Transforming evidence: A discursive evaluation of narrative therapy case studies

A recent shift in American Psychological Association policy for what constitutes as evidence in psychotherapy has resulted in the inclusion of qualitative methodologies. Narrative therapy is a discursive therapy that is theoretically incongruent with the prevailing gold standard of experimental methodology in psychotherapy outcome evaluation. By using a discursive evaluation methodology that is congruent with narrative therapy this study of six peer-reviewed narrative therapy case articles found shifts in client positioning in the transformation from medical pathology discourses to strength-based discourses. It is concluded that five out of six case studies coherently demonstrated the effectiveness of narrative therapy with positive outcomes for clients and that a discursive evaluation has utility in producing a thick description of therapeutic outcome

Using Foucauldian perspectives to enable the reading/speaking/writing of mal/adjustment as moral subjects

The inclusion of adjustment in human lived experience as a mental disorder is problematic. Adjustment disorder has been criticised for its overuse and its lack of specificity in its employment as a diagnostic category. We present a preliminary reading of the mal/adjusted subject through a Foucauldian theoretical perspective by focusing on how it is told in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and positions the subject in a moral (dis)order. In turning the history of clinical mal/adjustment on itself through a reading of the DSM, we tentatively conclude that mal/adjustment continues to be problematic because of discontinuities in its own rules of formation. We conclude that the DSM’s (re)productions of mal/adjusted subject positions form an uncontrollable excess of emotion that morally constitutes and (dis)orders the subject as feminine. This is despite the DSM-IV claims that adjustment disorder is equally prevalent in men and women

I should have known . The perceptual barriers faced by mental health practitioners in recognizing and responding to their own burnout symptoms

Studies have shown burnout to be a significant problem in the mental health field, causing workers serious health problems and reducing quality of care provided to clients. Yet despite mental health practitioners’ training in supporting others’ emotional health, they may be reluctant to seek help for burnout symptoms. This paper addresses this paradox by showing how human cognitive processes could act as powerful blocks to the recognition of and response to burnout. Fifty-five mental health practitioners’ beliefs and perceptions about burnout were examined using qualitative interview and survey data interpreted through a phenomenological perspective on attribution theory. The study identified four perceptual biases and identified professional identity and stress-induced cognitive deficit having influence on the recognition and response to burnout

Problematising social context in evidence-based therapy evaluation practice/governance

This book chapter gives a critical overview of evidence-based psychotherapy evaluation. Drawing from the critical-historical and discursive perspective of governmentality, this chapter examines a contemporary history of psychotherapy evaluation by looking at the empirically validated/supported treatment and evidence-based practice movements. In framing psychotherapy evaluation as a governing practice, one that is reinforced through policy documents and discourse, this chapter argues that evidence-based therapy evaluation can decontextualise the client through manualisation, experimental methodolatry and medical objectification. Evidence-based practice also enables new possibilities of evaluation. The implications of evidence-based therapy evaluation are discussed in relation to the discursive therapies

Staff consultation report on the School of Psychology undergraduate curriculum at Massey University

The primary aim of this report was to examine staff member views of the current curriculum and the curriculum review and proposal within the School of Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand. This report examines these views to obtain a greater understanding of staff opinion and to form some recommendations on the development of the undergraduate psychology curriculum. The report covers two important areas. It analyses staff feedback on the current undergraduate curriculum, including its relevancy and what changes are needed. It also examines staff opinion on the curriculum review process concerning terms of reference to aid further curriculum review, preferred and non-preferred teaching arrangements, and the strengths and weaknesses of a proposed curriculum framework

Complexities of a Bhutanese school counselling community: A critical narrative insight

While school counselling was introduced to the Bhutan school system in recent years due to increased concerns about student wellbeing, there is a significant dearth of research on the influences and experiences of the profession. This is the first documented study on school counselling in Bhutan by an insider, a Bhutanese school guidance counsellor. Using social constructionism and critical theory to inform a narrative inquiry methodology, we story the complexities and struggles of a first generation school counsellor in Bhutan. This study enables voice on explaining counsellors’ multifaceted roles and responsibilities, and on disclosing tensions in the school system. School counsellors are challenged by limited training and professional development, and yet are expected to provide expert-led responsive services. Regarding these challenges, we examine the influence of metanarratives (governing community expectations) on counsellor legitimacy – and uncover counsellor counter-narratives as enactments of voice and resistance. We adapted a semi-structured narrative interview and thematic narrative analysis to facilitate participant reconstructions of events with their experiences. Findings suggest a need for relevant stakeholders within the education system to acknowledge and collectively address the current challenges faced by school counsellors

Preface - Refereed Proceedings of Doing Psychology: Manawatu Doctoral Research Symposium 2011

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Making Sense of Epistemological Conflict in the Evaluation of Narrative Therapy and Evidence-Based Psychotherapy

This paper outlines the epistemological and theoretical formation of narrative therapy and implications for its evaluation. Two authoritative paradigms of psychotherapy evaluation have emerged in psychology since the mid- 1990s. The Clinical Division of the American Psychological Association established the empirically supported treatment (EST) movement. A more inclusive but medically emulative model of evidence based practice in psychology (EBPP) then emerged. Some therapies such as narrative therapy do not share the theoretical commitments of these paradigms. Narrative therapy is an approach that values a non-expert based, collaborative, political and contextual stance to practice that is critical of normalising practices of medical objectification and reductionism. Post-positivist theoretical influences constitute narrative therapy as a practice that values the social production and multiplicity of meaning. This paper problematises a conflictual relationship (a differend) between the evaluation of narrative therapy and evidence based psychotherapy. Firstly, it briefly outlines the EST and EBPP paradigms and their epistemology. This paper then provides an overview of some of the key epistemological and theoretical underpinnings of narrative therapy and concludes with some cautionary notes on its evaluation

Ethics processes for Indigenous research

A facilitated discussion featuring the particular requirements - with examples - of research ethics when working with Aboriginal communities