Counselor Hopelessness as an Obstacle in the Marriage Counseling Relationship.

This article presents information on the various obstacles faced by counselors in the marriage counseling. In this study the author has been impressed with certain attitudes of hopelessness regarding the possibility that people may change through counseling. Instances of such counselors are interesting to the author not only because such antagonistic attitudes toward counseling are expressed, but also because it raises the possibility that many other would-be counselors are equally hopeless with respect to change, although they may be unaware of their negative attitudes. It is the author's impression that probably many trainees become counselors without having fully resolved the issue of their own faith in the possibility of change through counseling and that at best many have ambivalence with respect to this question. Attitudes of hopelessness regarding change have important implications for the entire counseling process. To the extent the counselor is hopeless about the possibility of change, he operates primarily at the intellectual level. Such behavior is not to be mistaken for objectivity, certainly a prerequisite for any good counseling relationship.