A Preliminary Examination of Burnout Among Counselor Trainees Treating Clients With Recent Suicidal Ideation and Borderline Traits
✍ Scribed by Grant D. Miller; Katherine M. Iverson; Markus Kemmelmeier; Chelsea MacLane; Jacqueline Pistorello; Alan E. Fruzzetti; Melanie M. Watkins; Larry D. Pruitt; Megan Oser; Barrie M. Katrichak; Karen M. Erikson; Katrina Y. Crenshaw
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 123 KB
- Volume
- 50
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0011-0035
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Treating suicidal clients with borderline traits can be conducive to burnout. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may assuage this burnout in counselors. As part of a DBT treatment outcome study, 6 counselors in training collected their own salivary cortisol samples and completed self‐report measures of burnout and well‐being for 1 year. Findings indicate a significant interaction for cortisol levels by treatment condition, such that DBT counselors experienced less physiological stress over time relative to a control group of counselors. There were no group differences in self‐reported burnout or well‐being. DBT may have a salutary effect on trainees' physiological stress levels over time.