiritual goals are more likely to rely on a secure relationship with the sacred, a belief that life has meaning, and a sense of connectedness with their religious community. Also, individuals who place greater value and emotional significance in their sense of belonging to their ethnic group are more likely to engage in positive religious coping. Thus, counseling psychologists should strengthen their multicultural and spiritual competencies in order to provide ethical and effective services to a population that is increasingly diverse.

The loss of a loved one is a challenging event in the lives of everyone. Each individual must deal with grief and grief recovery. The Western culture has difficulty in dealing with loss and grief. In addition, churches are inadequate in helping their members who are in grief: helping them recover, find meaning, and have an enduring connection with their loved one as they embark on a new life.

In order to determine if churches can be equipped to provide support during the grief recovery process, this research project focused on training members of Calvary Chapel of Syracuse in the process of grief and grief recovery. The seminar was based on two things. First, a comprehensive review of the Bible was completed to reveal what it says about death, grief, and comfort. Then, a review of the literature dealing with grief and grief recovery was completed that provided insight into the common experience of those in grief, the process of grief recovery, and how individuals find meaning and embark on a new life without their loved one.

Using quantitative research methods, this project examined the participants of a grief and grief recovery seminar. The participants completed surveys that were assessed using recognized statistical procedures to determine if a seminar could adequately prepare them to work with individuals in grief.

The results of this research project provide a way to assess the use of a seminar for equipping church members to work with individuals in grief and recommendations on how this process can be enhanced.

Through the creation of a website, this pilot study sought to clarify the needs of clergy and lay counselors who provide marital preparation services. Research has shown that marital preparation is correlated with an increase in later marital stability and satisfaction and a decrease in later marital discord and dissolution (Carroll & Doherty, 2003; Stanley, 2001; Stanley, Amato, Johnson, & Markman, 2006; Wilmoth, 2006). However, clergy, the primary providers of marital preparation, are often asked to provide a service they have little time, training, or resources to effectively provide. This online resource attempts to bridge the gap between providers and research, offering (a) a comparative analysis of three prominent marital preparation assessment tools (PREPARE, RELATE, FOCCUS), (b) basic summary information of current marital preparation research, and (c) relevant resources for a wide range of couples. Clergy, lay counselors, and professional therapists currently providing marital preparation services were asked to evaluate the clarity, organization, and relevance of the website via a brief online survey comprised of Likert-scale and open-ended questions.

While having a calling can produce great results, in recent studies on calling the key to reaping the rewards has been closely linked to being able to live out the call. For pastors in particular, “The Call” is fundamental to their lives and work. Most enter the ministry because of a deep sense of calling from God. A pastor’s relationship with God is also key in this experience and was hypothesized to be a factor in the calling model for this career subgroup. The goal of this study was to explore how pastors experience calling in their lives and work; specifically, the relation between belief in their calling, fulfillment of that calling, life satisfaction, and how satisfaction in their relationship with God might interplay throughout the process. After accounting for missing data and outliers, the study sample consisted of 144 pastors enrolled in an online leadership development tool. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 98, 80% identified as male, and 98.6% were Protestant. Regression analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS to estimate a moderated mediation (Model 58). The proposed mediated relationship was significant, with calling fulfillment mediating the relationship between calling belief and life satisfaction for pastors in this sample ( R² = 0.215, F(2, 141) = 19.274, p < .001). The proposed moderating role of satisfaction in relationship with God was not a significant predictor at either proposed stage. Overall, these results reveal that for pastors, the key in the relationship from calling to life satisfaction is living out the calling.

The author presents the lack of deliverance ministry in the Evangelical church world as being incongruent with biblical, theological and historical underpinnings and, as such, forms a significant hindrance to its effective mission. To demonstrate the efficacy of deliverance, the author surveyed 46 Christian leaders on 98 possible effects of their personal deliverance experience. The author concluded that deliverance renders significant and broad positive effects in the individual leader and makes numerous recommendations pertaining to the inclusion of deliverance in ongoing church ministry, discipleship strategies and global mission.

Attachment theory has been applied in examining an individual's relationship with God through various research studies. Few research studies, however, have examined a romantic couples' relationship with God and each other as part of a family system. The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to develop a deeper understanding of the relational system of married couples and God. I interviewed nine marital couples from multiple Christian denominations that reported having a strong relationship with each other and a strong relationship with God together. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory techniques presented by Charmaz (2006). I analyzed emergent categories of behaviors, emotions, and cognitions to construct a theory and model of marital couples and their shared relationship with God. I compared and contrasted the results and theory to existing literature on attachment theory as well as theology on kinship covenant to demonstrate a shared attachment to God that reflects a covenant attachment system. Finally, I discuss clinical, pastoral and future research implications.

From 2011?2015, The Master?s Touch ministry has been the formal agency for the work of visiting the sick and shut-in at the Mount Moriah A.M.E. Church in New York. The purpose of this study is to determine any correlation between the visitations themselves and the level of local church commitment by the visited family members over these four years. This study is important because persons visited receive the benefits of pastoral care, while the impact on their families may not be as apparent. This research will focus on data from interviews conducted with family members in order to ascertain if there is any change to their level of local church commitment.

The Researcher has coordinated and attended a Bibliotherapy Centered Growth Pilot Group with eight Korean minister’s wives a few years ago, hosted and mentored by Dr. Sunny Song. The experience with Korean ministers’ wives with the Pilot Group gave conviction of the possibility of small group dynamics for change and upgrade of transformation of women in leadership. This research discovered several factors why a Bibliotherapy Centered Growth Group could work well. All the members were continuously reminded and reshaped with new understanding about emotional aspects of inner being, relationship, and spirituality. The researcher believes that the Bibliotherapy Centered Growth Group can be an advanced ministry model besides other small group dynamics for pastors’ wives to healthier and deeper relationship with God and among church members.

Leading the Church of God as an elder can be exhausting to body and soul. The challenges of pastoral leadership wear out and wear down the best of men. When these leaders find themselves unable to continue to provide healthy leadership, they may be experiencing vocational burnout. This project seeks to equip church leaders with the skills to resist burnout and build resilience.

The project director reviewed an extensive amount of literature, both from the secular and sacred communities, to develop insight into the nature of burnout and the practices that prevent burnout and encourage personal and professional health. The director's studies produced a working definition of burnout and self-care. Readers will find an extensive description of burnout's symptoms and stages. In the area of self-care, readers will discover a special emphasis on the common demands and pressures faced by pastors along with a variety of insights from ministry experts on best practices to ensure a whole-personed experience of health. The director's summary of his findings is published in appendix E, "A Pastor's Manual for Resisting Burnout and Building Resilience."

This resilience, built into the body and soul, provides a reservoir of physical and spiritual health that blesses the pastor personally, relationally, and professionally. These practices deepen the pastor's life, protects the pastor's family, and increases the quality and longevity of his pastoral ministry. Pastors who practice biblically wise self-care can resist burnout, build resilience, and set a God-honoring example to those they lead.

• Stress experienced by HIV/AIDS orphans in child headed households due to HIV/AIDS
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• The role of churches in identifying and supporting orphans in child headed households
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