…the other journals
Abstract
Rehabilitation Psychology 1974, Volume 21, No. 3,111-112 the Other journals MortonJayAsch Introducing their paper "Time Limited Group Counseling For Chronic Hemodialysis Patients," Charles Wilson, Louis Muzekari, Suzanee Schneps, and Dorothy Wilson indicate that little prior attention has been paid toward counseling such patients. I t is this column's impression that a good deal has been accomplished by rehab psychologists with this patient group, but little has been published in the research journals. In the Journal of Counseling Psychology, September, 1974 the authors describe the effects of six sessions of group counseling of nine chronic patients receiving hemodialysis. Comparisons between the experimental and a comparable, noncounseled, control group (on Rotter's Internal-External Control scale and selected California Personality Inventory scales) revealed no significant differences between groups. However, changes were noted within the experimental group from pre-to-posttesting on two of the measures. Subsequent testing a year later of 11 of the original 18 patients suggested that hemodialysis patients use the defensive mechan- ism of denial in adapting to their condition. The authors concluded that the therapist needs to be aware of adaptive, as well as maladaptive, use of the psychological defense of denial. In the same issue of Journal of Counseling