This book takes the discursive and postmodern turn in psychotherapy a significant step forward and will be of interest to all those working in mental health who are concerned with challenges to oppression and processes of emancipation. It achieves this by: reflecting on the role of psychotherapy in contemporary culture; developing critiques of language in psychotherapy that unravel its claims to personal truth; and the reworking of a place in the transformative therapeutic practice.
Deconstruction is brought to bear on the key conceptual and pragmatic issues that therapists and clinical psychologists face, and the project of therapy is opened up to critical attention and reconstruction. The book provides clear reviews of different viewpoints and will help readers to understand the complex terrain of debates.
Ian Parker is Professor of Psychology in the Discourse Unit at Bolton Institute. He is author of Psychoanalytic Culture (SAGE, 1997) and co-author of Deconstructing Psychopathology (SAGE, 1995). CONTRIBUTORS Steven D Brown Keele University Vivien Burr University of Huddersfield Andrew Collier University of Southampton Bronwyn Davies James Cook University Don Foster University of Cape Town Kenneth J Gergen Swarthmore College Rom Harre Oxford University Maritza Montero Universidad Central de Venezuela Jonathan Potter Loughborough University Joan Pujol University of Huddersfield Carla Willig Middlesex University