Letting the baby out with the bathwater: Reflections on counselling,counselling psychology and psychotherapy in Britain

This paper responds to key points raised in Launagani's article (this issue). In particular, it focuses on the effectiveness of therapy and questions whether or not therapy is dangerous. Also it considers the future of counselling, counseling psychology and psychotherapy and predicts that therapies that do not adapt to brief or time-limited settings may become relegated to private practice. Treatment manuals based on techniques and strategies and not particular therapies will be developed which may include recommendations for the type of interpersonal approach required for different clients. It concludes that due to pressure of work, members of the therapeutic professions will have less time to sit on committess in support of their professional bodies.     

Don't throw the bathwater in with the baby

The Presidential Address of the European Association of Developmental Psychology, Goossens (2012, this issue), this year concerned how genes and environments interplay to shape loneliness and other developmental psychological relevant outcomes. This is a very welcome. However, when developmental psychology is now ready to integrate recent genetic and neuroscience knowledge and methods, I think it would be very wise not to go uncritically through the mistakes that have been made in other disciplines and instead to learn from their hard lessons. I discuss some problems (genes vs. environments, identifying genes for a phenotype, environmental causes of developmental outcomes, and gene×environment interaction and epigenetics) and some suggestions for solutions that can be used to avoid throwing the bathwater in with the baby.     

The relevance of research in counselling and psychotherapy for the counselling practitioner

Current research paradigms are outlined and appraised to enable counsellors to see more clearly the practical relevance of counselling research. The standpoint taken is that although it is possible to criticise current research paradigms on a number of grounds, practitioners who know their own biases and the limitations of these paradigms can successfully experiment with interventions suggested by research in their own practice. An example is presented from the research on paralinguistic variables in client-centred therapy.     

The concept of boundaries in counselling and psychotherapy

Boundaries in the mind—the relative 'thinness' and 'thickness' of many kinds of boundaries—has been studied as a measurable dimension of personality. Persons scoring 'thin' overall on the Boundary Questionnaire can be described as open, trusting, vulnerable, and usually having a rich fantasy life; they are people in whom 'everything gets through'. People who score very 'thick' tend to be solid, well-organised, and sometimes rigid. The relationship of boundaries to other measures of personality, to dreams and nightmares, to clients' occupations and interests, and finally to the conduct of psychotherapists and counsellors, including the question of boundary violations, is discussed. Some boundary violators have very thin boundaries and are unable to maintain clear distinctions between the client's needs and their own; others have relatively thick boundaries which make them insensitive to the damage that boundary violations can cause. Awareness of the client's boundaries and one's own can be useful in 'matching' a client with a therapist and in the conduct of therapy, especially at stressful times. It is also useful at times to discuss boundaries with clients.     

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater: The catharsis hypothesis revisited1

Boys between the ages of 9 and 10 participated in one of three experimental activities. One involved movement and aggression, the second movement devoid of aggression, and the third minimal movement of a nonaggressive nature. Aggressive fantasy decreased in the aggressive movement and minimal movement groups but increased in the nonaggressive movement group. The results are consistent with a cathartic view of the functional relationship between aggressive behavior and aggressive fantasy when the effects of movement and completion of an aggressive response are considered. This study supports the notion that the enactment of an aggressive goal response is essential to the occurrence of a cathartic effect and points up the importance of controlling for movement in investigations of the relationship between aggressive fantasy and aggressive behavior. An additional, exploratory investigation of daydreaming suggests that children who are high in aggressive fantasy are likely to daydream more frequently than children low in aggressive fantasy.     

The 'storied' helper: narrative ideas and practices in counselling and psychotherapy

This paper is intended as an introduction to the use of narrative ideas, languages and practices in counselling and psychotherapy. It explores the skills and knowledges that are involved in narrative ways of working for bothpractitioners and those who consult them. Counselling is understood as comprising a social process within a ‘storied world’. These ideas are illustrated through one particular ‘shortstory’. A narrative perspective enables us to consider the stories that are hidden as well as the stories that are privileged within the both contemporary cultural discourse and the professional discourses of counselling and psychotherapy.     

The emerging narrative approach to counselling and psychotherapy

An important recent development within counselling and psychotherapy has been the emergence of narrative perspectives on theory and practice. The task of the counsellor is viewed as that of assisting the client to 're-author' parts of their life-story. The origins of this approach within psychology and social science are discussed, and the central elements of a narrative approach to counselling and psychotherapy are identified. A brief case-study illustrates some of these themes.     

Integration and eclecticism in counselling and psychotherapy: Cautionary notes

Obstacles on the path to integration and eclecticism are illustrated in three realms of endeavour: the therapeutic relationship, the constitution of knowledge, and visions of reality. The strands of three major systems of psychotherapy - the psychoanalytic, the behavioural and the humanistic - are examined as to the desired nature of the therapist-client relationship, their sources and understanding of data, and the worldviews they encompass from among the romantic, ironic, tragic and comic. Differences among these theories of psychotherapy are seen to limit the possibilities for integration and eclecticism. This conclusion is tempered, however, by a recognition of the value of each approach assimilating some views of the others in a considered way.     

Universes of discourse: implications for counselling and psychotherapy

All individuals can be envisaged as living within a number of parallel universes of discourse, where different meanings and values may apply; these may be characterised by different language 'registers'. The process of counselling and psychotherapy itself constitutes such a universe. The inner and outer worlds of the client also constitute different universes that may themselves each consist of a number of distinct universes. Decisions made with respect to one universe may have different meanings or adverse consequences in another; it therefore beholds the therapist to be aware of, and alert to, these differences.     

Qualitative approaches to research in counselling and psychotherapy: Issues and challenges

There has been a significant growth in interest in qualitative approaches to research in counselling and psychotherapy. Qualitative researchers in this field have begun to apply methods originally developed in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. There are, however, a number of distinctive dilemmas and challenges associated with qualitative approaches to inquiry into the processes and outcomes of counselling. A set of key issues are discussed: relationships with research participants, ethics, reflexivity, methodological choice, communicability, perspective and obviousness. Some suggestions are made regarding the link between qualitative research and counselling practice.     

(Re)placing multiculturalism in counselling and psychotherapy

Since multiculturalism is not fully theorised it has created much confusion in counselling and psychotherapy. It has been criticised for ignoring questions of power relations, and for emphasising the cultural differences of ethnic minority groups rather than focus on their similar predicaments of racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia and economic oppression. Furthermore, it has not provided clinically useful information within which therapists can conduct assessments and diagnosis, understand clients' subjective distress and cure seeking expectations. This paper explores this issue by highlighting the magical (non)sense of multiculturalism and its racialised forms, and argues that multiculturalism is untenable if it restricts itself to a few marginalised ethno-cultural client groups, rejects gays and lesbians, patronises indigenous forms of healing, and maintains a fixed racialised 'black-white' paradigm of practice. It suggests that a point of departure for multiculturalism from an ethno-culturalism-centred philosophy to one that is pluralistic and reflexive of the needs of all clients (irrespective of ethnicised, racialised, gendered, and sexualised subjective identities) is critical if it is to be useful psychologically. To arrive at this critical juncture, multiculturalism would need to be (re)placed, not disavowed but re-centred in the practice of counselling and psychotherapy to embrace diversity and difference across and beyond the current categories that constitute itself. Replacing multiculturalism in a 'third space', an 'in-between space'—a critical multicultural space—where dominant hegemonic cultural meanings could be reinscribed and where racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia and other 'representations of patriarchal terror' could be critically interrogated to empower marginalised voices. The paper explores three strategies for creating a 'third space' in multicultural counselling and psychotherapy: the inclusion of white people as clients; the converging of race, gender, sexual orientation, class and disability issues; and the integration of indigenous and traditional healing practices. Bringing it all together under the umbrella of diversity or critical multiculturalism will ensure an ethical and clinical practice commensurate with our current understanding of the complexity and sophistication within which clients construct their subjectivity.     

Humour as a tool in counselling and psychotherapy: A reversal-theory perspective

Humour has occasionally been regarded as a valuable tool in counselling and psychotherapy. The specific uses of humour and its potential as a coping tactic are rarely described. The therapeutic use of humour is accordingly examined in the light of reversal theory (Apter, 1982a). It is suggested that the use of humour needs to be related to the motivational task implicit in the therapeutic interaction.     

Issues relating to the use of forgiveness in counselling and psychotherapy

This paper explores forgiveness, which is a key component of spiritual pastoral care. Encouraging forgiveness is also one of the spiritual interventions most frequently used by psychotherapists. However, although forgiveness has been explored as an element in psychotherapy, the models generated have had little impact on research and practice. Recent research into forgiveness in therapy is considered, including several models put forward for its use. Some of the implications of the use of forgiveness in therapeutic practice are examined and guidelines for the use of forgiveness in psychotherapy are put forward based on the work of the Forgiveness Project at the University of Manchester.