Sources of Tension in Teaching the Psychology of Women

This article examines sources of tension in teaching the psychology of women. The essential conflict is a clash of values between the traditional academic setting and a revolutionary, nontraditional curriculum area. The first major source of conflict identified involves the knowledge base of the field and includes debate over the definition of the field and the appropriateness of diverse processes of knowledge acquisition. The second major source of conflict discussed concerns the roles of teacher and student in the classroom context and the larger role of the teacher as a faculty member in a traditional academic institution. In each of these cases the issue of power is critical. Such conflicts are irreconcilable, for reconciliation would either do irreparable damage to the nature of the study of the psychology of women or would cut the field off from potential benefits to be gained from the academic discipline of psychology. However, several courses of action in the face of conflict and tension are presented.     

Keeping company with hope and despair: family therapists' reflections and experience of working with childhood depression

The BIOMED international outcome study on childhood depression offered a unique opportunity for the systematic treatment of children and families with major depression using systemic psychotherapy. This paper describes the experiences of clinicians working with the families referred and the theoretical and clinical models that evolved during the treatment process. The concept of ‘keeping company with hope and despair’ emerged as an overarching framework for thinking about the quality of the therapeutic relationship in this developing area of clinical practice. We illustrate our systemically informed interventions with case examples and discuss the role played by therapists' ‘use of self’ in engaging and fostering change in families gripped by depression.