Efficacy of systemic therapy on adults with depressive disorders: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of systemic therapy approaches on adult clients with depressive disorders. METHODS: The illness-specific systematic review updates a previous meta-analysis on the efficacy of systemic therapy on psychiatric disorders in adulthood. It integrates the results of 30 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing systemic psychotherapy for depression with an untreated control group or alternative treatments. Studies were identified through systematic searches in relevant electronic databases and cross-referencing. A random-effects model calculated weighted mean effect sizes for each type of comparison (alternative treatments, control group with no alternative treatment/waiting list) on two outcomes (depressive symptoms change, drop-out rates). RESULTS: On average, systemic interventions show larger improvements in depressive symptoms compared to no-treatment controls at post-test (g = 1.09) and follow-up (g = 1.23). Changes do not significantly differ when comparing systemic interventions with alternative treatments (post-test g = 0.25; follow-up g = 0.09). Results also vary, in part, by participant age, publication year, and active control condition. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis indicates the potential benefits of systemic interventions for adult patients with depression. Future randomized clinical trials in this area should enhance study quality and include relational and other relevant outcome measures.

Qualitative story completion for counseling psychology research: A creative method to interrogate dominant discourses.

Qualitative story completion (SC) research involves the novel qualitative application of a technique previously used in quantitative research and clinical assessment, in which participants write stories in response to a story "stem" designed by the researcher. The resulting stories are analyzed to identify patterns of meaning using conventional qualitative analytic approaches such as thematic analysis. In place of the more typical self-report methods used in qualitative research, such as interviews or focus groups, the method provides a categorically different way to explore a topic, one which can offer new understandings to counseling psychology researchers. In particular, SC's capacity to illuminate social discourses makes it particularly useful for understanding the potential ways in which socially marginalized populations are understood in therapeutic spaces as well as for understanding how clients of all kinds may make sense of therapeutic interactions. This article provides an introduction to qualitative SC, explaining the method and its origins, and offering practical guidance about how to use it. The method is illustrated with examples from the existing SC literature and a hypothetical study focused on understandings of mental health difficulties in the workplace. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Internet Affairs: Partners' Perceptions and Experiences of Internet Infidelity.

This study utilizes an online survey (open and closed questions) to examine how those whose partners' have engaged in online affairs define and experience online infidelity. As with offline affairs, respondents were most likely to define sexual (vs. emotional) behaviors as infidelity (e.g., cybersex, exchanging sexual self-images, sharing sexual fantasies online). However, thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified how online behaviors and spaces are confusing and that infidelity is defined more broadly and fluidly in the online context. This potentially explains why participants saw the Internet as facilitating affairs. Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and study limitations.

Defining infidelity in research and couple counseling: a qualitative study.

Infidelity can destroy relationships, but there is long-standing debate in the field about how best to define the construct. A clear definition of infidelity is important theoretically, empirically, and therapeutically; however, research on the topic is limited. This study explores how seven experienced couple counselors define infidelity on the basis of their work with heterosexual couples presenting with this issue. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts and research findings suggest a rich web of conflicting definitions of infidelity for couples counselors and, in their accounts, clients. The findings support an understanding of infidelity as socially constructed and the implications of this for the field are discussed.

[Change to the power of three--counselling for adolescents in a society which causes uncertainty]. / Wandel hoch drei--Beratung für Jugendliche in einer verunsichernden Gesellschaft.

The conditions for becoming adult have changed perceptibly for young people in the course of social modernization processes. Adolescents find themselves in increasingly complex and contradictory areas of life which offer them more choices of action, but also require of them more self-organisation and more decision-making processes in uncertain conditions. The adolescents primarily at risk of failing due to the changes in learning- and development-related tasks are those denied access to necessary coping resources. Owing to the profound effects of social change (for example, changed forms of family life, increased educational pressure) it can generally be assumed that young people have an intensified counselling need. Against this background, the present paper examines which new requirements for action arise in the institutionalized counselling of adolescents. In regard to this, hints are provided in the results of an evaluation study by the present author, within the scope of which adolescents were interviewed about their counselling experiences. Finally, counselling approaches are described which can contribute to facilitating access for young clients, and to structuring counselling in a more suitable way for adolescents (peer counselling).