Personal Construct Psychology

Transcription

1 Personal Construct Psychology New Ideas Peter Caputi, Heather Foster and Linda L. Viney University of Wollongong, Australia

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3 Personal Construct Psychology

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5 Personal Construct Psychology New Ideas Peter Caputi, Heather Foster and Linda L. Viney University of Wollongong, Australia

6 Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England Telephone (+44) (for orders and customer service enquiries): Visit our Home Page on All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or ed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (+44) Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The Publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Other Wiley Editorial Offices John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA , USA Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Boschstr. 12, D Weinheim, Germany John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, 42 McDougall Street, Milton, Queensland 4064, Australia John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2 Clementi Loop #02-01, Jin Xing Distripark, Singapore John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 22 Worcester Road, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada M9W 1L1 Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Personal construct psychology: new ideas/peter Caputi, Heather Foster and Linda L. Viney. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN-10: (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Personal construct theory. I. Foster, Heather. II. Viney, Linda L. III. Title. BF698.9.P47C dc British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN ISBN Typeset in 11/13pt Times by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong. Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall. This book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production.

7 Contents About the Editors List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements ix xi xiii xvii SECTION I THEORY AND HISTORY 1 Applying personal construct models to work with people 3 Linda L. Viney 2 Personal construct therapy and its history in pragmatism 17 Trevor Butt 3 Reflections on the artistic mentality and personal construct psychology 27 Bill Warren 4 Personal construct psychology through a poststructural lens 35 Paula Eustace and Nina Bruni 5 The joint spatial representation of constructs and elements 47 Prasuna Reddy and Richard C. Bell 6 The inquiring man in the laboratory 61 Harald Seelig and Janina Radó 7 Small steps against the tyranny of distance in isolated communities 71 Linda L. Viney

8 vi SECTION II ASSESSMENT AND UNDERSTANDING CONTENTS 8 Therapeutic artistry: evoking experiential and relational truths 83 Larry M. Leitner 9 Diversity and multiculturalism in psychotherapy: A personal construct perspective 99 Derek C. Oliver and Mark W. Schlutsmeyer 10 Making sense of dementia 109 Sally Robbins and Mike Bender 11 Psychotherapists theoretical orientations as elaborative choices 131 David A. Winter, Finn Tschudi and Nicholas Gilbert 12 A personal construct theory view of professional identity 151 Julie Ellis SECTION III PROBLEMS OF LIVING 13 Trust and dependency in younger and older people 163 Nicole G. Rossotti, David A. Winter and Mary H. Watts 14 THC and PCP: factors maintaining cannabis use in people with and without psychosis 177 Bob Green 15 Counselling after sexual assault: a personal construct model of the impact of counsellors responses to client disclosure 195 Carole Carter and Linda L. Viney 16 Role relationships and the restoration of coherence in the stories of women diagnosed with breast cancer 205 Lisbeth G. Lane and Linda L. Viney 17 An hygienic process? Researcher and participants construing each other s worlds 215 Alessandra Iantaffi

9 CONTENTS SECTION IV EVIDENCE-BASED INTERVENTIONS vii 18 Menopause: the start of change 229 Heather Foster and Linda L. Viney 19 When the unreal becomes real: an evaluation of personal construct group psychotherapy with survivors of breast cancer 241 Lisbeth G. Lane and Linda L. Viney 20 Personal construct group work with troubled adolescents 253 Deborah Truneckova and Linda L. Viney SECTION V OTHER INTERVENTIONS, CLINICAL AND EDUCATIONAL 21 Tapping into pre-service teachers perceptions of successful language teachers: A repertory grid approach 273 Pamela Leung 22 Movement in personal change: the practice of dance therapy 295 Sabrina Cipolletta 23 The posture of anticipation: Kelly and Alexander 303 David M. Mills 24 The art of writing: embodiment and pre-verbal construing 317 Vivien Burr Index 323

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11 About the Editors Peter Caputi is a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong. He has published over 30 journal articles in the areas of Personal Construct Psychology, information systems and measurement issues in psychology, as well as co-authoring a textbook in research methods. He has reviewed for the International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, now the Journal of Constructivist Psychology and Personal Construct Theory and Practice. He has also edited conference abstracts for the Australian Journal of Psychology. Linda L. Viney is Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wollongong. She was instrumental in introducing Personal Construct Psychology in Australia and published extensively in the area as well as generally in clinical, counselling and health psychology. She has been Consulting Editor and Editor of the Australian Psychologist, and official journal of the APS. Linda has also been Foundation Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, now the Journal of Constructivist Psychology (1988 ), and Guest Editor of the issue based on the Fourth Australasian Conference on Personal Construct Psychology, which she co-ordinated, in Volume 3 (1990). Special Editor 1999, Community Mental Health Journal, for the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. Heather Foster PhD, Dip Ed (Tech.), is a registered psychologist who has applied personal construct psychology in clinical, academic and research areas of psychology. Her research interest is in changes in mid-life, particularly menopause. She draws on a wide background in psychology and vocational education and training and worked for many years in the NSW vocational and education training system. Her work included counselling, teaching, curriculum, policy and management roles, and involved writing, editing and managing the production of educational publications.

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13 List of Contributors Richard C. Bell Mike Bender Nina Bruni Vivien Burr Trevor Butt Carole Carter Sabrina Cipolletta Julie Ellis Paula Eustace Heather Foster Nicholas Gilbert Bob Green Alessandra Iantaffi Lisbeth G. Lane University of Melbourne, Australia Private practice, UK RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia University of Huddersfield, UK University of Huddersfield, UK University of Wollongong, Australia Universities of Padua and Bozen, Italy La Trobe University, Australia Deakin University, Australia University of Wollongong, Australia Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, UK Community Forensic Mental Health Service, Australia Private Practice, UK University of Wollongong, Australia

14 xii Larry M. Leitner Pamela Leung David M. Mills Derek C. Oliver Janina Radó Prasuna Reddy Sally Robbins Nicole G. Rossotti Mark W. Schlutsmeyer Harold Seelig Deborah Truneckova Finn Tschudi Linda L. Viney Bill Warren Mary H. Watts David A. Winter Miami University, USA Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong The Performance School, Seattle, USA United States Army, USA Tübingen University, Germany University of Melbourne, Australia Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust, UK Private practice, South Australia Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services, California, USA Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft, Universität Freiburg, Germany University of Wollongong, Australia University of Oslo, Norway University of Wollongong, Australia University of Newcastle, Australia City University, UK LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS University of Hertfordshire & Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, UK

15 Preface In 1955, George Kelly published his seminal work, The Psychology of Personal Constructs. This two-volume work was theoretically challenging and provocative! It provided a statement about how people make sense of their worlds, as well as an approach to clinical practice, based on an original theoretical framework. In presenting his theory, Kelly abandoned traditional concepts in the psychological literature, concepts such as motivation (Monte, 1987). Instead, Kelly proposed that individuals engaged in scientific activities similar to his own endeavours. Kelly saw people as personal scientists seeking to understand their lives by devising and testing hypotheses about their worlds and the people that share them (Monte, 1987). The central concept in Kelly s theory is construction or construing. People construe or make sense of their worlds, the events in them, and of themselves. This process of construing (and re-construing) results in a system of constructs that provides a unique framework for understanding and anticipating events in one s world. The underlying philosophical assumption in personal construct theory is that all of our present interpretations of the universe are subject to revision or replacement (Kelly, 1955, p. 15). This postion is referred to as a philosophy of constructive alternativism (Winter, 1992, p. 4). This position posits that an individual is not limited to a particular interpretation of their world. People can re-interpret their worldview and make way for alternative, more meaningful interpretations of their universe (Winter, 1992). However, the philosophy of constructive alternativism is not a solipsistic position. Kelly does not deny the existence of an objective reality. Rather, he argues that we cannot experience the real world directly. We construe that world; we give meaning to it and anticipate future events (Winter, 1992, pp. 4 5). People construe their worlds in various ways. People s experiences of the world are diverse. Although having its origins in clinical psychology, Kelly intended his theory to have a wide range of applicability. The literature associated with Personal Construct Theory (PCT) demonstrates that Kelly s ideas