Social support and psychotherapy outcomes for international students in university/college counseling centers.

: To explore the relationship between international students' social support at intake and international student distress at end of treatment. : Data was collected from participants ( = 40,085) from 90 United States universities using the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) database. : Participants completed measures of psychological distress and perceived social support.

Psychotherapy outcomes with Latinx clients attending Hispanic-serving institutions and predominantly White institutions.

In the present study, we used a large, national data set to examine psychotherapy outcomes from 9,515 Latinx clients seeking treatment in 71 college or university counseling centers in the United States, 13 of which were in Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and 58 in predominantly White institutions (PWIs). We examined the hypothesis that Latinx clients in HSIs, compared to Latinx clients in PWIs, would experience greater relief in symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, and academic distress over the course of psychotherapy. Results of multilevel modeling offered partial support for our hypothesis.

A preliminary examination of therapist hope as a predictor of clients' distress over treatment.

Therapist and client hope have both been conceptualized and empirically examined as factors that contribute to the reduction of clients' distress in treatment. That is, clients may come to therapy demoralized and without hope per Frank and Frank's contextual model of psychotherapy. Therapy can serve to increase their hope and thereby contribute to the reduction of distress; however, therapists also bring their own individual hope to the therapeutic process.

Measurement invariance and psychometric properties of the CCAPS-62 and -34 for international student clients.

Objectives: International students attending universities in the United States may encounter psychological distress related to their adjustment and experiences studying in a new context and seek services from university counseling centers. Many centers use the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) to measure psychological distress in college counseling centers. However, this scale has not been tested for measurement invariance with international students.

"How could I not bring it up?": A multiple case study of therapists' comfort when Black clients discuss anti-Black racism in sessions.

Anti-Black racism is often overlooked in predominantly White spaces such as psychotherapy. This pervasive disregard and dehumanization reflects the perpetuation of ongoing racial trauma that can influence the psychological health of Black people seeking psychotherapy. Therapists, therefore, ought to be equipped and comfortable to have conversations about anti-Blackness and anti-Black racism in sessions, though evidence suggests they are often uncomfortable discussing race and racism in practice.

Center effects, therapist effects, and international student clients' drop out from psychotherapy.

In 2019-2020, 1,075,496 international students pursued higher education in the United States. Many of these students endure unique experiences of psychological distress that accompanies their shared experience of studying abroad in the United States. Researchers have explored clinical experiences within this diverse group, with some suggesting that international students are at greater risk than students from the United States for dropping out of psychotherapy.

Clients in context: Environment, class, race, and therapists' perceptions of generalized anxiety disorder.

Unlabelled: Evidence-based practice necessitates the inclusion of client identity and contextual information when conceptualizing diagnosis.

Objective: To examine how therapists' perceptions of Generalized Anxiety Disorder is influenced by client environmental contextual and identity factors, like class and race.

Method: Therapists (n = 138; 76% women; M  = 38.

Therapist and counseling center effects on international students' counseling outcome: A mixed methods study.

We employed a convergent mixed methods design to examine therapist and counseling center effects on international student clients' (ISCs) counseling outcomes. Using the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) data set (2015-2017), we conducted a three-level hierarchical linear model with clients ( = 85,110) nested in therapists (N = 1,267), and therapists nested in counseling centers ( = 111), with clients' international status predicting distress (DI) in their last sessions while controlling for initial DI. Compared to domestic students, the average last session DI was significantly higher among ISCs.

Therapists' cultural comfort and clients' distress: An initial exploration.

The extent to which therapists are comfortable discussing clients' cultural identities in psychotherapy has been considered a valuable component of how therapists integrate clients' cultures into treatment. Cultural comfort specifically reflects a therapist's way of being at ease, relaxed, and open when discussing clients' cultural identities in treatment. Some initial research has demonstrated the relationships between cultural comfort and clinical outcomes, yet this work has relied largely on cross-sectional designs.

"How Can We Help You": Mental Health Practitioners' Experiences of Service Provision in Northern Namibia.

Although 12-13% of Namibians are reported to struggle with psychological distress, very few practitioners are available to provide mental health services in Namibia. Those practitioners who are available are often trained from Western counseling and psychiatric perspectives that may not readily align to beliefs about illness held constructed in Namibian cultures. Institutional effort is invested in the education and use of mental health practitioners, including counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Development and initial validation of the Therapist Cultural Comfort Scale.

The development and initial validation of a client-rated measure of therapist cultural comfort (the Therapist Cultural Comfort Scale [TCCS]) is reported. The first phase of the study involved content validation of the initial pool of items via consultation with (a) focus groups of doctoral student therapists and (b) experts in the field of multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. A 56-item pool generated during this phase, together with instruments used to gauge convergent and incremental validity, were administered to a community adult sample of current psychotherapy clients ( = 889).

The meaning of therapists' hope for their clients: A phenomenological study.

Hope is often identified as a central process in psychotherapy, with researchers supporting links between clients' hope, symptom distress, and process variables. However, this body of literature is yet to specifically ask what it means for psychotherapists to have hope for their clients. Our purpose, with this descriptive phenomenological study, was to understand the meaning of therapists' hope for their clients.

Pretreatment counseling experiences, stressors, and support differences between transgender and cisgender university students seeking mental healthcare.

Objectives: Our aim was to explore rates of prior counseling experiences as well as pretreatment stressors and supports among transgender university students seeking psychotherapy services in university counseling centers.

Methods: We used regression models to explore relationships between gender identity and prior mental health experiences, risk-related experiences, traumatic experiences, and support among clients (cisgender: n = 162,305; transgender: n = 545) seeking treatment at 136 university counseling centers.

Results: Results demonstrate more previous mental health service utilization and greater frequency of some prior stressors transgender clients.

Mixed methods in psychotherapy research: A review of method(ology) integration in psychotherapy science.

Objective: Mixed methods can foster depth and breadth in psychological research. However, its use remains in development in psychotherapy research. Our purpose was to review the use of mixed methods in psychotherapy research.