Research has shown that meaning in life is beneficial to mental and physical health. Furthermore, having a sense of meaning in work has also been found to generate greater well-being and job satisfaction. However, the literature has paid scant attention to exploring the manner in which meaning in life is experienced among professional care…

This study examined associations between self-efficacy and various dimensions of family patterns -- differentiation of self, satisfaction with differentiation of self, and intergenerational triangulation -- among a sample of 393 college students from Israel. The sample comprised 140 males and 253 females, and 264 Jews and 129 Arabs. Self-efficacy…

Stigma associated with seeking help has been found to be a key help-seeking barrier, however its role is less clear for: (a) adolescents, (b) groups outside the United States and (c) different types of therapy. This study addresses these omissions by examining the relationships between perceptions of public stigma of mental illness and the…

The present research examined the perceived helpfulness of an increasingly widespread mode of psychological assistance, namely, emotional first aid via email. The sample comprised 62 naturally occurring email interactions between distressful clients and trained volunteers operating within the framework of the Israeli Association for Emotional…

The current study examined the relationship between separation anxiety in adolescents after their transition to middle school, on the one hand, and differentiation of self and separation anxiety in their parents, on the other hand. The sample included 88 adolescents from northern Israel, together with their biological parents. Adolescents'…

The aim of this study was to analyse the phases of an innovative in vivo exposure intervention in which all family members were present at the scene of a traumatic incident. Clinical practice has borne out the efficacy of family intervention and its benefits for traumatised individuals and family groups. The intervention discussed here was…

Inspired by positive psychology, the present research explores the manner in which school counsellors perceive the meaning of success in their work. Data were collected by means of a narrative questionnaire in which 66 school counsellors were requested to write a detailed description of a well-remembered successful experience and to answer two…

Counselling culturally diverse populations poses several challenges for mental health professionals in schools as well as the wider community. In 1998, the author interviewed counsellors working in Israeli schools, and categorised their approaches to immigrant pupils in four broad categories: culturally encapsulated assimilator, self-facilitator,…

The present study focuses on the effectiveness of interactions with callers to a helpline as perceived by the helpline volunteers. Applying a qualitative methodology, we analysed 12 descriptions of what the volunteers considered to be the most helpful calls they could reconstruct from memory, and the factors they attributed to the successful…

Exposure to terrorism poses a challenge for children and adolescents as well as parents. For many years, Israeli citizens have been exposed to ongoing terrorist attacks. The present article is aimed at revealing the reactions of Israeli parents when facing terrorist attacks and their perceptions regarding the help-seeking behaviours of their…

The aim of the current study is to examine differences in social anxiety between learning disabled (LD) and non-learning disabled (non-LD) students, taking into account educational placement. The present research is the first to consider the above relations among Christian Arab adolescents living in Israel as an Eastern collectivist minority. On…

Individuals differ in the type and severity of the difficulties they face when making a career decision. Relying on the Gati, Krausz, and Osipow (1996) taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties, we elicited the judgements of 28 career counselling experts about factors that contribute to the perceived "severity" of the difficulties.…

This study set out to explore the impact of ethnicity, gender, age and subjective well-being on help-seeking attitudes among Arab and Jewish adolescents in Israel. The sample comprised 395 Arab and 360 Jewish 7th- and 11th-grade pupils who were selected from six Arab and six Jewish schools in the north of Israel. The participants completed a…

Exposure to terrorism seriously threatens the well-being of children and adolescents. Israeli citizens have witnessed massive ongoing terrorist attacks during the last few years. The present research, conducted among 330 Israeli adolescents, examined coping strategies in relation to terrorist attacks. We found that adolescents utilize more…

The current study examined the characteristics and functioning of 12 Israeli school counsellors located at different stages of professional development who worked in schools affected by terrorist attacks. Semi-structured interviews explored the counsellors professional behaviour, activities, and coping with terror and its effects. Consensual…