A Constructionist Clinical Psychology for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

"Increasingly practitioners and researchers within clinical psychology are being influenced by a wider range of philosophical traditions than historically. In this book, Kieron O’Connor outlines a ‘constructionist-phenomenological’ approach, drawing additional insights from dialogical and narrative research. It provides a useful corrective to more reductionist approaches and will be of interest to both trainee and more experienced practitioners." - David Harper, PhD, Reader in Clinical Psychology, Programme Director (Academic), Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of East London

"Kieron O’Connor’s Constructionist Clinical Psychology is a masterpiece. It offers a radically new way of understanding and treating psychological problems. It will be of interest to clinical psychologists in training and to experienced clinicians and researchers." - Alan Carr, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University College Dublin

"O’Connor has succeeded in the improbable task of applying the ideas of phenomenology, existentialism, and constructionism to the practical realities of assessment and psychological therapy. Gradually, sequentially, and logically, he convinces the reader of their relevance while at the same time providing numerous illustrations and integrating his themes with mainstream empirical research. This book makes a major contribution to a paradigm shift within clinical psychology." - Richard Hallam, Visiting professor of psychology, University of Greenwich

"Increasingly practitioners and researchers within clinical psychology are being influenced by a wider range of philosophical traditions than historically. In this book, Kieron O’Connor outlines a ‘constructionist-phenomenological’ approach, drawing additional insights from dialogical and narrative research. It provides a useful corrective to more reductionist approaches and will be of interest to both trainee and more experienced practitioners." - David Harper, PhD, Reader in Clinical Psychology, Programme Director (Academic), Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of East London

"Kieron O’Connor’s Constructionist Clinical Psychology is a masterpiece. It offers a radically new way of understanding and treating psychological problems. It will be of interest to clinical psychologists in training and to experienced clinicians and researchers." - Alan Carr, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University College Dublin

"O’Connor has succeeded in the improbable task of applying the ideas of phenomenology, existentialism, and constructionism to the practical realities of assessment and psychological therapy. Gradually, sequentially, and logically, he convinces the reader of their relevance while at the same time providing numerous illustrations and integrating his themes with mainstream empirical research. This book makes a major contribution to a paradigm shift within clinical psychology." - Richard Hallam, Visiting professor of psychology, University of Greenwich

"This is a very interesting and original book that looks at many issues in clinical psychology and CBT, and rethinks these using both phenomenology and constructionist ideas. For many years O’Connor and his associates have been writing some of the most original articles and books on OCD and anxiety: in particular they have looked at how narratives of doubt can unpick everyday certainties, and how the themes of OCD often relate to fundamental concerns of the person. Here they extent such ideas suggesting that pathologies arise out of history, context, imagination, and that, in general, experience is constructed in a multitude of contexts and processes. Following phenomenology, they take it as assumed that human life and consciousness is characterized by meaning and intentionality.

One chapter underlines the importance of imagination and its role in our everyday lives and how it can develop difficulties for the person. Other chapters look at how basic phenomenology can be taught and how both phenomenology and constructionism might influence our thinking on research methodologies. I think this book is an important resource to those who wish to use CBT, yet are frustrated by its traditional reliance on behaviourist stimulus response thinking, or mechanistic ideas of information processing. This book puts human experience in all its complexity at the core of its conceptualizations. Few writers have managed to bring constructionist and phenomenological thinking into one overarching model and have at the same time managed to rethink theoretical and practical areas in clinical psychology." - John Rhodes

"If, like me, you are concerned that the approach recommended in treatment guidelines for most psychological problems, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), is still too often essentially mechanistic, reductionist, and realist, and pays insufficient attention to social context, you may be excited to find a book that promises a more person-centered CBT. Being based on phenomenological and constructionist concepts, the alternative approach to CBT offered by Kieron P. O'Connor focuses on personal meaning and social constructions... This is a book which is wide-ranging and ambitious in its scope, encompassing philosophy, alternative views ofpsychopathology, clinical practice, research methods, and teaching exercises." - David A. Winter, University of Hertfordshire, UK, PsycCRITIQUES