The Counseling Psychologist

Therapist self-disclosure remains a debated topic in psychotherapy, viewed as either a boundary violation or a relational tool. This study explored how therapist self-disclosure is experienced by clients in the Turkish cultural context, where relational norms and perceptions of therapeutic authority shape interpretations. Using a phenomenological approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 adult clients who had experienced therapist self-disclosure in individual therapy. Thematic analysis revealed two domains: facilitative and disruptive consequences, along with ambivalent experiences where initial benefits later undermined the therapeutic relationship. Facilitative experiences included building trust, enhancing empathy, normalizing experiences, and strengthening communication. Disruptive experiences involved blurred boundaries, emotional burden, questioning therapist credibility, and confusion about intentions. These findings highlight the culturally embedded nature of therapist self-disclosure, showing it can be both beneficial and problematic depending on context, while emphasizing non Western client perspectives and underscoring the need for culturally responsive practice.

The current study examined racialized labor, or the ongoing work of navigating race and racism, in a national sample of 165 Black women. Building on prior research with Black college students, we used a deductive approach to assess how participants’ narratives reflected established domains of racialized labor and extended this work by identifying their intersectional dimensions. Five of the six previously identified domains were evident: flexing, affirming, self-monitoring, questioning, and being the change. Notably, we did not find examples of avoidance; instead, a new domain of resisting emerged. Across domains, intersectionality intensified demands and shaped strategies. Somewhat paradoxically, narratives often highlighted positive outcomes of racialized labor, such as pride, resilience, and strength, while also revealing a desire to be free from it. We discuss implications for research, practice, training, and advocacy, emphasizing the need to recognize this overlooked labor and develop culturally responsive interventions that promote Black women’s well-being.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) individuals are under-represented in eating disorder (ED) research despite being an at-risk group. They also face additional barriers to accurate diagnosis, treatment access, and affirming care. This qualitative study used reflexive thematic analysis to explore the experiences of sixteen adults who attended a virtual ED treatment program designed specifically to treat LGBTQ+ individuals. Findings show how LGBTQ+-affirming ED care compares and contrasts with participants’ previous healthcare experiences. Analyses identified two major themes around (a) the important benefits of LGBTQ+ community within a treatment setting and (b) the effective ways the ED treatment program was structured to uniquely meet the needs of LGBTQ+ clients. This study provides important insights into the need for more LGBTQ+-affirming ED treatment settings and ways that providers can increase their cultural responsiveness to work with LGBTQ+ clients.

Twenty-six social justice scholars evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of counseling psychology’s contributions to social justice over the past 20 years. Using a Delphi method, they made predictions about the future of social justice in counseling psychology. Strengths included influencing the field of psychology to adopt social justice values and ethics; emphasizing structural influences on well-being; elevating voices of diverse scholars; expanding practice skills to include advocacy; and adopting liberatory practice frameworks. Weaknesses included politicizing social justice dialogue; taking too few risks; omitting international perspectives; being too self-reflexive; failing to work across disciplines; allowing social justice to be jargonized; not fully modifying training models; and allowing social justice to replace traditional content areas. Predictions were a mix of positive expectations (e.g., continuing to push the American Psychological Association [APA] to change training models, participating in more advocacy and activism) and pessimistic visions (e.g., political resistance). Implications for training and leadership are discussed.

Stigma at structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels is associated with poor mental health among adults with disabilities (AWD), with experiences varying by disability type. Adults with psychiatric disabilities encounter distinct disability discrimination that may differ from other disability groups. This study examined the measurement invariance of the Ableist Microaggression Scale (AMS), originally developed for adults with physical disabilities, among adults with psychiatric and nonpsychiatric disabilities. The AMS assesses lifetime experiences of disability microaggressions across four factors: Helplessness, Minimization, Denial of Personhood, and Otherization. Data from 470 AWD recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) were analyzed. Configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance of a first-order factor model were supported, indicating the AMS does not function differently across disability groups. Findings extend the validity of the AMS to psychiatric populations and support its use for measuring microaggressions across diverse disability experiences.