Counseling Psychology

Charles J. Gelso, PhD, completed his doctorate in counseling psychology at Ohio State University and has been at the University of Maryland since then. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Psychology and codirector of the Maryland Psychotherapy Clinic and Research Laboratory, a clinic aimed at training in psychodynamic therapy, conducting therapy research, and providing open-ended low-cost treatment. Dr. Gelso has published widely in the area of the therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy, with particular emphasis on what he has termed a tripartite model of the client-therapist relationship. The focal points of this model, and of Dr. Gelso’s research and theoretical work, are the working alliance between client and therapist, what he terms the real or personal relationship, and the transference-countertransference configuration. These elements are posited to exist in all therapy relationships. He has also written significantly about research training in practice-related fields in psychology and the integration of science and practice. He has written several books in addition to Counseling Psychology, including Countertransference and the Therapist’s Inner Experience: Perils and Possibilities (with Jeffrey A. Hayes), The Real Relationship in Psychotherapy: The Hidden Foundation of Change, and, most recently, The Therapeutic Relationship in Psychotherapy Practice: An Integrative Perspective. He has received many awards, including the Leona Tyler Award, the top award in the field of counseling psychology, and has been editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. Dr. Gelso has been engaged in the practice of psychotherapy and therapy supervision throughout his career.

Elizabeth Nutt Williams, PhD, is a professor of psychology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the national public honors college, where she has served as chair of the Psychology Department, coordinator of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, dean of the core curriculum and first year experience, and president of the Faculty Senate. She received her bachelor’s in psychology from Stanford University and her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland. Her scholarly interests focus primarily on psychotherapy process, feminist/multicultural approaches to counseling, and mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative). She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA Divisions 2, 17, 29, and 35) and has received awards for both her teaching (Homer L. Dodge Award for Teaching Excellence) and her scholarship (from the Society for Psychotherapy Research and from the Division of Psychotherapy of APA). Dr. Williams was the Woman of the Year for the Section for the Advancement of Women of the Society for Counseling Psychology. She has published two books, Counseling Psychology (with Charles Gelso) and The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Multicultural Counseling Psychology (with Carol Enns), and numerous empirical articles. She served on the Council of Representatives of the APA and has served as president of Division of Psychotherapy of APA, as well as on several editorial boards (including Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and The Counseling Psychologist).