The relationship between licensed mental health counselors’ political ideology and counseling theory preference

Bibliographic Data

ID9051371
AuthorsAaron L Norton (0000-0002-4899-8063, University of South Florida), T X Tan (0000-0001-9496-3470, Florida Department of Education)
Year2019
Volume89
Issue1
Pages86-94
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Orthopsychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9432 • E-ISSN: 1939-0025
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/ort0000339
PMID30124304
OpenAlexW2888724585
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited10

Given the current political climate in the United States, it is ever more important to understand the role political ideology plays in the counseling profession. Our study examined the role of political ideologies in 467 licensed mental health counselors' preferred counseling theories in clinical practice. We found (a) most participants reported liberal political ideologies; (b) the participants preferred cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), humanistic/constructivist/existentialist, and mindfulness-based theories over systemic, psychodynamic, and experiential theories; and (c) self-identification as conservative, registration with the Republican Party, and endorsement of Libertarian beliefs predicted a preference for CBT, self-identified liberal ideology predicted a preference for psychodynamic theory, and lower levels of libertarian beliefs predicted a preference for humanistic theories. Implications for research, practice, and education are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Humanism · Ideology · MEDLINE · Mental health · Political science · Politics · Preference · Psychodynamics · Psychotherapist · PsycINFO · Clinical Psychology · Counseling Practices and Supervision · Law · Psychological Treatments and Assessments · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

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