Positive psychological approaches to therapy

The term positive psychology has become widely used in recent years to refer to the new movement among psychologists who have turned their attention to positive human functioning. In this article we will review what the emerging field of positive psychology tells us about therapeutic practice. The positive psychology movement has led to a questioning of the fundamental assumptions underlying the practice of psychological therapy, and it is our view that the emerging positive psychology research is supportive of those therapeutic approaches which serve to facilitate the client's ability to hear their own inner voice.     

Social Ecological Context of Conversing

The purpose of this article is to provide some groundwork about ecological social psychology as a starting point for researchers tackling neglected issues of language ecologically. I review basic principles of the ecological approach to perceiving and acting and discuss how the ecological approach has been applied beyond solo actors in an ecological niche to multiple actors acting in a niche explicitly conceptualized as social. In the last decade, researchers were inspired by tool-use research and solo action-based research on affordances (e.g., stair climbing) to take an affordance-based approach to understanding cooperation in a more embodied approach than was previously used in social psychology. Beginning at least a decade prior to that, researchers were inspired to wonder whether the dynamics of the coordinative structures of a solo actor's body movements, spontaneously emerging when different limbs engaged in rhythmic movement, might cross the bodily divide to yield similar collective dynamics when multiple actors are incidentally engaged in rhythmic movement (e.g., different people swinging their legs together). One insight from the affordance research emphasizes the role of meaning as emerging in dynamic interaction between multiple actors confronted by demands and resources of an environment: language's potential contribution to this is discussed in the context of the newest advances in theorizing about values and about the sociocultural grounding of affordances. Finally, the potential role of language for facilitating being pulled into “social eddies” of coordinated orbits of motion, as well as its potential role in joint action, is discussed.     

Interpersonal process in psychotherapy through the lens of the structural analysis of social behavior

As psychotherapy research focuses more and more on mechanisms of therapeutic change, increased attention has naturally been directed at therapy process. Over the past several decades, a variety of researchers have successfully applied Benjamin's 1974 Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) to the study of in-session psychotherapy events. This system for conceptualizing and analyzing interpersonal and intrapsychic processes has been shown to provide theoretically rigorous and empirically tractable instantiations of both helpful and hindering therapeutic exchanges. In this article the therapeutic alliance is conceived in terms of interpersonal processes as demarcated according to the SASB. This article also provides a review of SASB's wide-ranging applications to observing and studying the therapeutic relationship, therapy process, and client outcome. Also discussed are several data analytic and methodological considerations related to the SASB model and several new ancillary measures based on the SASB. Finally, the applied and clinical utility of the SASB system is discussed in light of a variety of contemporary empirical findings.     

Writing therapy in brief workplace counselling: Collaborative writing as inquiry

The purpose of this collaborative research was to reflect on one client's experience of using writing therapy during brief workplace counselling. The client/co‐researcher used expressive and creative writing between counselling sessions, the benefits of which are reported. A brief review of the literature on writing therapy is provided. The focus of the study is on investigating the process of writing therapy from the client's point of view. The epistemological assumptions and research methods are influenced by narrative inquiry. Feminist values inform both the therapeutic practice and research.     

The person as co-investigator in personality research

In this paper, arguments are presented for considering the subject as co-investigator in personality research. A review of current research methods suggests that personality psychology is well on its way to recognizing the individual as an expert on his or her own self and situation. This means that the subject should also be allowed to take a much more active role in psychological research. It is argued that the ideal methodology for accomplishing this integration of the individual into psychological research is to establish a dialogue between psychologist and subject, allowing each to contribute to the scientific process from his or her own perspective and on the basis of his or her own expertise. The present approach calls for greater emphasis on the organization and coherence of personality as a system, greater openness and sensitivity to the particular world of the individual, and an even more dynamic conception of individuality than is currently found in our field. An important implication of the open system approach advocated in this article, the reduced role of prediction in personality research, is discussed and, finally, a preliminary list of expected gains and losses is presented.     

A qualitative meta-synthesis on the experience of psychotherapy for deaf and hard-of-hearing people

A review was conducted to examine the experiences that affect the therapeutic relationship when a person who is deaf or hard-of-hearing meets with a therapist. Electronic databases were searched using keywords and 10 qualitative articles were retrieved that met the inclusion criteria. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted on the articles, including appraisal, comparison, and synthesis of findings. The results of the synthesis highlighted seven areas where the therapeutic relationship is challenged, including issues which occur before and during psychotherapy. The findings of the review are discussed in the context of the articles’ limitations. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of clinical practice, future research, and current models in psychology which are based on hearing participants.     

Enhancing Family Therapy with Analytical Psychology

In a postmodern era of changing values and competing world views this article suggests that analytical psychology can enter the epistemological debate and speak to contemporary family therapy. Key concepts and contributions are examined and highlighted with an emphasis on their relevance for enhancing the field of family therapy. Individuation is discussed in light of Jung's analytical treatment stages, which include confession, explanation, education, and transformation. The relevance for family therapy is illustrated throughout the article as each treatment stage is explicated. Jung's emphasis on the spiritual is also discussed with implications for the importance of recognizing and attending to issues of spirituality in family therapy.     

Assessment of Subjective Client Agency in Psychotherapy: A Review

Theoretical accounts of psychotherapy, especially of a constructivist or humanistic sort, often assert the importance of the client's active efforts in “making therapy work.” Psychotherapy research also supports the importance of the client's contribution to therapy outcomes. Research on subjective client agency, defined as a client's expectations for taking an active role in psychotherapy, is limited, however. This review describes and evaluates the psychometric qualities of six measures of this construct and provides recommendations for future research. Three of these measures are particularly suitable for further work by constructivist investigators of therapy process and outcome, a topic too rarely studied in the literature to date. Those studies that exist suggest that agency is positively related to the therapeutic alliance but does not directly affect therapy outcome. Additional process-outcomes studies in this area are warranted and could benefit from placing client agency in a broader framework that views therapy, and even therapy supervision, as an active process of mutual inquiry.     

Hardiness: The courage to grow from stresses

The recent emphasis on positive psychology is welcome, and has spurred much relevant research. But, there are still many unresolved conceptual and research issues, as more variables are being proposed as relevant. As part of this process, the present paper proposes hardiness as an addition to positive psychology. Hardiness is a combination of attitudes that provides the courage and motivation to do the hard, strategic work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities. In this regard, the inherently stressful nature of living is discussed. Also clarified are the particular aspects of excellence in performance and health to which hardiness is relevant. The paper concludes with a call for issue-resolving research through which orientations and actions proposed as part of positive psychology can be compared in their contributions to performance and health. Two studies along these lines have found hardiness more powerful than optimism and religiousness in coping with stresses.     

Does neuroscience hold promise for the further development of behavior therapy? The case of emotional change after exposure in anxiety and depression

Over the last few years, the integration of biological and psychological models has become increasingly important in clinical psychology. This paper presents a neurobiological framework for exploring how neuroscience research may be valuable in the context of new developments in behavior therapy. The importance of the cortical-subcortical circuitry of emotion processing for investigating the working mechanisms of exposure therapy is illustrated by current neuroimaging research. The implication is that during exposure therapy the focus of attention must be fully directed towards the emotional content of the threatening situation to facilitate prefrontal control over the amygdala and that new contextual information, of emotional salience, must be added to create inhibitory projections from the hippocampus. In addition, some possible mechanisms of action for different therapeutic approaches to both anxiety and depression and the role of neuroimaging techniques in predicting treatment outcome are discussed.     

The role of work in psychological health and well-being: a conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective

The primary theme of this article, which serves as the introductory contribution of a special section of the American Psychologist, is that work plays a central role in the development, expression, and maintenance of psychological health. The argument underlying this assumption is articulated at the outset of the article in conjunction with a historical review of vocational psychology and industrial/organizational psychology. The article follows with an overview of contemporary vocational psychology and a presentation of the psychology-of-working perspective, which has emerged from critiques of vocational psychology and from multicultural, feminist, and expanded epistemological analyses of psychological explorations of working. Three illustrative lines of inquiry in which research has affected the potential for informing public policy are presented. These three lines of scholarship (role of work in recovery from mental illness; occupational health psychology; and working, racism, and psychological health) are reviewed briefly to furnish exemplars of how the psychological study of working can inform public policy.     

Understanding the role of hope in counselling: Exploring the intentional uses of hope

In this paper we look at various conceptual models of hope and research evidence for the integral role that hope plays in counselling. We recognize hope as a dynamic process during which counsellor and client interact in ways that can be mutually influencing and we review research that explores this reciprocal process. A model for the intentional use of hope in counselling that recognizes both implicit and explicit approaches is offered. Metaphors for hope-work that position and re-position both counsellor and client in ways that may foster hope are explored. Finally, we provide suggestions for initiating conversations in which hope can be an explicit therapeutic focus.     

A Social Constructionist Model of Therapeutic Factors

Evidentiary support for the efficacy of therapeutic models has been a contentious issue since the professionalization of psychology. Despite advances in evidence-based practices in psychology and common factors research, discontent still exists among postmodern psychotherapists in that evidence is mainly defined in modernist/positivistic terms, thereby excluding therapeutic models based on alternative nonpositivistic epistemologies. I proposes a model, which is based on social constructionist theories, for investigating the therapeutic efficacy of various approaches. This article evaluates and differentiates between two models for viewing the efficacy of psychotherapy, namely outcome versus process efficacy. A social constructionist model of therapeutic factors is proposed as a means to incorporate therapeutic factors into psychotherapy processes that are consistent with a social constructionist theory of change. Three main therapeutic elements, which are identified as central to an effective psychotherapy process, are outlined in the model. The proposed model may be useful as a guide to efficacious psychotherapy and as a means for investigating the efficacy of social constructionist therapies.     

Talking about talking: Interpersonal process recall as an intersubjective approach to research

Research methods are often marked by inequalities between researcher and researched, maintained through dominant discourses that structure expectations of research. This study considers how therapeutic skills such as reflexivity can help to develop alternative discourses, raise awareness and challenge inequalities in research. An approach to the qualitative analysis of research interviews using interpersonal process recall (IPR) is outlined. By focusing attention on the dialogue and enabling researcher and research participant to review and explore their interaction reflexively, IPR offers an opportunity to understand interviews as intersubjective events. It thus facilitates the collaborative identification of processes and narratives as key moments for further analysis and increases awareness of the potential blurring of genres between therapeutic and research conversations. The contribution of IPR to an intersubjective lens and greater equality in research interviewing is discussed. Potential implications for both research and therapy practices are suggested.     

The Use of Metaphor to Address Gender and Sexual Orientation Stereotypes in Counseling: A Feminist Perspective

The role of metaphor in psychology is reviewed, focused on gender and sexual orientation stereotypes. Feminist therapy principles are explored in relation to addressing the presence of stereotypes within a therapeutic context. Implications for working with clients presenting with disordered eating, agoraphobia, sexual violence, and sexual identity concerns are discussed.     

How residents cope with living near a hazardous waste landfill: An example of substantive theorizing

It is hard to be a community or environmental psychologist and not be interested in newspaper stories on global warming, oil spills, or toxic wastes in your own backyard. To the general public, these issues tend to be viewed as environmental, technological, toxicological, or governmental, but not psychological. As psychologists, we see many ways in which psychology does play a role in understanding these events. We have been engaged in a study of residents living near a hazardous waste landfill in which many subdisciplines of psychology have played an illuminating role. Wicker's (this issue) article on substantive theorizing outlines an approach to theory and research that helps communicate the structure and process of doing research on a complex area. We use his article to help us describe key aspects of our research that are not usually discussed in research articles. We believe that the type of research Wicker describes occurs more often than people realize. Unfortunately, however, journal conventions cause investigators to omit discussions of substantive theorizing aspects of their work. We hope that reading this article increases your understanding of substantive theorizing and our research as much as writing it increased our own.     

Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions

In this article we posit that (1) research on pretend play fits under the umbrella of the positive psychology movement, (2) pretend play involves a multitude of processes that are linked to adaptive functioning, and (3) understanding and implementing knowledge of pretend play processes in therapy or interventions may lead to more optimal functioning in children. We review five areas of positive psychology in relation to pretend play: (1) creativity, (2) coping, (3) emotion regulation, (4) empathy/emotional understanding, and (5) hope. Implications for interventions and future research questions are discussed.     

Understanding Motivational Interviewing Effectiveness: Contributions From Rogers' Client-Centered Approach

The object of this article is to gain a better understanding of motivational interviewing (MI) effectiveness using the framework of Rogers' approach. Examining MI's common points and differences with Rogers' client-centered therapy can make it possible to identify some of MI's active ingredients and its underlying process of effectiveness, especially related to MI relational component. In return, MI, a strongly evidence-based approach, could provide empirical basis and support of effectiveness for Rogers' client-centred therapy. The review of literature on Rogers' therapy and MI shows strong links between the two approaches. MI applies most of Rogers' therapy attitudes and techniques such as empathy, acceptance, autonomy support, collaborative style, and confidence in the client's ability to change. The article further presents a review of research data related to the therapeutic effects of each of these attitudes. Finally, implications for clinical practice and further research are discussed. MI and Rogers' client-centered approach have much to offer each other. The strong process and outcome research tradition in MI could bring about evidence on Rogers' therapy effectiveness. Rogers' work provides a testable theoretical basis for the mechanisms of MI effectiveness. Further MI research should operationalize more than just empathy in the relational component.     

Humanness: A Therapeutic Variable

Since attempts by adherents to various psychotherapeutic orientations have failed to demonstrate the efficacy of any one of them, this paper tries to explicate the single variable—humanness—that seems to underlie all therapeutic approaches, and may account for the positive results obtained by all approaches. Many investigators have emphasized the importance of a positive relationship as a factor in counseling; but an influential force, behavior modification therapy, has attempted to once again place the role of technique in the spotlight. Their results have not been striking. A second aim, therefore, of this paper is to offer a critique of this position in the light of humanistic and research considerations. The implications of a technique-oriented therapeutic approach are also discussed. A plea is entered for emphasis being placed on, and an investigation of, the role of humanness as the most important variable in the counseling process.