Michael J. Scheel

• Managing Director at University of Nebraska–Lincoln

This case study describes the progress of a client receiving goal focused positive psychotherapy over 34 sessions, capturing the subtlety and responsiveness of the theory in action. The client self-identified as a Mexican American heterosexual female in her early 20s who had experienced intense anxiety and recurring bouts of depression since elemen...

Hope is a critical component of therapeutic change. However, hope does not singularly emanate from clients. Therapists’ hope for their clients represents a specific therapeutic factor that may impact clinical outcomes. Currently no measure exists to assess the uniqueness of therapist’s hope in therapy with specific clients. Our purpose in this stud...

Attention to cultural factors in counseling is critical, and theories have emerged in counseling and psychology to describe competence for working with multicultural clients. Among the emergent theoretical considerations is the multicultural orientation perspective, which prioritizes therapists’ emphasis on cultural humility, attendance to cultural...

When individuals experience gratitude they receive many benefits, including increased meaning in life, optimism, happiness, and greater connection to others. Multiple theorists and researchers citing the benefits of gratitude have proposed gratitude interventions for couples. However, research on intentionally practicing gratitude in the complex dy...

In honor of the 50th anniversary of The Counseling Psychologist, we present a snapshot of the current state of counseling psychology training in the context of the health service psychology model and competency-based framework of the Standards of Accreditation. Using data from the 2017–2018 Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs members...

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, wa...

This article introduces the empirical support for and theoretical tenets of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), a comprehensive, evidence-based, psychotherapy model. GFPP’s approach emerges from positive and social psychology research, and is informed by psychotherapy research from the common and contextual models. Its interventions focus o...

Research of the effectiveness of couples counseling has demonstrated clear benefits (e.g.; Lebow et al. (Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38(1):145–168, 2012)). However, relatively few couples initiate counseling and seek help. This exploratory study employed a qualitative multiple case study approach to heterosexual couples (N = 7) that were...

The counseling psychology Model Training Program (MTP) was written to reflect new developments in counseling psychology, the American Psychological Association, and the world. The updated MTP is aspirational, intended to guide the development and maintenance of counseling psychology programs. The MTP conforms to the American Psychological Associati...

This chapter provides an overview of the philosophy and foundational premises of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy. Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy is described as a comprehensive psychotherapy model built primarily upon positive psychology principles to optimize well-being, which diminishes the effects of psychological distress. The theory o...

Chapter 2 presents the theory behind Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), a technique that facilitates clients’ thriving by creating a happier, meaningful life. Psychotherapy can help clients to enjoy a lifetime of well-being and growth toward their meaningful, virtuous goals through positive emotions. The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positiv...

The final chapter presents empirical support for Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP) in comparison to cognitive-behavioral therapy and short-term psychodynamic therapy. Topics for future research and development are addressed. The GFPP orientation toward the client and skills to enact the orientation are discussed. The three primary pathways...

This chapter present the techniques and interventions of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP). Highlighted are the therapist’s intentions to emphasize the client’s strengths and to facilitate the expression of positive emotions, hope, and goals while focusing on the therapeutic alliance. Psychotherapy is not viewed as a set of potent scripted...

This chapter discusses the training of therapists based on the authentic commitment to promoting client well-being. Experiential learning of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP) principles facilitates allegiance to this model. Goal Focused Positive Supervision (GFPS) is offered as a new model emphasizing supervisee strengths, approach goals,...

The authors designed a qualitative, multiple case study that employed the photovoice method to explore how enculturation is experienced by three Chinese adolescents living with their families in a nonethnically dense cultural community. A total of 18 one-on-one interviews were conducted with three youth and their parents. Photos were also used as e...

The negative impact of alliance ruptures on clients’ experiences within the therapeutic process is well documented. One such negative influence may include clients’ hope for counseling as a helpful process. This study used a mixed methods design to explore how alliance ruptures are related to hope for change through counseling. Quantitative data (N...

The Conoley and Scheel approach to psychotherapy that fully integrates positive psychology premises within its process was presented at the APA convention in Toronto. The approach, Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), includes four components. These are: a) identification of client strengths; b) the formation of approach goals; c) the genera...

Frank and Frank suggested that the primary goal of contextually oriented therapy is remoralization through the promotion of hope. According to Snyder's hope theory, hope is a psychological characteristic consisting of pathways thinking, agency, and goals. Although these concepts are relevant to understanding how hope develops through therapy, no in...

A distinctive feature and unifying theme of the work of counseling psychologists is a focus on client strengths, assets, and potentialities regardless of the degree of psychopathology. As such, positive psychology appears to have a natural home within counseling psychology. Evidence from content analyses of flagship journals of the field as well as...

In this rejoinder, we review contributions by Palmer and Horne of their responses to our earlier submission in this issue. Together, we present a compelling case for the urgent imperative to constructively address the role of master's education as a priority in counseling psychology. We not only need to address pressing threats to the viability of...

Gelso and Woodhouse highlight a lack of empirical efforts to bring a core identity of counseling psychology, the use of client strengths, into therapy. Additionally, the positive psychology movement is devoid of a system of positive therapeutic processes designed to help clients toward optimal human functioning. This investigation sought to explici...

The authors offer an analysis of current challenges and opportunities regarding the long-standing issue about the quality and status of master's education relevant to training and practice in counseling psychology. Highlighted are historical context, controversies regarding licensure and accreditation (e.g., the 2009 Council for Accreditation of Co...

A suspected decline in published counseling-related research in The Counseling Psychologist ( TCP) and the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP) was investigated through content analyses of the two journals from 1979 to 2008. A marked decline in counseling-related research may signify a shift in emphasis away from counseling as the most fundamenta...

Three counseling psychology colleagues (Lichtenberg, 2011; Mallinckrodt, 2011; Murdock, 2011 [all this issue]) provide differing perspectives about the findings from our target article (Scheel et al., 2011) of the decline of published counseling-related research in our major journals. In this rejoinder we respond to each author’s viewpoints concern...

Ryan and colleagues are applauded for elevating client factors in the form of motivation and autonomy to equal status with the alliance as common factors in psychotherapy. Next, client motivation and autonomy are explained to be inextricably linked with one promoting the other. Motivational methods are summarized for the major approaches, making th...

School dropout is a problem that has distressing personal and societal consequences. Not surprising, students who drop out are typically not academically motivated. This phenomenological study examined the meanings that students construct about academic motivation while participating in a dropout prevention program that primarily uses counseling. T...

International students underutilize counseling services as a method of coping with the acculturative stress implicit in adaptation to the unfamiliar environments of U.S. college campuses. Underutilization is postulated in this study to be related to unfamiliarity with counseling resources on college campuses, culturally incongruent expectations of...

A theoretical model of academic motivation consisting of (a) academic self-efficacy, (b) purposefulness and intentionality, and (c) support through school counsel- ing for autonomous learning was explored with 346 high school juniors. Regression analysis indicated aca- demic self-efficacy and utilization of school counseling to be significant predi...

A theoretical model of academic motivation consisting of (a) academic self-efficacy, (b) purposefulness and intentionality, and (c) support through school counseling for autonomous learning was explored with 346 high school juniors. Regression analysis indicated academic self-efficacy and utilization of school counseling to be significant predictor...

Although the link between homework use and positive psychotherapy outcomes has been established, relatively little is known about the therapeutic processes, or factors, that promote homework compliance. Homework compliance may be viewed as an indicator of client commitment and involvement in psychotherapy. This article presents the results of a sys...

This paper reviews the clinical judgement literature and discusses its applicability to the practice of couples and family therapy. Key findings and conceptual foundations are highlighted. A contextual perspective is advocated to guide future investigations and to enhance the generalizability of the literature to the real-life experiences of therap...

This article discusses the potential utility and difficulties presented by the development of a universal relational diagnostic system (RDS). The history and current status of diagnostic concepts within the general mental health field are reviewed to provide a context for discussing the range of factors involved in the RDS movement and to highlight...

This study examined the occurrence of therapist recommendations and client implementation of recommendations based on client perceptions of (a) fit, (b) difficulties of implementation, and (c) therapist influence. Therapists ( N = 27) volunteered to list any recommendations that occurred in a single session, and clients ( N = 102) agreed to complet...

An argument is forwarded for the integration of feminist and systemic perspectives, specifically focusing on neutrality. The position taken is that both feminist principles and systemic practice have indispensable merits when applied to relationship-oriented therapy. Issues of abuse in family therapy are presented by promotion of a view that judgme...

This study investigated the use of intervention rationales that matched the participant's positions or beliefs in marriage therapy. Positions were conceptualized as the implementation of a constructivist stance by making use of the participant's beliefs. Positions were investigated by comparing 3 rationale conditions. The rationales either matched...

This study investigated the possibility that interventive circular questions violate the principle of neutrality advanced by the Milan school as essential to the practice of systemic family therapy. A method for categorizing circular questions as interventive or descriptive was developed to explore neutrality violations. Neutrality was operationali...

Parents of clinic-referred preschool children are particularly vulnerable to less self-efficacious judgments of their ability to effectively parent their child. It is vital that these parents demonstrate empowerment through proactive involvement in treatment. Descriptions of parent self-efficacy and empowerment that could aid counseling agency faci...

The terms family psychologist and family therapist are often employed inter-changeably. Ambiguity in the identity of family psychologists occurs in part as a result of the limited distinction between these concepts. Family psychologists themselves often foster confusion in this regard by referring to themselves as therapists. We contend that while...

Used a retrospective method to obtain information about the career aspirations of gifted high school juniors (69 boys and 125 girls). The Occupations List instrument by L. W. Harmon (1971) was administered to Ss to obtain information about career alternatives (CAs) considered by each S at ages 0–8 yrs, 9–23 yrs, and 14+ yrs. The CAs considered in a...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska--Lincoln, 1993. Includes bibliographical references.

This study examines the theorized relation between vocational identity, and the concepts of consistency and differentiation (Holland 1985). A total of 211 male and 353 female academically superior high school juniors participated. Measures of vocational identity were computed using the Vocational Identity scale of the My Vocational Situation. Multi...

Investigated a consultation technique designed to increase the acceptability of an intervention. It was hypothesized that intervention acceptability would be increased by using individualized intervention rationales that matched the perceptions of 37 elementary and secondary teachers (aged 22–52 yrs) acting as "consultees" for a fictitious problem...

Positive Family Therapy combines systems theory and positive psychology to derive an approach that builds upon the strengths of a family to enhance the growth of each individual member. We believe our approach has some unique aspects; however, the approach is based on research from many sources. This chapter presents the broader theory and empirica...