The European Journal of Counselling Psychology

While it is widely known that the therapeutic relationship is important in the outcome of therapy, and much has been researched on the client’s side of the relationship (Easterbrook & Meehan, 2017; Kastrani, Deliyanni-Kouimtzis, & Athanasiades,...

Entering elementary school constitutes a turning point for children. On becoming a student, the child embarks on a challenging course in a strictly organized environment, making an effort to accomplish complex academic, socio-emotional and behavioral...

Eating disorders, like Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia, are serious and complex mental diseases, usually affecting young people. Treatment outcomes of eating disorders are often poor (Murray, Quintana, Loeb, Griffiths, & Le Grange, 2019). Steinhausen...

Several studies have demonstrated that body dissatisfaction is one of the most important predictors of disordered eating (such as continuous strict diets, bulimia symptoms, dietary constraints), as well as eating disorders (Ackard, Croll, & Kearney-Cooke,...

A great deal of attention is given to the area of body image the last two decades as negative body image has been found to predict several psychological problems (Stice, Hayward, Cameron, Killen, & Taylor, 2000) such as disordered eating, low self-esteem,...

Disordered eating patterns and behaviors received significant attention over the years in an attempt to identify the contributing factors for their development. Research suggests that many factors contribute to the development of eating disturbances...

Counselling psychologists are both reflective and scientific practitioners and recognise the importance of marrying the creation of a trusting therapeutic relationship with clinical and technical expertise (Douglas, Woolfe, Strawbridge, Kasket, &...

Positive body image is comprised of several characteristics. According to Tylka and Wood-Barcalow (2015a), the definition and key characteristics of positive body image include appreciating the beauty and functions of the body, accepting the body even...

Based on the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5), three of the diagnoses specified under the heading “Feeding and Eating Disorders” are Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating disorder (BED) (American...

Eating disorders have a serious impact on the physical/psychosocial health and quality of life, especially for adolescents who are more at risk (Herpertz-Dahlmann, Wille, Holling, Vloet, & Ravens-Sieberer, 2008; Smolak, 2009). The development of...

In Germany, many university students state to be afraid of exams and tests. Surveys report numbers ranging from 14 to 50% (Fehm & Fydrich, 2011). Individuals with test anxiety often seek help at university counseling centers. In 2015, 26.1% of all...

Background Formulation is a skill required of counselling psychologists globally, and forms part of the profession's identity as a branch of applied psychology. In the UK, The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC, 2015) highlights in its Standards...

The intention of this paper is to use my own personal experience to investigate the impact of physical disability on training in a Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology in the UK. It will begin to address the marginalization of issues of physical...

Background and Literature Review Counselling psychology prides itself on its value base of prizing the subjective experience, empowering the individual and acting against discrimination (British Psychological Society [BPS], 2008a). Central to this endeavour...

This article describes recent developments in online interventions for distressed couples, with a focus on adaptation of an online program to address the needs of couples in which one partner has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. We review the rationale...

In the face of turbulent times, counseling psychologists have the potential to engage in social justice locally and globally (Athanasiades, 2008; Kennedy & Arthur, 2014; Toporek, Gerstein, Fouad, Roysircar, & Israel, 2006; Vera & Speight,...

The movements of individuals or groups within and across states, nations and cultures, are phenomena as old as the history of humanity. At present, immigration is one of the most complex and controversial challenges that modern societies, including Greece,...

Greece has been traditionally an emigration country but this has changed during the last three decades, by an increased inflow of legal and irregular migrants, and asylum seeker refugees. As from the beginning of the 1990s, Greece started receiving large...

Going through a long period of economic crisis, Greece has been called upon to deal with homeless and jobless people and the psychological problems following them. Due to its geographical position, Greece is also faced with immigration and refugee problems...

Until quite recently, Greece was a migration sender country. In recent decades, however, it has become one of the “recipient” countries for immigrants, from both the Balkans and several Asian countries (Baldwin-Edwards, Kuriakou, Kakalika, & Katsios,...

Interpersonal interactions are challenging to study but are central to our daily lives and health and well-being. Consider the example of psychotherapy. A psychotherapy session is a complex interaction between a therapist and a patient, and when successful,...

Therapist’s Sexual Orientation The therapist’s sexual orientation is an important part of therapy, especially when working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients. According to Guthrie (2006), the therapist’s sexuality or the one perceived by clients...

“Besides, we are too Hamlet-like to make [a self-narrative] all of a piece - too torn between the familiar and the possible.” (Bruner, 2004, p. 12)The social impact of homelessness in Greece, as everywhere in the western world, is immense. Studies -conducted...

Definitions of Social Justice There are a number of definitions of social justice. These include rights to self-determination, a fair allocation of resources, to live in peace, freedom from constraints and to be treated fairly and equitably (Kagan et...

Mental illness can have devastating effects on the individuals' life and their role in the society (Mahone et al., 2011; WHO, 2013). Therefore, it is crucial for scholars and professionals to determine what is best for the mental health system users....

The actual ideal weight discrepancy refers to the difference between the weight that is perceived by the individual as acquired (actual weight) and the weight that the individual wishes to acquire (ideal weight; Vartanian, 2012). Even though a large...

Measurement invariance has been conceived as an important research topic for assessment in cross-population (e.g., cross-cultural) contexts (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002; Kline, 2015). This issue is crucial in that without measurement invariance, there...

Psychology, counseling psychology and professional counseling are at a crossroad. The growing international movement to establish professional counseling as a distinct profession, separate from counseling psychology and psychology as a whole, is inconsistent...

The therapeutic relationship has been argued to be one of the most important factors in psychotherapy. Currently, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the value of the therapeutic relationship have been receiving more attention in the literature and...

The therapeutic relationship, as a qualitative characteristic of the counselling and psychotherapeutic practice, is considered to be inextricably bound to every theoretical approach. Indeed, over the last years, research has focused on this unique type...

Since 2009, after a series of years of economic and social growth, Greek economy has been facing serious turmoil. In 2010, the Greek Parliament sanctioned a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies between the Greek government, the E.U. and the...

Introduction Autoethnography is a methodological approach that is relatively new to counselling psychology, despite having been developed and used extensively within the field of sociology.As O’Riordan (2014, p. 3) describes, autoethnography is:“an autobiographical...

This article will describe and reflect on a research study that was carried out in 2008 and published in Counselling Psychology Quarterly in 2011. The study was entitled ‘Personal Therapy as a Mandatory Requirement for Counselling Psychologists in Training:...

In the last two decades Positive Psychology, an alternative paradigm encompassing basic and applied sciences, has reformulated the goals of Psychology primarily by defining mental health as a construct which goes beyond the absence of disorder and malfunction...

Introduction Throughout much of the western world, proponents of the "chemical imbalance" hypothesis have insisted that mental illness is the direct result of the biological malfunctioning of the human brain. Furthermore, proponents of this hypothesis...

Introduction Although there is evidence regarding the efficacy of psychological therapies, there is less information regarding client factors that may influence outcomes and the therapy process (Eames & Roth, 2000). The therapeutic alliance is seen...

Introduction Parent-child role-confusion can lead to maladaptive pathways often linked with dysregulation of affect and others physiological subsystems and is mainly discussed by clinicians. Nevertheless, studies about these relational disturbances have...

Introduction The current paper draws on data from a doctoral thesis exploring the lived experience of young people and their counsellors in relation to bullying. Individual interviews with the participant counsellors highlighted the significance of professionalism...

Introduction Nowadays, unemployment is becoming a serious social problem. This is an indisputable fact, if one takes into account the current economic, political and social conditions which have led to a huge increase in unemployment rates in most European...

Introduction Although the prevention field has traditionally received less attention than treatment, we are now in a period where prevention research and development are on the rise and have an empirical knowledge base (Bukstein, 1995; Gardner &...

Over the past two decades there has been a remarkable progress in Greece in the field of Counselling Psychology (Malikiosi-Loizos & Giovazolias, 2013; Malikiosi-Loizos & Ivey, 2012). This is evident both from the successful operation of two major...

Introduction The global financial crisis that began in 2008 is considered to be the most significant, in terms of societal impact after the ‘Great Depression’ (Rollero & Tartaglia, 2009). The aftermath of the financial crisis has been particularly...

Introduction Breast Cancer Narratives Over the last few years, there has been an increase in both theoretical and research interest in the role of meaning-making in coping with serious negative life events, such as chronic illness (Crossley, 2000b; Frank,...

Introduction Career development is a process that starts early in one's life. Childhood should be considered as the most active period of that process (Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005). Theory and research literature so far, views the child’s...

Introduction The conditions under which people make their own career choices are rarely optimal, and this is especially true for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, although a great deal is known about career-related decision-making processes...

Research activity in the field of counselling psychology has been growing relatively fast in Greece, raising new scientific challenges and generating new knowledge relevant to the Greek population and culture. In an effort to disseminate the current...

Introduction The Greek Economic Crisis Greece represents a social framework where an extreme and rapidly unfolding social and economic crisis takes place, characterized by: high unemployment, major income loss, steep tax increases and a significant reduction...

Introduction The treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) continues to be a great challenge that often transcends the therapeutic technology that is available within one epistemological paradigm (Schreibman et al., 2015). There is ample...

Introduction Sibling relationship is one of the most neglected relations in psychological research (Cicirelli, 1982; Buist, Dekovic, & Prinzie, 2013). However, sibling relationship is one of the longest lasting relationships in an individual's life...

Introduction According to the theory of social constructivism, the concept of identity formation is to be found within the social realm. That is, our identities are not fixed but fluid and they arise, not from inside us, but from the interactions and...

Introduction In their inaugural paper on positive psychology, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) described it as a psychology of positive human functioning aimed to "achieve scientific understanding and inspire effective interventions to build thriving...

Introduction Two perspectives on personal well-being are distinguished in Psychology: the hedonic perspective and the eudaimonic perspective (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005; Ryan & Deci, 2001; Waterman, 1993). The hedonic one argues that pleasure...

Introduction School Mental Health Issues and Teacher Stress Counselling practices that are child- and family-centered and that take also into consideration the needs of the educational staff for emotional support and professional guidance seem to be...

Introduction Awareness of cultural issues is a central tenet of counselling psychology (CoP) (Martin, 2010). The responsibility to train new recruits to the profession in ways sympathetic to widening awareness is a clear imperative but is difficult to...

Introduction The body of literature related to men and abortion is relatively small compared to that pertaining to women (Coyle, 2006). While a number of studies have called attention to men's desire or need for counseling concerning pregnancy termination...

Youth has always been a critical scientific and social issue in Hungary. Just like an emerging economy, emerging generations experience the challenges of an economically and socially unstable environment, with an exposure to both eastern and western...

Case Context and Method Clinical practice has shown that every psychotherapeutic model has distinctive ways in which it achieves its aims and different models are appropriate for use with different patient needs. Additionally, as patients' needs evolve...

Introduction In the last decades, international literature has highlighted the risk of secondary victimization of children abuse victims following disclosure of their violation and their inevitable involvement in procedures that significantly aggravate...

Introduction Research on an international level suggest that the use of illegal substances is considerably common among young people. On a large scale research among 16,661 participants aged 18 and over, Richter, Ahluwalia, Mosier, Nazir, and Ahluwalia...

Introduction According to many authors, the daily life may be described as a theatrical scene, and the personal identity as the set of roles that the person wears in the various contexts of the stage(Berger & Luckman, 1966; Goffman, 1959; Watzlawick,...

It is an honour to be the Guest Editor of the Volume 2.2 of The European Journal of Counselling Psychology (EJCoP) with papers from the International Congress in Clinical & Counselling Psychology (CPSYC 2013).Thank you for your interest in the International...

Introduction In Portugal cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, and nowadays hypertension is the cardiovascular risk factor with the highest prevalence in Portugal and worldwide. Associated mortality and morbidity are becoming a real...

Introduction Adolescence cannot be defined in the singular as the experience of this period includes a multiplicity of individual adventures influenced by family contexts, social and cultural environments to which the young person belongs. There is not...

Introduction Presently, Portugal faces a wide range of demographic change due to the progressive increase of its elderly population having health, social, cultural and economic repercussions. As a result of this, the community in general and families...

Introduction Food behaviour can assume particularly problematic connotations during adolescence, especially in relation to two important areas of development: self-perception, and social relationships among peers (Faccio, 2013; Vandereycken, 1996). Every...

Introduction A high stress lifestyle has always been suspected as one of the contributing causes of osteoporosis and other major health problems. According to Kumano (2005), there may be three ways of relationship between stress and osteoporosis. The...

Introduction Currently, people with physical disabilities constitute a very large and simultaneously a heterogeneous group of general population, as the term physical disabilities is broad and covers a wide range of disabilities, including both congenital...

One of the most striking aspects of current theory and practice in counselling, counselling psychology and psychotherapy, is the wide range of ideas in circulation around the nature of psychological problems, and the change processes through which these...

Introduction According to recent studies, bullying in schools is widespread. In the United States, 15% to 20% of children experience repeated victimization in the form of intimidation, ostracism, or physical violence by peers at some time during their...

Introduction For a large percentage of predominantly young people - the Net Generation - (those born after 1977), most of their interpersonal relations and therefore communication is switching from real to virtual, implying the use of the computer as...

Introduction The field of study on parental involvement in children's learning has grown significantly since the 1980s and has been largely supported by extensive international research (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Epstein, 1995, 2001; Georgiou,...

Introduction The importance of personal therapy in the training of mental health professionals began when Freud put forward the belief that personal therapy is the deepest and most non-negotiable part of clinical education (Freud 1937/1964). He said:...