In this issue
Features
Understanding Asperger syndrome (free article)
How would you respond if your client听told you they had Asperger syndrome?听Maxine Aston advises on how best to听work and communicate with AS.
Retirement: when is it time to stop?
There are no guidelines for therapists听on the right time to retire, so should听people in their 80s still be practising?
The transition from student to counsellor
Leaving behind the security of college听and peer support, one newly qualified听counsellor looks back over her first year听of private practice.
RCTs: a personal experience
Researching school counselling through听RCTs has been an overwhelmingly positive听experience for one PhD student.
The marriage of practice and science
What impact does therapists鈥� increasing听involvement in research have on the way听they see this activity?
Regulars
Questionnaire
Kathleen Adams
In practice
Kevin Chandler: The avoidance of endings
In training
Alex Erskine: Travelling to new places
From the chair
Dr Lynne Gabriel: Lobbying for wider patient choice
Day in the life
Addila Khan
Fiction
The Wednesday Group
Dilemmas
Threats to the frame
All articles from this issue are not yet available online. Members and subscribers can download the pdf from the听Therapy Today听archive.
Editorial
There is a wealth of information available to听therapists working with clients with Asperger听syndrome (AS), due in part to advances in听neurological research. In brain scans of AS听individuals, the part of the brain that governs听empathy and insight has been shown to be听inactive in processing information from听others; instead the logical part of the brain听becomes active. Understanding how AS听clients use logic rather than being in touch听with their feelings can help therapists who are听trained to help clients express how they feel.
As Maxine Aston explores in her article,听asking AS clients how they feel could create听anxiety as their logical brain attempts to听define and accurately explain the emotions听going on inside them. Maxine who has听specialised in working with AS for over听a decade is concerned that without good听awareness of the differences between AS听and 鈥榥euro-typical鈥� individuals, therapists听can end up working to bring emotions to听the surface when this might be inappropriate听and damaging to the client.
Also in this issue the debate continues听about engaging with RCTs with an account听from Kathryn McArthur of the human side听of conducting this kind of research. Contrary听to the common perception of an RCT as a听detached, faceless study, Kathryn describes听conducting a pilot RCT of school-based听counselling as a positive experience largely听because of the relationships she formed听with the many young people who took听part in the study. Interestingly, she writes,听participants tended not to distinguish听between counselling sessions and the听research interviews 鈥� although these were听structured differently 鈥� saying that they felt听listened to, cared about, taken seriously and听given a chance to talk things through, often听for the first time.
Sarah Browne
Editor