Deconstructing Psychotherapy

Description

Examines the arguments on the discursive and postmodern turn in psychotherapy. The contributors reflect on the role of psychotherapy in contemporary culture; develop critiques of language in psychotherapy; and rework a place for the subject 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.

Reviews

'The book is a welcome addition to literature in the field, however, and signals the need for more vigorous engagement and debate, informed by postmodern discourse, in South Africa' - PINS 'I enjoyed this book, and think that it should find a grateful and attentive readership in the practical field as well as being a central text in academic settings. It will also be well received by those, like myself, for whom the interest is more in deconstructing than psychotherapy' -Dialogues

Author description

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

Table of contents

Deconstruction and Psychotherapy - Ian Parker PART ONE: SOURCES AND CONTEXTS FOR THE DECONSTRUCTIVE TURN Toward a Non-Regulative Praxis - John Kaye Derrida and the Deconstruction of Power as Context and Topic in Therapy - Glenn Larner Clementis's Hat - Vincent Fish Foucault and the Politics of Psychotherapy Between the 'No Longer' and the 'Not Yet' - Roger Lowe Postmodernism as a Context for Critical Therapeutic Work Feminism, Politics and Power in Therapeutic Discourse - Nollaig O'Reilly Byrne and Imelda Colgan McCarthy Fragments from the Fifth Province PART TWO: DECONSTRUCTION IN PRAXIS Narrative, Foucault and Feminism - Vanessa Swan Implications for Therapeutic Practice A Discursive Approach to Therapy with Men - Ian Law Therapy and Faith - Wendy Drewery with Wally McKenzie Inscription, Description and Deciphering Chronic Identities - Stephen Madigan PART THREE: DECONSTRUCTING PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC DISCOURSE The Therapist as Client as Expert - John Morss and Maria Nichterlein Externalizing Narrative Therapy Can (and Should) We Know How, Where and When Psychotherapy Takes Place? - Eero Riikonen and Sara Vataja