A Constructionist Clinical Psychology for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Most clinical psychologists and cognitive behaviour therapists adopt a perspective which assumes that a client's distress arises from inaccurate perceptions of the external world and that these perceptions are due to the problematic filtering of information about the external world through internal perceptual biases and schemas. A Constructionist Clinical Psychology for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy provides a timely and innovative critique of the dominant trends in CBT theory and practice. It applies a constructionist framework to treatment and offers a constructionist philosophy and methodology to complement existing clinical approaches in cognitive behaviour therapy. Kieron O'Connor presents a much needed alternative constructionist framework (addressing both individual and social constructionist ideas) which is laid out in a clear fashion for the clinician. He shows how the framework can be integrated into practice and offers an alternative to viewing psychopathology as an isolated problem which focuses on pathology as a response to internal or external events.He reveals how the new constructionist framework can encourage clinicians to look at the client centred context which creates psychopathology and explore areas and experiences not easily accessible to traditional cognitive behaviour approaches, but which are rendered understandable through a constructionist approach to experience. Using extensive case studies, A Constructionist Clinical Psychology for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy provides a constructionist framework approach which complements existing CBT approaches and shines new light on questions as to why some techniques work and others do not. With new tools for case formulation and evaluation, and trainee exercises for beginners, the book will appeal to clinical psychologists, clinical researchers, psychotherapists and other health and mental health professionals

Kieron O'Connor is Director of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Spectrum Study Centre in Montreal at the University Institute of Mental Health at Montreal, and Full Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Canada. He is an associate fellow of the BPS and fellow of Canadian Psychological Association. He is author or co-author of over 200 publications and 12 books.

"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 phenom