Counselling Psychology Reviewbps-dcop-uk.s3.amazonaws.com/cpr/cpr_2005_20_1.pdf · Counselling...

Volume 20 Number 1February 2005

CounsellingPsychology Review

ISSN: 0269-6975

Counselling Psychology Review

Editor: Heather Sequeira Gulson Hospital, Coventry

Reference Library Editor Waseem Alladin Hull University, Centre for Couple, Marital & Sex Therapy andand Consulting Editor: Hull & East Riding Health NHS Trust

Book Reviews Editor: Kasia Szymanska Centre for Stress Management

Consulting Editors: Malcolm C. Cross City UniversityNicky Hart Wolverhampton UniversityRuth Jordan Surrey UniversityMartin Milton Surrey UniversityStephen Palmer Centre for Stress Management and City UniversityLinda Papadopoulos London Guildhall UniversityJohn Rowan The Minster CentreMary Watts City University

Editorial Advisory Board: Alan Bellamy Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS TrustAlan Frankland APSI NottinghamPeter Martin Roehampton UniversityFenella Quinn University of East LondonSheelagh Strawbridge Independent Practitioner and Kairos Counselling and

Training Services, Hessle, East Yorkshire

SubscriptionsCounselling Psychology Review is published quarterly by the Division of Counselling Psychology, and is distributed free ofcharge to members. It is available to non–members (Individuals £12 per volume; Institutions £20 per volume) from:Division of Counselling Psychology, The British Psychological SocietySt Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR.Tel: 0116 254 9568

AdvertisingAdvertising space is subject to availability, and is accepted at the discretion of the Editor. The cost is:

Division Members OthersFull Page £50 £100Half Page £30 £60High-quality camera-ready artwork and the remittance must be sent together to the Editor: Psychological Therapies Team, Sage Ward, Gulson Hospital, Gulson Road, Coventry CV21 2HR.Cheques should be made payable to: Division of Counselling Psychology.

DisclaimerViews expressed in Counselling Psychology Review are those of individual contributors and not necessarily of the Division ofCounselling Psychology or The British Psychological Society. Publication of conferences, events, courses, organisations andadvertisements does not necessarily imply approval or endorsement by the Division of Counselling Psychology. Anysubsequent promotional piece or advertisement must not indicate that an advertisement has previously appeared inCounselling Psychology Review.Situations vacant cannot be accepted. It is the Society’s policy that job vacancies are published in theAppointments Memorandum. For details, contact the Society’s office.

CopyrightCopyright for published material rests with the Division of Counselling Psychology and the British Psychological Societyunless otherwise stated. With agreement, an author will be allowed to republish an article elsewhere as long as a note is included stating: first published in Counselling Psychology Review, volume no. and date. Counselling psychologists and teachers of psychology may use material contained in this publication in any way that mayhelp their teaching of counselling psychology. Permission should be obtained from the Society for any other use.

IWANT TO BEGIN my first issue as editorof Counselling Psychology Review by express-ing warm thanks to the outgoing editor,

Alan Bellamy, for his sage counsel and excel-lent advice. I realise that taking over theeditorialship of CPR is a challenging endeav-our since such outstanding work has beendone. Alan’s excellent example has moti-vated me immensely and I am glad to extendgratitude on behalf of all DCoP members toAlan for his innovative work.

The academic papers in this issue comefrom a range of contributors that reflect thediversity in our profession. Martin Miltonpresents an original and thought-provokingpaper on transformation, using first handaccounts to outline the nature of ‘transfor-mation’ as experienced by fighters. Issuesrelated to this process of change are thenconsidered for their implications for coun-selling psychology practice. Sheelagh Straw-brige offers an absorbing reflection on therelationship between story and therapy,concluding with a discussion of creative cross-fertilisation between the arts and sciences.Ann Macaskill, presents us with a discussionof the literature on the concept of forgive-ness. She concludes with the suggestion thatcounselling psychologists are uniquelyequipped to contribute to the growing litera-

ture in this area. Finally, Jyoti Nanda presentsan original piece of phenomenologicalresearch on the effect of meditation on ther-apeutic practice. In addition, I would like tohighlight a contribution in the NewsletterSection concerning Statutory Regulation.Clearly, this issue has significant implicationsfor our profession and it is noted that theDCoP executive committee would like tohear the views from members of the division.

As editor, my aim is that CPR continues topublish a high standard of academic andpractice relevant papers. Furthermore, thatthe Newsletter Section continues to act as aforum for DCoP members to discuss anddebate the issues which affect our profes-sion, exchange information and expand theexisting network between counsellingpsychologists in the UK. I would like to inviteall members of the division to contact me toshare their comments and advice on how tofurther enhance the publication’s value tothe Counselling Psychology profession.Much as I realise that there is no apparentreason to change any aspect of CPR at thismoment, I take it for granted that I shallhave to accept the challenge of being inno-vative and creative in order to keep CPR rele-vant to our developing profession.

Counselling Psychology Review Vol. 20 No 1 February 2005 1© The British Psychological Society – ISSN 0269-6975

EditorialHeather Sequeira

GARY 1 IS A FIGHTER. He doesn’t seehimself as aggressive or violentalthough he knows that others might

see it differently. In his day-to-day life hewants to be relaxed and wants to enjoyhimself in the same ways that others do. Hesays: ‘When I go out for an evening, the lastthing I want is [to] end up having a fight, [I]wanna go and enjoy myself.’2 And it’s not justhim either. Gary says: ‘My mates and I, whenwe do go out, we’re just not typical of thosepeople, we are just never going to start afight, we are a group of fighters and are themost unlikely people to get in a fight, lesschance we will start a fight than anybody elsethat’s out.’3

Because of this, in the run-up to a fightGary puts in a lot of effort to try and get awayfrom his ‘everyday self’. He has to find a wayto get himself to a state of readiness to fightand his training is obviously used for this.Whether it is in the gym, sparring or with hiscoach, he deliberately engages with a processof transformation. Having said that, trainingisn’t something he only does for a fight – it isan ongoing experience for him and one thatrequires him to attend to his body and to hismind. Some people (mainly fight fans) areaware of the type of training he has to go

through – consistent, intensive, targetingboth cardio and plyometrics (although somealso use weights). Gary does this come rainor shine, health or injury. Others are lessaware of all that this entails and theemotional aspects as well. Gary is anemotional being and he has to find a way tocapitalise on this – and so he includes hismind as well as his body in his training. Heexplains: ‘I try to feel the emotions I will befeeling when I am fighting. You don’t do thisjust before the fight, you do it weeks, monthsbefore.’4 It is this ongoing training andpreparation that allows him to develop skilland confidence in his abilities before hetakes them into the arena where it countsmost – the ring or the cage.

Gary knows that this transformation isgoing to be demanding – it is not going tohappen all by itself. It’s a conscious processand he knows that he will experience differ-ent things at different stages in the run-up tothe fight. He says that in the immediate run-up: ‘I sort of do my secret stuff, and I ampretty lethal, I kind of transform. Because Iam quite a nice guy, I feel like, but I have toget myself into a nasty place, not NASTYplace, but into a ferocious area, get myenergy to the point where I am going intobattle, you know. I don’t want to be too nice.’5

Gary knows that when it comes to thisstage he has to take a purposeful stance andit needs more than just a slight adjustment inhis sense of himself. It doesn’t just happenwhen he puts the gloves on. At times he feelsthat he has to make major changes – switch-ing from one way of being to the opposite. Itis important that he knows what he wants to

2 Counselling Psychology Review© The British Psychological Society 2005 • ISSN 0269-6975

The process of transformation:A fighter’s perspectiveMartin Milton

This paper draws on first-hand accounts to outline the nature of ‘transformation’ as experienced by fightersin the run up to a fight and the experience afterwards. Issues related to this process of change and develop-ment are then considered for their implications for counselling psychology practice.

1 Gary is a composite character drawn from theaccounts of a sample of fighters interviewed for theresearch outlined in Milton 2004a, 2004b and 2004c.Quotes will be attributed to the participants’pseudonym in the following footnotes.2 Steve3 Ivan4 Alistair5 Alistair

achieve and stays focussed and puts theeffort in to achieving that state. With thisdedication and effort he becomes ‘morepumped up, more aggressive, morefocussed, definitely more purposeful, I knowwhat I am going in there [the ring] to do.’6

For Gary, the process of preparing for afight is a paradox – as he becomes moredetermined and confident, he also experi-ences nervousness. On the way to training hefinds himself thinking ‘Oh my God, this iswhat I’ve got to go through tonight.’7 Gary isnervous about the demands it will place onhim – physically and emotionally as: ‘In theback of your mind you are thinking, yeh, Iam going here but I am probably gonna getbattered. So when you are there you areenjoying it, it doesn’t really matter, but whenyou have left you really glad you went, butyou’re always initially a little bit worriedabout going.’8

Gary isn’t bothered by this as he knows‘every fighter feels this before a fight, [andasks] what am I doing here? Why am I here?They must feel that, they all feel that at somepoint – that’s the pre-nerve thing.’9 He seeshis confusion and nervousness as normaland something that all fighters experience.

Along with all this nervousness Gary hasto raise his energy levels. This is not purely aside effect of the nervousness of the adrena-line but a state that he aims for deliberately.He explains it by saying: ‘You have to getyour energy right, you vibrate at a higherlevel, [ ] and that’s all it is, that’s my analogyof fighting. [ ] If I have got that mind set Iam unstoppable.’10

In order to get ‘your energy right’, Garylikes: ‘To get a bit lary, [ ], not too much, notto the point where I have lost it but I need toget my energy up, you know, you have to, I

have to raise the molecules in my body, makethem vibrate at a higher level. That’s [ ] howgranny’s, when they are in survival situations,can lift cars up to save their children, andyou think, ‘how the hell can they do that?’But these things are possible.’11

As fight time approaches, Gary is workinghard to get his energy levels ‘right’ – and it isimportant that he work at both a mental anda physical transformation. He starts his phys-ical transformation by: ‘Moving around, startdoing your shadow boxing. You start trans-forming, switching, there are some breath-ing exercises you can do, with T’ai Chi andstuff that bring it out even more. There arebody positions you can do, [ ] and there’sexercises you can do to bring all that outwhich means you are faster, react better, I doa bit of that.’12

At the same time, Gary is focussing ontransforming his state of mind and he useshis imagination to do this: ‘I imagine I amgetting the shit beaten out of me and I amreally, … I have got all these scenarios, sowhen I come to the day of the fight, I amcompletely prepared.’13 The fighter focuseshis training and preparation on the realitiesof the situation he is going to encounter.

Preparation is not an isolated experi-ence, not something that Gary has to endureentirely on his own. It can be quite a socialprocess. Gary uses others (in most cases,other men) to get him ready to fight. He hasa team around him and he might use theirphysical assistance as ‘just before you have toget your energy higher. [ ] I like to have amassage, not too deep, just to get everythingloose.’14 As well as the physical assistance, histrainer and corner-men help him mentallytoo. ‘I have got all of my guys telling me allthe good things to say, they all know what tosay: ‘Come on you are looking good’, ‘Sopowerful’ – I sort of know its bullshit, its notbullshit I am looking powerful but they aresaying it for the desired effect and you say allthese things: ‘God you are strong’, ‘You arelooking good’, ‘You are calm and confidentand relaxed’. ‘You go out there and are busi-ness like’, [ ], ‘there’s no way this guy can

Counselling Psychology Review 3

The process of transformation

6 Steve7 Steve8 Steve9 Alistair10 Alistair11 Alistair12 Alistair13 Alistair

take you’. ‘You are strong and if he does thisyou are going to do that’ ‘If he gets you inthis position you are OK’.’15

Once it has gotten to this point, the fightis imminent. He can hear the noise of thecrowd from the changing room, he may haveseen guys come back from earlier fights. Heis gloved up and he is ready to do the busi-ness. Gary has transformed himself from hiseveryday state to one where he is preparedfor the fight – or at least looking ahead tofight. He reflects on that state and says: ‘I feel ready, I feel ready yeh, I just feel, Idon’t feel ready because I contradict what Isaid earlier, I never feel ready but I know Iam ready. I don’t feel ready because I don’treally want to go in there, but at the sametime I feel safe. I feel protected.’16

Gary is sometimes in conflict at this point– not ‘feeling’ ready but still, it is time tofight. He knows that being nervous is a partof the process and in some ways he thinks itis helpful. When he isn’t as ready as he mightlike to be, Gary takes advantage of the initialstages of the fight and it is only once thefight is underway that he experiences thetransformation. ‘I think that’s then wherethe significant change happens, I mean [ ]the event itself is actually quite separate andis characterised by different feelings anddifferent emotions and that [transforma-tion] will tend to happen when I first got hit.I was ok till I first got hit then that wouldchange my feelings about things, I wouldfeel, um I would have these destructiveemotions, in the sense of anger and aggres-sion and you know, it would take somethinglike that to happen to get those out of me.’17

Because he has a good chin and can takea punch (although he knows it is risky to becomplacent about this), it means that whenan attack does get through, it can help him

focus more. He is very clear on this and goeson to say: ‘I need to be hurt if you like froma punch or a kick for me to then get into thatframe of mind and think I have got to do anequal amount of damage to what he’s doingto me, so they’d be quite a shift. And then itwould really just be about trying to inflict asmuch damage to them and not get hitmyself.’18

At this point Gary is completely immersedin the fight, he is focussed and there is noth-ing on his mind other than his opponent andthe fight – its time to do the business. Thereis just ‘the feeling of being in ‘the zone’ theremight be 200 people watching but the onlything you are aware of is your opponent.’19 Atthis point, transformation is complete. Heknows it is and other can see it as well. Hesays: ‘my friends say to me, when they see me,I have totally transformed.’20

Gary knows that no matter how much hewants to prepare himself, he is not going toknow how ready he is until he is in the midstof the fight. But, at that point, he experi-ences a completely different consciousness,he is less focused on intellectual perception.Gary says at this point: ‘I am transformed. I have done this what I call praying, and thishas only happened recently, in my last two,three fights where I have transformed anddon’t really remember what is going on.’21

Once he has become a fighter, he is in it– both mind and body are attuned to the jobat hand. This focus is powerful and contin-ues after the fight – at least until he can finda way to ‘switch off’. Sometimes, the fighterhas no problem with this and finds that hecan revert to his normal day-to-day experi-ence pretty easily. It can be a straightforwarda task like throwing a switch: ‘when we switchit on, I hit the guy, bam, bam, bam – I amaggressive. But then boom I switch torelaxed again.’22 When he can do this he isable to experience the man who, onlyseconds before was his opponent, as some-one he values and respects. He says: ‘Afterthe fight I have got all the respect in theworld for anyone that will step in the ring. Inever had any hatred.’23

4 Counselling Psychology Review

Martin Milton

14 Alistair15 Alistair16 Alistair17 Andy18 Andy19 Mr Nev, SFUK Forum20 Alistair



Gary is aware that this can happen a lotand he reflects on the fact that many of hismates are people who were his opponents atsome stage. He says: ‘I have a lot of friendsfrom when I was boxing who are guys I have

fought. I have met them when I fought themin the ring and again when you go to train atgyms you get there and there’s a sense of‘what you doing here?’ and the eyeballingand so on – they try to make it not look like

they are but he is. By the end of the trainingsession you are all mates.’24

There are times when, after the high ofthe fight, Gary struggles to make the transi-tion back to his day to day normality. Whenthis happens he find himself quite unsettled.He says: ‘Of course the next day I was reallydepressed’. But why would he be depressed?While the depression can sometimes beconfusing for him, he has an idea what it isabout. He says: ‘After [the fight] I felt down[ ] I just felt down, anticlimax I guess. I feltSO, I had my energy SO high, higher thananything and then like UURRGGHH kind ofrelief, kind of, its adrenal dump, I think I canexplain it like that. Your energy is so high, Iwas just like UURRGGHH . [ ] I always getlike that, I feel sick and … I feel like on acome down from doing lots and lots of horri-ble drugs – even if I haven’t done them. [ ]That’s like winning the fight ‘YES, YES!!!’and then for a few hours ‘YES, YES!!!’ andthen about an hour after you are all‘UURRGGHH’ Everything has gone out ofyou. Adrenal dump I guess.’25

When this happens, it can take Gary awhile to regain his sense of himself –some-times it takes up to a week and he can’t stopthinking about it. He says: ‘I will spend a lotof time ruminating over it and trying to findout why it happened maybe blame otherpeople, for example, why did they give thedecision to him, I will spend a lot of timethinking about it so um, yeh probably for aweek afterwards, but it will still be on mymind, even when I am training.’26

A week later he is probably back to whathe thinks of as normal, but he is still aware –or made aware - that his transformation isongoing. An aspect of this change is physicaland yet social, personal yet public. He hearsabout his ongoing change from others: ‘She looks at pictures of me and she always

says ‘your nose is getting bust’ and ‘your ears’– this is what I don’t like cauliflower, you prob-ably can’t really notice it but where they aregetting bashed they are growing . […] Nean-derthal a little bit, I cut very easily, I bleed …I bleed like a bitch, the cartilage is growingthere. My nose has been broken three times,my features are slowly changing.’27

It seems as if it’s a case of, ‘if you swim,you get wet’. He sees these types of changesas normal because he is not the only one thatchanges. He says: ‘The biggest advantage forall of us [who fight] I noticed was that we allstopped [street] fighting as much. When youknow you have nothing to prove you have noego to polish.’28

Gary is well aware that this transforma-tion is a demanding and tiring one, but forhim, it is worth every struggle and all theenergy expended. It gives him a sense ofachievement. He says: ‘I’ve got this need todo this as well […] I achieved more than Iever thought I would achieve doing it.’29

When he sums up his experience of theall encompassing nature of the training, themental and physical aspects of fighting andthe social aspects, Gary is sure that all thepain, effort, commitment and hard work thatgoes into such a transformation is worth it.He says: ‘It’s a whole state of being, my wholelife revolves around this.’30

Implications for psychological practiceThis account of how a fighter experiences aprocess of transformation comes out of arecent study that explored the phenomenol-ogy of ‘being a fighter’. The study – includ-ing its methodology, strengths, limitationsand findings – is outlined elsewhere (seeMilton 2004a, 2004b, 2004c) and will not beoutlined here. This paper reflects on thenotion of fighting, the process outlinedabove and considers some implications forcounselling psychology practice.

The account outlined above is importantas much psychological and psychotherapeu-tic literature simply fails to attend to theexperience of fighting. When it ismentioned, it is usually as a diagnostic


Martin Milton

21 Alistair22 Jack23 Ivan24 Ivan25 Alistair26 Andy

feature of such psychiatric ‘disorders’ asconduct disorder and anti-social personalitydisorder (American Psychiatric Association,1987). This is not necessarily useful as itinvites psychologists to think only of theproblematic aspects of fighting and limitsour understandings of its value and mean-ing. For such understandings, those inter-ested need to turn to other sources ofinformation. Some might check the sportspages of the print media, especially sportspecific publications as Martial Arts Illus-trated, Boxing Weekly or Full Contact Fighter. Inaddition, there are also a number of booksthat describe personal experiences of fight-ing and the wider experiences of the fighter(see Davies, 2002; Freeman & Wheatman,2001, Shamrock & Hanner, 1997). There arealso an increasing number of biographicalwritings of fighting available that attempt toutilise both biographical and more objectiveaccounts to represent the fighter more real-istically and more phenomenologically

(Beattie, 1996, Mathews, 2001; Twigger,1997). These latter texts are of particularrelevance for those interested in the datathat is presented in this paper.

The following sections of the paperreflect on the account above and considersome of the implications it has for therapistswhen working with the notion of transfor-mation.

The first question that comes to mind isthe stance that therapists take, both person-ally and professionally, to human aggressivityand fighting. As therapists what assumptionsand biases do we have about aggression andits embodied practices? How do we see it inothers and how do we engage with our owncapacities? For example, if the fighter isproud of his or her achievements31, how ableare we to share in the struggle they have hadin order to realise their capability? Can werecognise the passion, bravery and effortexperienced – both at an intellectual leveland in an emotionally attuned manner? Todo this we may be required to reconceptu-alise the notions of ‘attunement’, ‘intimacy’and ‘therapeutic relationship’ so that as wellas the stereotypical ‘warm and fluffy’ rela-



27 Alistair28 Gconn, SFUK Forum29 Ivan30 Alistair

tionships we try to facilitate, we can alsoengage openly and honestly with the aggres-sion of the other?

When listening to these fighters, itbecame apparent that on some occasions, itmight be appropriate to substitute the term‘therapy’ for ‘training’, and ‘therapist’ for‘sparring partner’ or ‘coach’. In our ownfield, the term ‘therapy’ has sometimes beenequated to a ‘training’ (or re-training) role –as both therapy and training can be concep-tualised as a space for observation of currentexperience, behaviour and interaction,thinking about new or different options andin some approaches, trying out of new waysof being. We see this in different therapeuticdiscourses – whether this is considered inrelation to the therapist (e.g. transferenceprocesses) or to others in their family (e.g.systemic approaches) or to the world at large(e.g. behavioural experiments). There maybe parallels to the coaching and trainingprocess whereby the fighter is coachedthrough thousands of left hooks before itbecomes natural, effective and habitual. Likethe coach, the therapist, may have to be theone who withstands the anxiety and lack ofconfidence of the client, who advises aslower pace, time to reflect and reminds theclient of the importance of staying with theprocess of learning.

Like fight training, therapy is of course asocial process. While we may not spend wholedays with clients, nor enact physical readinessin the same way, I wonder what thepsychotherapeutic equivalent of ‘massage’ is?or the giving of ‘useful bullshit’? As therapistswe know that sometimes it is not enough tobe ‘warm’ and to facilitate ‘nice’ relation-ships. The experience of being a therapistmay also mean that we take a psychic beating– as if we are their psychological sparringpartner. This aspect of the therapeutic workmay be helpful precisely because we engagewith the aspects of the clients that they areless comfortable with or that are less socially

acceptable – this of course brings us to impul-sivity, aggression, anger, envy and the like.

Another challenge that this account oftransformation raises for therapists is howour view of the world affects the way in whichwe engage with the tough and difficult reali-ties that clients face. The fighter knows whathe faces – he is reminded of this almost dailyas he has ‘his craft pounded in’ (Wacquant,2004). I sometimes wonder whether we canappreciate this and join our clients in such astance? At times it seems that routine prac-tice (certainly in over-pressurised publicsector contexts) is either try to ‘normalise’clients fears (or more realistically, minimisethem) or we focus on the negative and thescary without recognition of the positiveaspects. The fighter reminds us that withouta realistic focus on the challenges ahead,people are not adequately prepared. If wefocus on our struggles too much, withoutthinking about hope we are ill prepared andinevitably feel less than confident in facingour challenges (see Milton, 2004c).

In this regard, the fighter’s suggestionthat he needs to focus on finding a ‘nasty’place is interesting as it poses a challenge tomany therapeutic notions of warm, calm inti-macy. Would counselling psychologists feel itappropriate to facilitate such an explorationand the adoption of nastiness? It might beterribly risky – yet without it we are beingvery directive in limiting what clients canexplore (‘positive’ emotions and their capac-ities) and how (through nice warm relation-ships with us).

Related to the individual and socialdimension is the age-old conundrum of howwe understand embodied existence. Thefighters discussed experiences that are notnecessarily knowable by translation intowords – in the same way that the experienceof music is impoverished when we attempt to‘explain’ it in words. Despite this, these expe-riences can be crucial to one’s sense of selfand to their relationships. We may recognise


Martin Milton

31 The account uses the masculine tone because, despite calls for female fighters to participate, I only had access to male participants.

that ‘it’s hard to go from mental compre-hension to physical realisation’ (Wacquant,2004) in boxing and other physical pursuits,it is also a major challenge for those thera-pists whose work is centred on the clarifica-tion of experience. As psychologists we riskour discussions being over-psychologisedand bodily experiences being poorlyengaged with. The question is how do weengage authentically with the bodily needsof psychotherapy clients without it beinginappropriate? Inappropriate either byvirtue of being overly physical, or cold anddistant?

The ways in which fighters often experi-ence a ‘down’ after the fight is also of inter-est when we think about transformation andthe parallels in therapeutic practice. Notonly does it invite us to think about the desta-bilising effects of therapy or when clients usetherapy to initiate changes in their everydaylives and relationships, but it also invites usto think about the fact that we have a moraland ethical responsibility to at least considerand discuss the fact that therapy can be along and arduous process and can makepeople feel bad.

As well as issues that affect the one-to-onetherapeutic relationship, it is also importantto recognise that the fighters accounts canhelp us think about some of the wider issuesfor example about time and levels of inputrequired for transformation to occur, or the

issue of individual or group impact. Doeseffective life long change occur if we pre-setarbitrary time limits as some services insistupon? Or, is it similar to the development ofa good left hook, with people requiring timeand repeated intervention, to firmly butconsistently draw attention to the slidingback into old habits?

Finally, it is important to note that theseare just some issues that occurred to me inthe discussions with my research participants.As is the case with any human experience amyriad experiences can be thought about butthis paper clearly cannot attend to these in anexhaustive manner. It is hoped however, thatthese accounts might provoke thought inrelation to the meaning of being human andhow psychologists relate to all aspects of this– maybe even in the pages of CPR.

AcknowledgementsThanks go to Mr Ian Butlin of the QuannumGym for kind permission to use the photo-graphs.

CorrespondenceMartin MiltonDepartment of Psychology,School of Human Sciences,University of Surrey,Guildford GU2 7XH.E-mail: [email protected]



American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnosticand statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.,revised). Washington DC: APA.

Beattie, G. (1996). On the ropes: Boxing as a way of life.London: Victor Gollancz.

Davies, J. (2002). Streetfighters: Real fighting men telltheir stories. Bury: Milo Books Ltd.

Freeman, I. & Wheatman, S. (2001). The machine: The autobiography of Ian Freeman. Gateshead:Mirage Publishing.

Matthews, D. (2001). Looking for a fight. London:Headline.

Milton, M. (2004a). Being a fighter: ‘It’s a whole stateof being’. Existential Analysis, 15(1).

Milton, M. (2004b). Being a fighter: ‘It’s a positivething around my male friends.’ ExistentialAnalysis, 15(2).

Milton, M. (2004c). Excitement, fear and depression: Theemotional lives of fighters. http://sfuk.tripod.com/sfukmainframe.html

Shamrock, K. & Hanner, R. (1997). Inside the lion’sden: The life and submission fighting of Ken Shamrock.Texas: Tuttle Publishing.

Twigger, R. (1997). Angry white pajamas. London:Phoenix.

Wacquant, L. (2004). Body and soul: Notebooks of anapprentice boxer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

References

ICALL THE FOLLOWING a reflectionbecause it is more in the way of thoughtsto share than a polished argument, but I

hope it makes connections and stimulatesfurther reflections. It began as a piece ofwork during dramatherapy training andcontinues to be, like me, work in progress.

Stories and storytelling are as old ashumanity and found in all known cultures.Along with ritual and dance, storytelling hasbeen closely linked with the origin oftheatre (see, for example, Brockett, pp.5–6)and is a fundamental human activity. Itaffords pleasure, the opportunity for fantasy,creative imagination and aesthetic apprecia-tion as well as a way of communicating, shar-ing and building community. Stories canprovide containers, which allow for somedistance in exploring human problems andthey offer answers to existential questions.So all cultures have stories about creationand Bruce Chatwin’s informant, forexample, tells how the ancestors of the firstAustralians sang the world into existence: …the Ancestors created themselves from clay…one for each totemic species. (Chatwin,1988, p.14.) In a first primordial act ofnaming … each Ancestor called out, ‘I am –Snake, Cockatoo, Honey-ant – …’ They eachput their left foot forward and called out asecond name, their right foot and called athird, naming the waterholes, reedbeds,gumtrees calling all things into being andweaving their names into verses as they sangtheir way all over the world. (Chatwin, 1988,p.81.)

He comments … by singing the worldinto existence … the Ancestors had beenpoets in the original sense of poesis meaning‘creation’. … the land … must first exist as aconcept in the mind … then it must be sung… only then can it be said to exist …to existis to be perceived. (Chatwin, 1988, p.16.)

From many Ancestors to one God, theGospel of St. John opens, ‘In the beginningwas the Word and the Word was with Godand the Word was God.’

Such connections between words,naming and creation in myths and storiesare found all over the world. But what isbeing created? From the perspective of ourown time and culture, it is probably mostuseful to answer this question in terms ofhuman meaning and value. Seeing suchstories as propositions of literal ‘historical’truth led, in the West, to their eclipse by oneoverarching story, what Lyotard has called a‘grand or meta-narrative’, that of science(Lyotard, 1984). Seen as ‘primitive’ attemptsto explain the ‘natural world’ (or sometimesdefended as such, e.g. in creation vs. evolu-tion debates), myths and stories have, bymany, been consigned to the nursery, or atbest seen as cultural artefacts of interest onlyto anthropologists. So powerful has been themeta-narrative of science that even the worldof human relationships and meaning hasbeen seen as explainable in the same termsand positivist-empiricist psychology reducedmind/soul/psyche to brain chemistry, physi-ology and behaviour.

Parallel storiesAs I write this, I recognise a personal trajec-tory paralleling this Western cultural trajec-tory and, as I struggle both to find my way into writing about story and to choose a storyto focus my thoughts, I am reminded to startwith my own relationship with stories (e.g.Brun et al., 1993, p.27). As a child I lovedstories and like most children I was easilytransported into fantasy worlds. However,although I continued to enjoy stories, as Igrew up I came to treat them, alongsidetheatre, cinema and the arts in general as,belonging to the part of my life constructed

Counselling Psychology Review 11© The British Psychological Society 2005 • ISSN 0269-6975

Story: A personal reflectionSheelagh Strawbridge

as ‘non-serious’. Enjoyable and enrichingthey might be, but I did not see them ashaving anything to contribute to my know-ledge and understanding of either the natu-ral or the human world. I studied biologyand became a science teacher and thenmoved into psychology. Although I was frus-trated by the aridity of the academic psychol-ogy taught in the 1960s, I turned to sociologyand philosophy, rather than the arts, in mypursuit of knowledge and understanding,and to party politics in pursuit of socialjustice. It took a good deal of pain and disil-lusionment to bring the necessary humilityto recognise limits to the possibility of under-standing let alone in the capacity to changethe world on any grand scale. Nevertheless,my youthful arrogance was progressivelychallenged.

Again I personally shadowed the moregeneral failure of attempts to reduce mean-ing to causality and the attendant interpreta-tive shift in social science of the mid-1970s.This together with ideas that have beentermed ‘postmodern’ has led to a renewedinterest by psychologists and sociologists inthe exploration of stories as repositories ofhuman experience, meaning and value. Inthis context Jerome Bruner made an impor-tant contribution to the liberation ofpsychology. Struggling to reconnect modernpsychology with poetry and storytelling hemade a useful distinction between ‘paradig-matic knowing’, concerned with logical argu-ment and the search for universal truthconditions, and ‘narrative knowing’,concerned with how we come to endowexperience with meaning (Bruner, 1986,pp.11–13). Ironically it is now sometimes theformer that is called upon to justify itself, butthat is another story.

The above sketches no more than frag-ments of a plot and, moreover, a plot whichinterweaves with alternative plots. Intrigu-ingly, James Hillman tells us of an interviewwith Freud that suggests one such: Everybodythinks that I stand by the scientific characterof my work … I am a scientist by necessity andnot by vocation. I am really by nature an artist

… in all countries into which psychoanalysishas penetrated it has been better understoodand applied by writers and artists than bydoctors. My books, in fact, more resembleworks of imagination than treatises onpathology … (Hillman, 1995, p.3).

My story?So why sketch the plot at all? This is not anessay in the history of psychology. The pointis that the parallel personal and culturalstories suggested are precisely ‘his’-stories.They manifest the theme of imbalancebetween what is variously described, withdiffering emphases, as, masculinity and femi-ninity/logos and eros/Apollo and Dionysos.This imbalance has often been identified asan issue for our culture, our interpersonalrelationships and our intra-psychic conflicts.It has been addressed in the voice of logosin, for example, feminist theory and Jungianpsychology and in the voice of eros in novelspoems and plays, such as Margaret Atwood’sThe Handmaid’s Tale, Lindsay Clarke’s TheChymical Wedding and Tony Harrison’s, TheTrackers of Oxyrhynchus. Whilst all of thesehave made significant impressions upon me,one particular encounter with this themeconstituted a personal epiphanal moment.

The encounter was with the fairy taleRumpelstiltskin (Brothers Grimm, 1983).Significantly, in relation to my theme, it wasnot the tale alone that made the impact butthe tale told in the context of a Jungianinterpretation. (Loomis, 1995) I wasconfronted by myself as a ‘father’s daughter’and I read the book in a mist of tears. I havesince recommended or given it to friendswith similar effect. Choosing Rumpelstiltskinto focus my thoughts for a course assess-ment, I re-read the book and saw myselfrepeating the old pattern of pleasing thefather, in the authority figures of tutors.Moreover, in writing an essay rather thantelling a story I was prioritising logos overeros and I note the paradox pointed out byBruner. He quotes Czeslaw Milosz, ‘Manylearned books on poetry have been written,and they find, at least in the countries of the


Sheelagh Strawbridge

West, more readers than does poetry itself’(Bruner, 1986, p.3). Unlike the Greeks, atleast from the time of Homer and throughthe Classical period, we seem to have lostsomething of our immediate connectionwith the language of poetry and need itexplaining and interpreting. The impact onme of the possible symbolic and metaphoricmeaning of Rumpelstiltskin was channelledthrough such an interpretation.

Symbol and metaphorSymbol and metaphor are, of course, centralto work in drama, theatre and dramatherapyand stories are a valuable resource, some-times with deliberate symbolic or metaphor-ical significance like teaching stories inreligious traditions (e.g. Shah, 1993) andsome of Brecht’s plays, sometimes moreopen to a variety of meanings. For example,fairy tales have been recognised for theirrich symbolic and metaphoric potentialpartly because they offer little detail. Theyare not set in any specific time or place,happening ‘once upon a time’ perhaps in ‘aland beyond the sea’ being simply about aking, an eldest princess or a little match girland including only the necessary details ofplot. In psychoanalytic and analyticalpsychology they are seen as expressingunconscious developmental conflicts, suchas oedipal difficulties, or archetypal patterns.Both traditions offer psychological interpre-tations of the tales but are conscious of theirpower lying in their irreducibility to a singleinterpretation. Although Jung criticisesFreud for such reductionism, Bettelheim,himself a psychoanalyst, notes that, ‘All goodfairy tales have meaning on many levels …’and, in turn, berates Perrault for spelling outmeaning. (see Cox & Theilgaard, 1987, p.95;Bettelheim, 1978, p.169)

Dramatherapy, like counselling psychol-ogy, tends to take a position that is resistantto reductive interpretations but sensitive tothe usefulness of the variety of possible

meanings (Jones, 1996). From this perspec-tive, Loomis’s exploration of Jungian themesin Rumpelstiltskin is useful so long as it opensup rather than limits possibility. Her under-standing of fairy tales as each having anarchetypal core, its ‘mythologem’, whichdescribes at least: ‘the dynamics of a particu-lar personality structure; a problem an indi-vidual with that particular personalitystructure will encounter in his or her life;and a solution to that problem’, can sensitiseus to one universe of meaning. (Loomis,1995, pp.13–14) Within this her understand-ing of the gifts of the necklace, ring andunborn child as symbolising respectively thesacrifices, demanded by the dwarf, of herheart/head connection, her wholeness andher potential, in exchange for survival,recognition and success are suggestive, as isher comment on the dwarf: The fact that thedwarf never appears unless the queen isalone suggests that the dwarf represents anaspect of her inner life, an essential elementin her psychology. The dwarf is a little man,a male figure and, as such, represents themasculine energy the queen has for herself,in her inner psychological realm. Remem-ber, in the outer world, the world of thefather and the world of the king, the queenis honoured for doing incredible things. Tothis outer world, she appears heroic. Shedisplays a personality imbued with the spiritof her father; … However, her inner life, asthis story reveals, is dominated by a dwarf, aminiature male who tyrannises her (Loomis,1995, p.22).

The ideas of Jung and Jungians providerich pickings for theatre practitioners as wellas therapists. Mark Rylance’s work withShakespeare’s plays at the Globe is a case inpoint*. As Loomis sees the dwarf, he oftensees the characters in the plays as represent-ing qualities and characteristics of a singleindividual. It certainly cannot be doubtedthat Loomis constructs a powerful storyabout the tale of Rumpelstiltskin but, of


Story: A personal reflection

* Rylance often works in rehearsal with Jungian ideas and techniques and runs workshops (e.g. one I attended, Globe Education Centre, ‘Vision and Regeneration in the Winter’s Tale’, 6–7 September 1997, Nicholas Janni, Richard Olivier & Mark Rylance) using similar techniques.

course, it is another story and as therapistswe need to be aware of the dangers of takingone possible interpretation, or for thatmatter one way of working with story, for theonly possible interpretation or way of work-ing when there are many. (e.g. Brun et al.,1993; Dwivedi, 1997; Gersie, 1997; Gersie &King, 1990) Similarly, Colin Feltham notesthe oppressive potential of too rigid adher-ence to one core theoretical model of ther-apy, particularly as they are all self-evidentlyproductions of a patriarchal society andfounded by charismatic white men, and JohnCasson helpfully advocates a celebration ofheterodoxy in dramatherapy. (Feltham,1997; Casson, 1998)

Bearing all this in mind, in working witha fairy tale, whether in individualpsychotherapy, creative drama, storytellingor dramatherapy groups, it is important notto impose meanings. Nevertheless, the inter-pretative literature provides a huge resourceand common cultural experiences anddevelopmental struggles are very likely toproduce meanings that echo those foundwithin it as, after all, that is where the inter-pretations came from in the first place.

In conclusionAs a psychologist specialising in psychother-apy and counselling psychology, I amconscious of how powerful is the Westernbias towards logos in psychology and, in mypersonal struggle with this, my excursionsinto dramatherapy have proved invaluable. Iam also conscious that this bias sometimesforces dramatherapy, alongside theatre andthe arts in general, to justify itself, for thesake of professional recognition and fund-ing, in borrowed logics and languages suchas those of ‘scientific’ psychology, medicineand the market. In the context of thedemand for evidence-based-practice, coun-selling psychology too, though struggling tomaintain a more ‘human science’ perspec-tive in psychology, is increasingly drawn intoa more clinical frame of reference (Straw-bridge, 2003). Of course, to devalue logos assuch would be just as damaging as the bias

against eros and the demand for evidence-based practice is perfectly reasonable.

Within dramatherapy this highlights forme the importance of the theoreticalmodels, developed as the discipline hasevolved, that emphasise processes internal todrama and theatre and the therapeutic valueinherent in creativity (e.g. Meldrum, 1994;Jones, 1996). A research base is also impor-tant, but again, developing research appro-priate to the subject of inquiry andquestioning the nature of evidence, ratherthan accepting a view shaped by other disci-plines, is needed to support the integrity ofthe form of practice (see, for example,McNiff, 1998; Grainger, 1999, 2001; Ander-sen-Warren & Grainger, 2000).

It seems to me very important that thesesame principles, of holding true to the disci-pline and its evolved theoretical models anddeveloping forms of inquiry that will fosteran appropriate research base, are equallyimportant within my own discipline andpractice. I am excited both by the burgeon-ing resistance to narrowly conceived views ofevidence-based-practice (e.g. Seligman,1995; Bolsover, 2001; Holmes, 2002;Moloney & Kelly, 2003/4; CPR, 18(3), 2003;Marzillier, 2004) and the growing interest instory that I noted above and with it theplethora of publications that furtherBruner’s groundbreaking work in differentways. (e.g. Mcleod, 1997; Crossley, 2000)

Nevertheless, although based in a differ-ent discipline, I am also intrigued by work onthe neurological basis of consciousness thatsuggests its fundamentally narrative charac-ter both in the ‘wordless storytelling’ of‘core-consciousness’ and in the autobio-graphical storytelling of ‘extendedconsciousness’ (Damasio, 2000). Moreover,explicit connections are now being madebetween the findings of neuroscientificresearch and psychotherapy. It seems thatfunctional research into living brains revealsa plasticity and adaptability that is fosteredby established therapeutic practice. In partic-ular the significance of both the quality of arelationship that allows safe exposure to


Sheelagh Strawbridge

manageable stress and learning through co-constructed narratives are emphasised (e.g.Cozolino, 2002). All this opens avenues ofinquiry and suggests one alternativeevidence-base to ill-conceived RCTs.

Perhaps a way is opening up for morecreative cross-fertilisation between the artsand sciences as some of the more arrogantclaims of Western science are challenged. I

hope so, but current demands for quick fixesand the rapid production of justificatory‘evidence’ can prove an obstacle to the slowand careful process of thoroughgoinginquiry and debate that is necessary.

Note: An earlier version of this articleappeared in Dramatherapy, 26(1), 14–17(2004).


Story: A personal reflection

Andersen-Warren, M. & Grainger, R. (2000). Practicalapproaches to dramatherapy. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Atwood, M. (1996). The handmaid’s tale. London:Vintage.

Bettelheim, B. (1978). The uses of enchantment: Themeaning and importance of fairy tales.Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Bolsover, N. (2001). Correspondence with PeterKinderman. Clinical Psychology, 5 & 6.

Brockett, O. & Hildy, F.J. (1999). History of the theatre.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Brothers Grimm (1983). The complete Grimm’s fairytales. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Brun, B., Pedersen, E.W. & Runberg, M. (1993).Symbols of the Soul: Therapy and guidance throughfairy tales. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds.London: Harvard University Press.

Casson, J. (1988). Dramatherapy: A heterodoxy notan orthodoxy. Dramatherapy, 20(2), 23.

Chatwin, B. (1988). The songlines. London: Picador.Clarke, L. (1990). The chymical wedding. London:

Picador.Counselling Psychology Review (2003). Special Issue:

Evidence-based Practice, 18(3).Cox, M. & Theilgaard, A. (1987). Mutative metaphors

in psychotherapy: The aeolian mode. London: Tavistock.

Cozolino, L. (2002). The neuroscience of psychotherapy:Building and re-building the human brain. London:Norton.

Crossley, M.L. (2000). Introducing narrative psychology.Buckingham: Open University.

Damasio, A. (2000). The feeling of what happens: Body,emotion and the making of consciousness. London:Vintage.

Dwivedi, K.N. (Ed.) (1997). The therapeutic use ofstories. London: Routledge.

Feltham, C. (1997). Challenging the core theoreticalmodel. Counselling, 8(2), 121–125.

Gersie, A. (1997). Reflections on therapeutic storymaking:The use of stories in groups. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Gersie, A. & King, N. (1990). Storymaking in educationand therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Grainger, R. (1999). Researching the arts therapies.London: Jessica Kingsley.

Grainger, R. (2001). Thoughts on the future ofdramatherapy research. Dramatherapy, 23(3), 9–11.

Harrison, T. (1991). The trackers of Oxyrhynchus.London: Faber & Faber.

Hillman, J. (1995). Healing fiction. Woodstock:Spring.

Holmes, J. (2002). All you need is cognitivebehaviour therapy. British Medical Journal,324(7332), 288–294.

Jones, P. (1996). Drama as therapy, theatre as living.London: Routledge.

Loomis, M.E. (1995). Her father’s daughter: Whenwomen succeed in a man’s world. Wilmette, Illinois:Chiron.

Lyotard, J-F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A reporton knowledge. Manchester: Manchester UniversityPress.

Marzillier, J. (2004). The myth of evidence-basedpsychotherapy. The Psychologist, 17(7), 392–395.

McLeod, J. (1997). Narrative and psychotherapy.London: Sage.

McNiff, S (1998). Art-based research. London: JessicaKingsley.

Meldrum, B. (1994). Historical background andoverview of dramatherapy. In S. Jennings, A. Cattanach, S. Mitchell, A. Chesner & B. Meldrum, The handbook of dramatherapy.London: Routledge.

Moloney, P. & Kelly, P. (2003). Beck never lived inBirmingham: Why cognitive behaviour therapy(CBT) may be a less useful treatment for psycho-logical distress than is often supposed. TheJournal of Critical Psychology, Counselling andPsychotherapy, 3(4), 214–228. (Also in ClinicalPsychology, 34, February 2004.)

Seligman, M.E.P. (1995). The effectiveness ofpsychotherapy. American Psychologist, 50(12),965–974.

Shah, I. (1993. The pleasantries of the incredible MullaNasrudin. New York: Arkana.

Strawbridge, S. (2003). A question of identity. Counselling Psychology Review, 18(3), 45–48.

References

EXISTING LITERATURE ON the effectsof meditation comes mostly from medi-tation teachers. In being present to our

breath and to our thoughts and feelings in anon-judgemental way we open ourselves tolove and compassion for ourselves as well astowards others (Thich Nhat Hanh, 1990,1998), the value of acceptance of our diffi-cult emotions and staying with them in medi-tation (Sumedho, 1987; Trunpa, 1985), andthe value of going deeper into our owndisturbances in a non-judgemental manner(Tartung Tulku in Walsh, 1985).

Literature on the effect of meditation ontherapeutic practice by various therapistspoints to therapist staying with their owndifficult feelings and hence being able to staywith the difficult feelings of others (Walsh,1985); a lived experience of ‘emptiness’which opens us to experience an intercon-nectedness with others and feeling compas-sion towards others/clients (Kornfield,

1994); experiencing a transformation ofone’s consciousness and relating to clientswith openness, experiencing empathy, feel-ing centred, and being present (Cortright,1997); feeling a sense of openness and anability to stay with client – (Epstein, 2001);‘an alignment of heart’ and ability to tuneinto feelings of client (Pearmain, 2001); thepractice of meditation revealing the mean-ing of ‘unconditional positive regard’ andcompassion as a lived experience (Welwood,1985). The practice of meditation seems toenhance the ‘being qualities’ so necessarywithin the therapeutic relationship. Theimportance of the therapeutic relationship isconsidered primary in bringing therapeuticchange irrespective of techniques used intherapy (Wahl, 2002, drawing from Lambert,1992). However, in mainstream psychologythe value of meditation is hardly considered.

My own motivation for doing this researchcame from my experience of meditation and

Counselling Psychology Review 17© The British Psychological Society 2005 • ISSN 0269-6975

A phenomenological enquiry into theeffect of meditation on therapeuticpracticeJyoti Nanda

The focus of this paper is on the phenomenological enquiry of the impact of the therapist’s practice of medi-tation upon his or her therapeutic practice. While there are many findings, I focus on two main findings.The first and most fundamental is that meditation is experienced as ‘being with what is’. The second andequally important finding is that with the practice of meditation co-researchers experience a transforma-tional change in all aspects of their life including in their interaction with their clients. The shift co-researchers experience is relational.Four main ‘ being’ qualities emerge for co-researchers with the practice of meditation in relation to themselves.Co -researchers begin to feel more:i. Accepting and non-judgemental about their own inner processes in terms of thoughts, feelings, body

sensations.ii. They feel more open to allowing them to emerge.iii. They start to let go of their own personal agenda and expectations of what something should be. iv. They begin to feel more present and aware of what is emerging. With the shift in their relationship to themselves, co-researchers experience a similar shift in their way ofrelating to others, most significantly in their relationship to their clients. Co-researchers consider these being qualities as significant within the therapeutic relationship.

my way of being with my clients. Despiteclients expressing ‘negative’ emotions andindeed angry feelings, my own responseseemed to be very accepting of their feelings,while staying with their feelings and wantingto explore more. In supervisions I have beenquizzed about how I feel when my clientsexpress so much anger and why is it that Idon’t experience similar feelings in the ‘trans-ference’. I have felt at a loss to explain why Idon’t experience the feelings I am expectedto feel! For me the shift is in having to explainmy feelings rather than just describing myfeelings. I felt this present research was impor-tant in understanding my own experience,which at times made me feel very alone in myexperience in group supervision.

A pilot phenomenological study on theeffects of meditation on three non therapistsprior to conducting this present studyshowed that meditators experienced feelinga sense of spaciousness and letting go oftrying to control outcomes, feeling moreopen towards others, feeling a sense ofgroundedness in themselves, feeling morecalm and peaceful which carried over fromtheir meditation practice into their dailylives. These qualities in non-therapistsseemed like worthwhile qualities to have in atherapist.

This study was conducted to find out ifthe experience of meditation in any wayaffected therapeutic practice in therapists.

Why phenomenological researchThe philosophical underpinnings ofphenomenological research diverge fromthe dualistic Cartesian philosophy fromwhich the traditional psychological methodsof investigation emerge. The latter studyhuman beings as one studies the physicalworld assuming that it is possible to objec-tively study ‘subjects’. However, phenomeno-logical research questions claims ofresearchers’ objective stance. Human experi-ence is not viewed as a closed off intra-psychic experience, but that it is somethingwhich is inextricably linked with its world. As Colaizzi (1978) writes, ‘… if the one

cannot exist independent of the other, thenneither can be the cause of the other; …each co-constituting, not creating or caus-ing, the other’ (Colaizzi, 1978, p.54).

As ‘methodology rests upon philosophy’(Colaizzi, 1978, p.54), it moves the emphasisof an investigation from finding a causal rela-tionship between specified variables to one,which is descriptive.

Traditional methods of psychologicalresearch use operational definitions, specifiedvariables that are statistically analysed; thenaccepting statistically significant data andrejecting non-significant data. However, forthe phenomenologist operational definitions,bias and restrict different ways of defininghuman experience (Spinelli, 2002), studyingspecified variables dictate what can be studied(Spinelli, 2002; Colaizzi, 1978), acceptingonly statistically significant data eliminatesunique and existentially significant data.

Phenomenological research requires thatthe researcher accepts all data and toleratescontradictory findings, holding the tensionof its ambiguity (Spinelli, 2002). Further, thephenomenological researcher works collabo-ratively with participants (called co-researchers) without masking the purpose orprocess of the research and challenges thebasic assumption that sharing this know-ledge with the co-researchers will bias whatparticipants reveal (Spinelli, 2002).

Phenomenological research also recog-nises that researchers, in the very nature ofbeing interested in a particular area ofresearch can ‘never achieve a state ofabsolute disinterest’ (Colaizzi, 1978, p.55).They can only strive towards it by having a‘receptive stance’ (Kaye, 1993 in Kaye, 1996,p.234) and being aware of their own subjectivity.

While a variety of methods can be used inphenomenologically oriented research –including interviews, conversations, partici-pant observation, action research, focusmeetings and analysis of personal texts(Lester, 2004), the general idea is to have aminimum of structure while keeping a focuson the research question as well as making


Jyoti Nanda

explicit what the researcher’s own biases are,so as to be aware of ways in which theresearcher can influence the research.However, despite making their assumptionsexplicit, phenomenologists recognise thatsome bias will remain (Colaizzi, 1978;Spinelli, 2002). Equally important is havingrapport and empathy to enable participant toreveal information in depth (Lester, 2004).

While both single case-study as well asmultiple participant research may be used,in multiple participant research, thestrength of inference increases. However, itsrobustness only indicates the presence offactors and their effects for those who partic-ipated in the research and is different fromstatistical validity (Lester, 2004).

This inquiry utilises the interviews inphenomenological research methodology aspresented and discussed by Colaizzi (1978)in his paper ‘Psychological research as thephenomenologist views it’. Hycner (1985),Measor (1985), Moustakas (1994) amongothers also discuss interview methods.

My co-researchersWhile I had intended to interview eight exis-tential counselling psychologists who prac-tised meditation for this study, I was unable tofind them. Despite contacting the BPS, theUKCP, the BACP, a Buddhist meditationcentre, and putting up posters at the Schoolof Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regent’sCollege, only one person contacted me.

It was by word of mouth over a period oftime that I heard of therapists, who medi-tated, whom I contacted. Some were hesitantto participate and it needed my persuadingthem to participate and ensuring confiden-tiality, while also making explicit that I woulduse the material I gained from this researchand perhaps others than myself would alsoview the interviews. However, I assured themI would mask any identifying details.

My co-researchers were all white andEuropean. As the interviewer, I was the onlyAsian. Except for one co-researcher in anadvanced stage of training, all co-researcherswere UKCP accredited psychotherapists, and

two in addition were also counselling/clinical psychologists. Three co-researcherswere men and five were women.

My criterion for this research was a mini-mum period of five years of being a therapistas well as of having practiced meditation.However, most of my co-researchers werelong-term psychotherapists and long-termpractitioners of meditation. The minimumperiod of practicing meditation for any co-researcher in this research was 12 years. It went up to 30 years of practice.

Co-researchers belonged to four theoret-ical orientations – Existential, Integrative,Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytical; to fourspiritual traditions – Buddhist, Sufi, Chris-tian, and Hindu; and also represented twotypes of meditation – ‘awareness increasing’mindfulness meditation and ‘concentrative’theistic-relational meditation, as well as an‘inter-penetration’ of the two types of medi-tation (Cortright, 1997). This aspect madethis research both very rich as well as verychallenging in terms of handling thematerial.

The steps used in phenomenologicallyanalysing the data of co-researchers asdescribed by Colaizzi (1978)1. Formulating the research questionswhich were:What is it like for you to meditate?How, if at all, does meditation effect yourtherapeutic practice? 2. Making explicit my own basic assump-tions. 3. The interviews, 60 minutes mostly (goingover time for two), were open ended, (audiorecorded) focussing on the research ques-tion. Each interview evolved uniquely. 4. Transcribing the interviews.5. Reading the transcriptions several times.The transcriptions contained the descriptiveresponses of the co-researchers in theirentirety and what Colaizzi (1978) calls protocols. 6. Extracting significant statements fromeach protocol – those sentences/phrases inthe protocol, which were directly relevant to


A phenomenological enquiry…

the phenomenon of meditation and itseffect on therapeutic practice. Repetitions ofthe same statement expressing nearly thesame statement from another protocol wereavoided.7. Extracting the meaning of each signifi-cant statement of each protocol. A difficultstep requiring a ‘creative insight’ (Colaizzi,1978) a ‘leap’ from what the co-researchers‘say to what they mean’. I needed to ‘staywith’ the original data, but also to ‘gobeyond’ it without distorting or misrepre-senting the meaning of the statement for theco-researcher.Example: Significant statement: ‘But I feelthere was then, a bit of irritation which cameup. You know. And I think it is okay too.’It’s meaning (through my understandingand subjectivity): I can accept my difficultfeelings.8. Formulating a ‘cluster of themes’ emerg-ing from the significant statements with theextracted meaning, again a difficult step.9. Going back to the original significantstatements to ‘validate’ them by askingmyself the following questions:(i) Was there any statement which was notrepresented in the cluster of themes?(ii)Was there anything in the cluster ofthemes which was not implied in the originalstatements?10. Including both contradictory themes, onfinding them, so as to allow ‘data to speak foritself’, as what may seem to be illogical maystill be existentially valid.11. Integrating the results from the cluster ofthemes into an exhaustive description ofresults of the phenomenon of meditationand its effect on therapeutic practice. Thistoo was a difficult step as it involved furthermoving from the specific to make valid andexistentially real generalisations for all eightco-researchers and at the same time to holdthe contradictions in them. 12. Validation of results: The exhaustivedescription of results was given to each co-researcher to answer the following ques-tions: 1. Does this exhaustive description of

results capture for you your own experienceof meditation?2. Have I missed out any aspect of yourexperience of meditation?3. Have I in any way misrepresented yourown experience of meditation?4. Would you like to say anything else?This was done in order to see how theexhaustive description of results I came upwith compared with the experience of eachco-researcher. 13. Incorporating feedback from those co-researchers who did not fully validate theresults and then taking it back to them asecond time for their comments.

FindingsThese findings focus on ‘awareness increas-ing’ mindfulness meditation.

I. Being with what isFirst, and most fundamentally, my co-researchers made the point that meditationis experienced as ‘Being with what is’. Intheir practice, co-researchers focus theirattention on their breath and at the sametime allow inner processes in terms ofthoughts, feelings, emotions, and bodysensations to emerge. As these innerprocesses emerge, co-researchers train theirattention on observing them, staying withthem, and then letting them pass in a non-judgmental way. Focusing and observing inthis way increases awareness in the momentof whatever is happening for them. Whenfocusing on difficult experiences, medita-tion can be a painful experience some-times.

By practising acceptance of and beingwith their inner processes however painfuland negative, and letting them pass, insteadof trying to get rid of the painful negativeprocesses, co-researchers start becoming 1. Accepting and non-judgemental about

their own inner processes.2. They feel more open to allowing them toemerge.3. They start to let go of their own personal

agenda and expectations of what some


Jyoti Nanda

thing should be. 4. They feel more present and aware of

what is emerging.

In italics throughout the rest of the text, asampling of significant statements of co-researchers illustrate the conclusions. Thosestatements in brackets have beensummarised from longer statements toretain their meaning:

‘My meditation practice is to focus on the breathand watch my breath and be aware of my thoughtsand feelings’.‘Instead of manipulating events, and trying tocontrol events, there is much more an experience ofbeing with the event as it is arising from momentto moment.’‘Meditation for me is primarily a way of connect-ing with the present and being quite non-judge-mental about it.’‘Meditation helps that sense of letting go – oftrying to let go of what one thinks or knows, andto be more present.’‘In meditation practice we set aside those mentalconstrictions in order to be open to our own being.’‘If (in meditation) I am feeling angry about some-thing, then what arises is anger. I feel the angerarising powerfully…. I feel it; but retain, in medi-tation practice the observer faculties, so that I canwatch it arising and ultimately, dissipating.’‘Meditation can also be a painful experience.’‘… just awareness increases. It is like becomingmore conscious, becoming more aware, of what’sgoing on in my mind and body.’

II. The second and equally important find-ing is that co-researchers begin to experi-ence a transformational relational change inall aspects of their life – including in theirinteraction with clients. (Significant statements/meanings in brackets,illustrating conclusions): ‘Everything changed when I started to meditate.’‘With meditation, definitely, therapy changed.’ (Before I started to meditate, I was ‘doing’ therapy,I had less patience, I was more challenging, and Ihad less compassion for the other.)(I am not meditating in order to be different from

before, but as a result of meditating I am different.)1. Co-researchers experience themselves asbecoming more accepting and non-judge-mental towards clients and begin to feel ableto connect with them with a feeling of loveand compassion even though the relation-ship with each client is different and unique.Therapists consider acceptance of clientsand meeting them in a compassionateencounter as healing and allows clients toaccept themselves, despite their traumaticand negative experiences.(Gradually in this process of sharing the space,sharing the silence, sharing the experiences with atherapist who communicates acceptance on a non-verbal level something very profound can happen.)(In the non-verbal communication of acceptanceon the part of the therapist there is a modellingtaking place that no matter how awful, traumaticor terrible the material, it can be lived with.)‘Accepting the givens changes one’s relationship towhat happens.’ ‘What we are learning then is how things are.Together with this understanding which is a ‘felt’understanding … comes an incredible feeling oflove for other people.’ ‘Well, it is difficult to put into words …’Love’ isthe word that comes to mind. But it’s not in anysentimental sense. It’s, extending the boundaries ofcompassion. It’s, experiencing other people’s suffer-ing, as one’s own.’ ‘There is a profound feeling of love for the world,but also a sense that the world loves me as wellwhen I meditate.’ ‘It is a real experience which is warm and full ofcompassion and love.’‘Love in an encounter in a sense of quiet, warm,acceptance is actually quite healing.’

2. Co-researchers feel more open and ableto make the space to listen to self and to theclient and consider this to be beneficial. In listening to their own suffering andprocessing it, co-researchers are better ableto connect and empathise, feeling for theclient’s suffering as their own through cross-referencing with their own suffering. ‘There is a spaciousness which develops.’‘I am able to listen more intently in my work, which



is where the overlap is between meditation and mywork.’‘I experience it as an improvement, as a desirablestate personally and professionally.’ ‘At a personal level, I am able to listen better towhat’s going on inside myself.’‘It is important to always recognise that when weempathise we make an interpretation and that oneis never the other person. What we sense or feel iscross-referenced with our own experiences of life.’ (Awareness can be really transforming if we processour own suffering and understand it. Only thencan we have empathy and understand the suffer-ing of other people.)‘Empathy is in the nature of feeling a connectionwith the other person’s suffering as my own.’

3. Co-researchers begin to let go of thedesire of trying to control that which cannotbe controlled, and experience a sense ofquietness, stillness and calmness. In feelingcalm and grounded, the co-researchers feelbetter able to stay with, engage and explorewith the client feeling less reactive. Letting gois experienced as actively engaging in aunique encounter with each client, but lettinggo of controlling outcomes. In the encounter,co-researchers allow themselves to be open, tobe moved and changed by the client‘When I go into a meditative state, I go into thesmall, clear state of quiet awareness. I just comefrom a much stiller place; less influenced by mypersonal agendas. So I tend to be much calmer,much more understanding, much less reactive.’‘But, if I could say one thing, it is that I respectvery much the place that the client finds themselvesin, and I am not trying to make them change, ordo things differently, but with, if you like, my assis-tance, to increase their awareness of where they arethen.’ ‘When I am with a client, it is a unique experiencein the way I experience a client. I don’t know what,I have no agenda when I go in.’(It is also about being open with someone and allow-ing them to be who they are and also to being open tothem so as to allow them to touch me and change me.)‘So one does the best one can, all one can, one doesit to the best of one’s ability and then one can let go.’4. Co-researchers feel more present to what

is. Being more present brings awareness of :– The importance of the therapist beingpresent to the process and therapist’s ownreactiveness.– Awareness of change and impermanenceas a given of existence.– Intimacy in the therapeutic relationship.In being present to their own innerprocesses, co-researchers are able to see thedifference between the content of the innerphenomena which immediately moves intothe past and the arising of the innerphenomena (rather than its content) whichis experienced as a pre-mental, pre-verbalfelt sense and is ever in the present. Thepresent can never be captured in thought orword and cannot be explained. It can only beknown in silence and is experienced as time-less. For such co-researchers, whether inmeditation or in psychotherapy, it is theprocess which is important. The content orthe narrative is secondary. Such co-researchers feel that the most importantaspect in therapy is being present to theprocess and that good therapists will freethemselves from theory and allow themselvesto experience what is happening in the pres-ent.

In being present to their own innerprocesses co-researchers also become awareof their reactiveness and what triggers themoff in their interaction with their client andrespond to their client using choice throughconscious awareness.

In being present to the differencebetween the content of inner phenomena,which moves into the past, and the arising ofthe inner phenomena, co-researchers mayalso have the realisation that every phenom-ena arises and passes away. Change is inher-ent in life. It changes the co-researcher’srelationship to suffering, allowing the co-researcher to think of change, imperma-nence, and death, though terrifying, as agiven of existence which cannot be got ridof, and allowing the co-researchers to staywith the client’s suffering with compassion.

In being present co-researches – as thera-


Jyoti Nanda

pists – also express their communication ofintimacy in the therapeutic relationship.

While most co-researchers experiencethis transformational change as a lived real-ity, some may feel that this is something theystrive towards rather than achieve it.‘There is no permanency in the present moment, inthe content of what arises in the present moment …it quickly moves into the past.’(The arising of the inner phenomena, rather thanits content, is experienced as a pre-mental, pre-verbal felt sense and is ever in the present.)(The present moment can never be captured. It istimeless and can only be experienced in silence.)‘The lack of permanency is terrifying for the senseof ‘I’ because ‘I’ wants a sense of identity and thereis nothing more terrifying than not being who wethink we are or who we want to be.’ (Meditation is not about achieving an idea.Rather, it feels like a profound lived experience ofwhat it means to be fully alive, fully awake, toaccept things as they are – to think of suffering anddeath as a given of existence.)(In good therapy, theory becomes secondary to theencounter itself. So any good therapist will actuallyfree themselves from their theory and allow them-selves to experience what is happening.)(I see the difference that my awareness of the processis the primary state and my narrative around theevent is always secondary to the experience itself.)‘If there is presence then non-verbal communica-tion could be even more powerful than whateververbal communication happens.’ (In being in the moment, I communicate intimacyin the relationship with my client.)(Awareness in meditation makes us conscious ofour reactiveness. In becoming aware of them we areno longer controlled by them. We can choose howwe respond.)

‘Being with a person who is aware of their reactivepatterns but doesn’t act on them, there is immedi-ately a modelling of something that is different forthe other, something that is potentially liberating.’

DiscussionThese findings focus on ‘awareness increas-ing’ meditation, but are not exhaustive.While this paper has attempted to bring

together phenomenological researchmethodology, review of literature, as well assome research findings, the scope of thispaper does not allow it to be in greaterdetail.

With regard to the difficulties in findinga homogeneous sample of participants some-thing interesting emerged. Paradoxically,though I would have preferred to study onlyexistential counselling psychologists, thedifficulty of sampling in some ways becamean advantage since the inclusion of thera-pists from four different orientations high-lights the ‘being qualities’ common to each.For example, the psychodynamic psycho-therapist highlighting that, ‘Being in itself isprobably, potentially the most powerful therapeutictool we have.’ ‘Being is presence.’ The psychoan-alytic psychotherapist expressing similarly,’ Italways makes me smile because we think we dosuch brilliant work with our insights and theirinterpretations and patients tell you that whatchanged their life was kindness that spoke to them.’The integrative psychotherapist saying, ‘… itis about warmth, openness of heart towards feelingfor the other(client).’ The existential therapisttalks of an ideal encounter as ‘My getting outof the way and allowing them the space, where theyare being met in a loving encounter.’

However, though co-researchers see thesebeing qualities as an outcome of meditation,they also feel that meditation, psychotherapyand other life experiences are very hard toseparate and that they are complementary toone another. The experience of meditationfor the co-researcher is ‘not a substitute for otherlearning or a substitute for therapy. Meditation isonly experienced as an essential ingredient in howto live. It is practicing ‘being with what is’.

I am aware that these findings arose as aninteractive result of my own experience ofmeditation as well as the experience of the co-researchers’ experience of meditation.Perhaps if someone else had done thisresearch, their relationship to meditationmight have emerged in a different mannerand, therefore, the results and conclusionsmight have been different. However, thesefindings were confirmed and validated by my



co-researchers, after my going through thesteps of validation of results, incorporating theresulting feedback from those co-researcherswho did not fully validate results, and seeking are-validation of results from them. Despite vali-dation, I would still like to believe, as Colaizziobserved drawing from Heidegger (1969), thatresearch can never be complete, but is always‘only on the way!’ (Colaizzi, 1978, p.80).

This research has captured only whatemerged from the interviews on a particularday and time. What happens in a therapeuticencounter is far too rich and complex to befully explored and captured in this research.

I believe the unstructured nature ofphenomenological research was essential forgetting information from my co-researchers.The initial hesitation of co-researchers andtheir fear of being misunderstood or mis-represented was overcome as the interviewevolved and a feeling of intimacy grew inwhich co-researchers felt safe to talk bothopenly and candidly of their experiences tome, including for some co-researchers, someaspects of meditation which they hadscarcely ever before shared with anyone.

It felt very much like a therapy session inthat intimate personal information wasbeing disclosed within a trusting relation-ship, where the co-researchers felt heard andunderstood. It also required of me the abilityto stay alongside the co-researchers’ frame ofreference and engage, explore and clarifyfurther the lived experience of the co-researchers.

My encounter with co-researchers feltdeeply meaningful and worthwhile for me. Itrevealed some shared experiences with myown, but also added to my existing knowledge.

While these findings strongly indicatethat the experience of meditation enhancedthe therapeutic encounter for these eight co-researchers, this research is not attemptingto generalise these results to all. It is,however, attempting to hypothesise to theextent that it has tremendous potential forthose who have the inclination and patienceto practice meditation. It hopes that trainingprogrammes will take note of the potential

for transformation through meditation forthose who wish to practice it, and perhapsconsider ways of incorporating it creativelyinto their training programmes, offering itto those who might choose to consider itspossibilities.

ConclusionIn this study, the experience of meditationwas transformational for the eight co-researchers. Irrespective of kind of medita-tion, the spiritual tradition to which theybelong, the theoretical orientation theypractice, the experience of meditation forco-researchers enhanced the quality ofencounter in the therapeutic relationship.

What this research is highlighting withregard to the practice of counselling psychol-ogy is that as counselling psychologists whatis primary is our ability to be with our clients.In particular four being qualities emerged asbeing of major importance in the therapeu-tic relationship. They are co-researchers astherapists being better able to:i. Connect with love/compassion in their

therapeutic relationship with client, eventhough each relationship is unique.

ii. Experiencing empathy where co-researcher connects and feels for thesuffering of the client as one’s ownthrough cross-referencing with one’s ownsuffering and staying alongside theclient’s frame of reference.

iii. Feeling more grounded and being betterable to stay with client’s suffering,engaging with and exploring whateverclient brings in.

iv. Being present to the process especiallywith regard to awareness of their ownreactiveness and responding to clients ingreater conscious awareness using choiceto respond.

Acceptance by co-researcher of the client’s‘negative’ emotions in a less reactive way,models for the client a way of relating thatthe client may never before have encoun-tered. It may facilitate for the client to ownand accept that ‘negative’ aspect of self. Co-researchers also feel able to accept client’s


Jyoti Nanda

anger towards self and explore it in a lessreactive way.

The importance given to these ‘being’qualities stands in significant contrast to theover-riding values placed upon skills, theo-retical knowledge, interventions and direc-tive change that is emphasised both as partof our training and by our employers.

It is my view that these findings present areal challenge for us.

CorrespondenceJyoti NandaExistential Counselling Psychologist & Clinical Supervisor,Regents College,LondonE-mail: [email protected]



Colaizzi, P.F. (1978). Psychological research as thephenomenologist views it. In R.S. Valle & M.King (Eds.), Existential–Phenomenological alterna-tives for psychology. New York: OUP.

Coltart, N. (1993). Slouching towards Bethlehem … andfurther psychoanalytic explorations. London: FreeAssociation Books.

Cortright, B. (1997). Psychotherapy and spirit. Albany,NY: SUNY Press.

Epstein, M. (1990). Psychodynamics of meditation.Pitfalls on the spiritual path. The Journal ofTranspersonal Psychology, 22, 17–34.

Epstein, M. (2001). Going on being. New York: Broad-way Books (Division of Random House, Inc.)

Hycner, R.H. (1985). Some guidelines for thephenomenological analysis of interview data.Human Studies, 8, 279–303.

Kaye, J.D. (1996). Towards a discursive psychotherapy.Chichester: Wiley.

Kornfield, J. (1994). A path with heart. London: RiderBooks.

Lester, S. (2004). An introduction to phenomenolog-ical research. Website: http://www.devmts.demon.co.uk/resmethy.htm

Measor, L. (1985). Interviewing: A strategy in qualita-tive research. In R. Burgess (Ed.), Strategies ofeducational research: Qualitative methods. Lewes:Farmer Press.

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. London: Sage

Pearmain, R. (2001). The heart of listening. Attentionalqualities in psychotherapy. London: Continuum.

Spinelli, E. (2002.) Doing phenomological research –structure and diversity. Unpublished paperpresented at the Annual BPS Conference, heldin Torquay in May 2002.

Sumedho, A. (1987). Mindfulness: The path to the death-less. The meditation teaching of Ajahn Sumedho.Hemel Hempstead: Amravati Publications.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1990). Transformation and healing.Sutra on the four establishments of mindfulness.California: Parallax Press.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1990). Our appointment with life.

The Buddha’s teaching on living in the present.

California: Parallax Press.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1998). Teachings on love. California

Parallax Press.

Trungpa, C. (1985). Becoming a full human being.

In J. Welwood (Ed.), Awakening the heart.

East/West approaches to psychotherapy and the healing

relationship. Boston & London: Shambhala.

Trungpa, C. (1987). Cutting through spiritual

materialism. Boston & London: Shambhala.

Walsh, R. (1985). Things are not as they seemed.



relationship. Boston & London: Shambhala.

Welwood, J. (1985). Befriending emotion.



relationship (pp.79–90). Boston & London:

Shambhala.

Welwood ,J. (1985). Introduction. In J. Welwood

(Ed.), Awakening the heart. East/West approaches to

psychotherapy and the healing relationship

(pp.vii–xiv). Boston & London: Shambhala.

Welwood, J. (1985). Vulnerability and power in the

therapeutic process. In J. Welwood (Ed.),

Awakening the heart. East/West approaches to

psychotherapy and the healing relationship

(pp.148–162). Boston & London: Shambhala.

Welwood, J. (1985) On psychotherapy and medita-

tion. In J. Welwood (Ed.), Awakening the heart.


relationship (pp.43–54). Boston & London:

Shambhala.

References

A CCORDING TO BECK (1995) andEllis and Dryden (1997) virtually allof human disturbance is the result of

blaming others, society or the self for thingsthat have happened. From such blamingthe need for forgiveness arises. The conceptof forgiveness is thus at the core ofpsychotherapeutic endeavour but neverthe-less forgiveness has received relatively littleattention within the counselling and ther-apy literature. This is also true of the wideracademic psychology and mental healthliterature with research on forgivenesslargely appearing within the last 10 years.The reasons for this are complex. These willbe explored as this process will allow reflec-tion on current therapeutic practices withregard to the concept of forgiveness. Mostof the emergent research on forgiveness isbeing undertaken by academic psycholo-gists but my contention is that counsellingpsychologists are ideally if not uniquelyplaced to conduct research on forgiveness.Research findings with relevance to thera-peutic interventions to promote forgivenessare presented as an introduction to theresearch in this area.

Barriers to the use of the termforgiveness

The religious argument There has been an historical association offorgiveness with the Judaeo-Christian tradi-tion (DiBlaso & Proctor, 1993; Enright,Eastin, Golden, Sarinopoulos & Freedman,1992; Pattison, 1965) which Sells and Harg-reave (1998) suggest has led to an ‘anti-forgiveness’ bias in the psychologicalliterature. Forgiveness was considered to bea theological concept, something that waspractised within a religious sphere andtherefore of little interest to therapists andtoo ‘unscientific’ to receive attention fromacademic psychology. This assumption thatforgiveness is less applicable to wider societybecause of its’ religious history and is unsuit-able for academic study has recently beenchallenged by many psychologists (Hope,1987; McCullough & Worthington, 1994;McMinn & Rhoads, 1996; Scobie & Scobie,1998; Schontz & Rosenak, 1994). Distinc-tions can easily be made between aspects ofdivine forgiveness within a religious contextand human forgiveness although it may beargued that forgiveness as a concept may

26 Counselling Psychology Review© The British Psychological Society 2005 • ISSN 0269-6975

The treatment of forgiveness incounselling and therapyAnn Macaskill

Situations involving perceived hurts, slights, and other interpersonal maltreatment are at the core of coun-selling and therapy. Resolution of these situations frequently involves forgiveness of the transgressor. Despitethis the concept of forgiveness has received relatively little attention within the counselling and therapy liter-ature. The reasons for this are explored beginning with the association between forgiveness and the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Freud avoided the term forgiveness and psychoanalysts until very recently havefollowed suit. Ways in which forgiveness are conceptualised are explored. Difficulties related to forgivingassociated with our conceptualisations of natural justice are identified. A cautionary note is struck aboutthe dangers of pathologising non forgiveness given the enthusiasm for forgiveness in the current researchliterature and in Positive Psychology. Distinctions between processes of forgiveness are made which areparticularly potent for counselling. A summary of the literature with regard to the health benefits of forgive-ness is presented and some client dilemmas in relation to forgiveness are outlined. Most of the emergentresearch on forgiveness is being undertaken by academic psychologists and the argument is made that coun-selling psychologists are uniquely equipped to contribute to the growing research literature on forgiveness.

well have more saliency for individuals withreligious beliefs. McCullough and Worthing-ton (1999) have reported that within broadlyChristian societies people who are religiousvalue forgiveness more than those who arenot religious. Whether valuing forgivenessactually influences behaviour is still uncer-tain. The importance of forgiveness for facil-itating social interaction and peacefulcoexistence both at the intrapersonal andintergroup level is unquestionable. Thedevelopment of increasingly litigioussocieties in the West and the so-called blamecultures makes it ever more salient.

The psychoanalytic literature andforgivenessThe term forgiveness is largely absent fromthe psychoanalytic literature. In his extensivewriting Freud does not index any referencesto forgiveness (Akitar, 2002) and thisappears to have set a precedent. Mosher(1991) reported an absence of any referenceto forgiveness in the Title, Key Word, andAuthor Index to Psychoanalytic Journals between1920 and 1990. However, concepts of directrelevance to forgiveness such as trauma,anger, guilt, shame, and the need for punish-ment are included. This would suggest thatthe concept is dealt with but under othernames. Sells and Hargreave (1998) havecommented that within psychodynamic ther-apy, forgiveness has tended to be treatedrather like material for the confessional,where the therapist is ‘priest’ and the trans-ference relationship allows for symbolicforgiveness. The word ‘forgiveness’ is seldomif ever mentioned, instead talk is of interper-sonal difficulties being resolved, peoplelearning to move on, or to come to termswith past issues, or letting go of hurt, orlearning to accept themselves. Often itwould be much easier for therapists to askthe direct question about whether clientshave forgiven themselves or the relevantothers in their lives. Presumably reference toforgiveness is avoided because of the reli-gious connotations of the term. Akitar(2002) further argues that forgiveness has

been ignored as there is a tendency amongstpsychoanalysts to keep their theorisingwithin the boundaries established by Freud,so that topics ignored by Freud continue tobe ignored. A more serious reason for thelack of attention to forgiveness within theclassical psychoanalytic literature may be dueto the complexity of the topic with itsemphasis on interpersonal relationships andsocial context, areas that psychoanalytictheory does not address particularly well(Akitar, 2002).

A random search of around forty main-stream counselling and therapy texts in thecounselling section of a University librarythat supports a range of counselling educa-tion failed to find the word ‘forgiveness’ inany of the indices of the books. This echoesthe psychoanalytic literature and lends somecredibility to the anti-forgiveness biasreported by Sells and Hargreave (1998). Thisis not to say that therapy does not deal withforgiveness issues rather that the word itselfis avoided and a variety of euphemisms areemployed instead.

Additional difficultiesAnother potential barrier to the use of theterm forgiveness relates to the way in whichforgiveness may go against our conceptuali-sations of natural justice, where the assump-tion is that wrongdoing must be paid for.Because of this tendency, Bass and Davis(1994) suggest that in the wider psychother-apy literature, forgiveness is sometimesperceived as being potentially oppressive.This is particularly true where clients havebeen abused and forgiving the abuser can beseen as bestowing power on the abuser sothat they are free to abuse again in thefuture. It is also sometimes perceived as serv-ing to keep the client in the ‘victim’ role,especially when there is a perceived impera-tive to forgive, (Sells & Hargreave, 1998).This is typified for example in the writings ofMcAlister (1984) where the desirability offorgiveness is stressed and failure to forgiveis frequently conceptualised as pathological.This tends also to be true of some of the


Treatment of forgiveness

family and couple therapy literature, (Bass &Davis, 1994; Boszormenyi-Nagy, 1987; Harg-reave, 1994).

Positive Psychology as described by Selig-man and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), echoesthis, with forgiveness conceptualised as ahuman virtue and, therefore, being thedesirable outcome of conflict. Revenge seek-ing and grudge holding, the opposites offorgiveness are pathologised regardless ofthe nature of the event or the social context.While some of this material on forgiveness asa virtue is interesting, it tends to be anec-dotal and there is a dearth of systematicstudies on the value and appropriateness offorgiveness in different contexts and fordifferent individuals. This is one area thatcounselling psychologists are ideallyequipped to explore by examining theirclients’ goals in relation to forgiveness issues,taking into account the nature of the hurtand the context within which it occurs.

Pathologising the lack of forgivenessThe pathologising of non forgiveness can bedangerous as there may well be events thatindividuals cannot forgive or even beexpected to forgive. In a study using ageneral population sample (N=159), 68 percent of the participants reported that therewere limits to forgiveness. They identifieddeath of a loved one, particularly a child bymurder or other culpable event, sexualabuse and extreme physical and emotionalabuse as being impossible to forgive(Macaskill, 2004). With the enthusiasm forforgiveness that is beginning to emergewithin the psychological literature coun-selling psychologists need to remain alert tothe fact that forgiveness may not be a desiredor attainable goal for many clients. Insteadsuch individuals may want to be helped todeal with their distress so that it becomesmore manageable but accept that total reso-lution is unlikely. Individuals who can forgivein these extreme circumstances appear to bein the minority. The argument is that byforgiving the abuser, the victim may openthemselves to further abuse. Certainly this

has been the experience within abusive rela-tionships that are ongoing but it is a complexarea and much will depend on the circum-stances of the individual.

However, in some circumstances grantingforgiveness can be empowering for thevictim. Many individuals who have beenvictims in situations where the need forforgiveness arises carry an enormousemotional burden around with them. Theycontinue to be angry with the perpetratorand they spend significant amounts of theiremotional energy ruminating about theevent, harbouring grudges and perhaps plot-ting revenge. They find it difficult to moveforwards in their lives such is their pre-occu-pation with the wrong done to them. Theyare still acting out the ‘victim’ or ‘wrongedone’ role long after the actual event. Forsome such individuals while total forgivenessmay not be achievable it can be possible toassist them to draw a line over the traumaticevent and begin to re-engage with their livesand move forward and give up the role of‘victim’ or ‘wronged one’.

Defining forgiveness At this point it is probably useful to make adistinction between forgiveness which isabout turning negative feelings towards theperpetrator into positive feelings, giving upgrudges and thoughts of revenge, and whichmay or may not involve reconciliation anddrawing a line over the event. As mentionedearlier a survey of the general populationsuggested that most individuals do not seeforgiveness as being limitless, they feel thatsome transgressors cannot be forgivenbecause of the horrific nature of their trans-gressions. In these situations the level ofvictim distress is likely to be very high andforgiveness may definitely not be on theagenda. Here a more appropriate goal maybe to help the individual to draw a line overthe event so that it no longer takes up alltheir emotional energies and they can beginto re-engage with their lives. The emergingliterature on forgiveness talks mainly aboutforgiveness and non forgiveness and meas-


Ann Macaskill

ures them on a continuum. However it maybe that drawing a line over the event andmoving on therapeutically is a valid healthenhancing goal for victims in many situa-tions involving forgiveness and needs to berecognised as such (Macaskill, 2002). It isnot merely a stage in the process towardsforgiveness but is a valid goal in its own rightfor some individuals. Individuals also talkabout becoming reconciled to memories ininstances where the transgressor is dead orgeographically distant. Sometimes their goalis forgiveness but at other times it is aboutaccepting that they cannot change what hashappened, perhaps cognitively restructuringthe memories to arrive at a different under-standing of the situation. There are manyexamples of this occurring in the literatureon therapeutic interventions for individualswho have been abused.

An example may help to clarify thisdistinction. One woman I interviewed hadlost her son in a drink driving incident andthe drunken driver had been a family friend,driving while disqualified for drink drivingoffences. Understandably she had beenextremely distressed by the event but withtime and help her anger had been replacedwith a deep sadness about the event. She hadnot forgiven the driver and said she neverwould forgive him, but she was determinedto try to prevent others suffering the samefate and has become involved in local youthalcohol education programmes. Sheexplained that she was doing this in her son’smemory. She had succeeded in re-engagingwith her life and producing something posi-tive from the event but she has not forgiventhe perpetrator. Enright and Coyle (1998)suggest that the process of trying to findsomething positive in the experience is animportant stage in the process of forgiveness.However, this woman was very clear that shewas not working towards forgiveness. She wasalso coping well psychologically. This isclearly neither forgiveness nor non forgive-ness but a separate resolution that seems toinvolve drawing a line and moving on. In theremaining discussion the term forgiveness

will also include this distinct category ofcoping in forgiveness situations, wheredistress and rumination on the event aresignificantly reduced although the perpetra-tor is not forgiven, as well as the morestraightforward forgiveness.

Health benefits of forgivenessA major ethical issue for therapy is whetherthere are benefits for the individual in beingmore forgiving. There are several studiesdemonstrating that the act of forgivenessbrings with it significant mental and physicalhealth benefits, (Kelly & McKillop, 1996;Maltby, Macaskill & Day, 2001; McCullough& Worthington, 1994; McCullough, 1997;Pennebaker, 1995). Davidson and Jurkovic(1993) reported that individuals who do notseek forgiveness when they hurt others are atrisk of having poorer relationships becausethey are less likely to be forgiven and also toforgive others. Maltby, Macaskill and Day(2001) in a psychometric study concludedthat men and women who scored higher onthe failure to forgive themselves displayedhigher levels of neuroticism, depression andanxiety as measured by the General HealthQuestionnaire (Goldberg & Williams, 1991).In terms of physical well- being, the blame,anger and hostility associated with the lack offorgiveness is being compared to the toxiccomponent of Type A personality (Friedmanet al., 1986). Hostility, blame and anger havebeen linked to poorer general physicalhealth (Affleck, Tennen, Croog & Levine,1987; Tennen & Affleck, 1990), a higher inci-dence of cardiac problems and highermortality rates (Miller, Smith, Turner,Guijarro & Hallet, 1996). Research in thisarea is growing fast so there is increasingevidence that the anger, blame, hostility andgrudge holding associated with the lack offorgiveness are damaging to health and thatindividuals who forgive tend to enjoy betterhealth and greater life satisfaction(Macaskill, 2002, 2004).

Client dilemmasVictims in forgiveness situations frequently



find themselves in a quandary. They aredistressed and unhappy about the situationand they cannot easily see a way forward.Forgiving the transgressor may be one wayforward and indeed in many relationshipsituations the transgressor is asking forforgiveness and significant others in theirlives may also be recommending forgivenessas a solution. However, the victim may beambivalent about forgiving the transgressor.They ask why they should forgive as they feelthat the transgressor does not deserve it, yetat the same time they may acknowledge thatit is what they would ultimately like toachieve and may be the only realistic solu-tion if the status quo is to be maintained.The emerging research on forgiveness andhealth provides one source of motivationalevidence for victims in this situation. Bycontinuing to be angry, ruminate, holdgrudges and/or plot revenge, the individualis likely to be damaging their own health andexperience a poorer quality of life.

It is also possible to help the individual toreconceptualise their situation. Here theliterature on stress is helpful. Most situationswhere the need for forgiveness arises are lowcontrol situations, in that the victim has hadno direct control over the events and there islittle that they can do to alter events (Terry &Hynes, 1998). They cannot demand that theperpetrator apologise, indeed the perpetra-tor may even feel that they have done noth-ing wrong. Such low control situations arevery stressful. The victim frequently feelshelpless in this situation. With time victimscan be helped to re-frame their situation tocounteract this feeling of helplessness.Victims need to understand that while theyremain upset and pre-occupied with thewrong, they are allowing the perpetrator tocontinue to hurt them. They are focussingtheir emotional energies on the injusticesdone to them and frequently failing to moveon with their lives. Letting go of the negativeemotions associated with non forgiveness canbe conceptualised as being empowering. Itbegins with an acceptance that howeverunfair they feel it was the event has happened

and cannot be undone. They need to behelped to become aware of the options theyhave. They can continue to be upset and riskdamaging their health, become bitter anddamage their other relationships, or they canwork towards some resolution of the situa-tion. Resolution is obviously easier if theperpetrator acknowledges the wrong, apolo-gises and makes retribution but even if thisdoes not happen they can still be helped tomove on. Underpinning all of this is theacknowledgement that forgiveness takes time(Worthington et al., 2000). This is not alwaysacknowledged in intervention studies andagain is an area where counselling psycholo-gists can make a valuable contribution basedon documenting their experiences withclients to help provide more realistic guide-lines about the length of treatment likely invarious scenarios.

There are several interventions to assistin the development of forgiveness in theliterature (Enright & Coyle, 1998; Worthing-ton, 1998; Macaskill, 2002 ) and a case studyliterature on counselling interventions isbeginning to emerge in North America, butthere are many aspects of the forgivenessprocess that are poorly understood andcounselling psychologists are uniquelyplaced to expand on this literature. Someevidence of cultural differences in forgive-ness is emerging (Kadiangandu, Mullet &Vinsonneau, 2001) and case studies ofBritish clients could usefully be comparedwith the existing American literature.Current research suggests that understand-ing why the incident occurred, the presenceof mitigation, no wish for revenge, a willing-ness to compromise, the presence of an apol-ogy, some signs of remorse and a desire forreconciliation on the part of the wrong doer,appear to promote forgiveness (Worthing-ton, 1998) but more work needs to be doneon understanding the processes of changeinvolved. The current discussion and indeedmost of the research literature focuses oninterpersonal forgiveness but self forgivenessis another major area waiting to be explored.Again counselling psychologists would seem


Ann Macaskill

well placed to take this forward as they havealmost unique access to individuals dealingwith these issues and many will have a wealthof experience in this area.

CorrespondenceDr Ann MacaskillReader in Psychology, School of Social Science and Law, Southbourne, Collegiate Crescent Campus,Sheffield S10 2BP.E-mail: [email protected]



ReferencesAffleck, Tennen, Croog & Levine, (1987). Causal

attribution, perceived benefits, and morbidityafter a heart attack. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 29–35.

Akitar, S. (2002). Forgiveness: Origins, dynamics,psychopathology and technical relevance. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, LXXI, 175–211.

Bass, E. & Davis, L. (1994). The courage to heal.New York: Harper Perennial.

Beck, J.S. (1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics and beyond.New York: Guilford Press.

Boszormenyi-Nagy, I. (1987). Foundations of contextualtherapy: Collected papers. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Davidson & Jurkovic (1993). Forgiveness and narcis-sism: Consistency in experience across real and hypo-thetical hurt situations. Paper presented at themeeting of the Christian Association for thePsychological Studies, Kansas City, April.

DiBlaso, F.A. & Proctor, J.H. (1993). Therapists andthe clinical use of forgiveness. American Journal ofFamily Therapy, 21, 175–184.

Ellis, A. & Dryden, W. (1997). The practice of rational-emotive therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.

Enright, R.D. & Coyle, C.T. (1998). Researching theprocess model of forgiveness within psychologi-cal interventions. In E.L. Worthington, Jr., Dimen-sions of forgiveness: Psychological research andtheological perspectives (pp.139–161). Philadelphia:Templeton Foundation Press.

Enright, R.D., Eastin, D.L., Golden, S., Sarinopoulos,I. & Freedman, S. (1992). Interpersonal forgive-ness within the helping professions: An attemptto resolve differences in opinion. Counselling andValues, 36, 84–103.

Friedman, M., Thoresen, C.E., Gill, J., Ulmer, D.,Powell, L.H., Price, V.A., Brown, B., Thompson,L., Rabin, D.D., Breall, W.S., Bourg, W., Levy, R.& Diaon, T. (1986). Alteration of Type A Behav-ior and its effect on cardiac recurrences in postmyocardial infarction patients: Summary resultsof the Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project.American Heart Journal, 112, 635–665.

Goldberg, D. & Williams, P. (1991). A user’s guide to thegeneral health questionnaire. London: NFER,Nelson.

Hargreave, T.D. (1994). Families and forgiveness: Healing wounds in the intergenerational family.New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Hope, D. (1987). The healing paradox of forgive-ness. Psychotherapy, 24, 240–244.

Kadiangandu, J.K., Mullet, E. & Vinsonneau, G.(2001). Forgivingness: A Congo-France compari-son. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32,504–511.

Kelly, A.E. & McKillop, K.J. (1996). Consequences ofrevealing personal secrets. Psychological Bulletin,120, 450–465.

Macaskill, A. (2002). Heal the hurt: How to forgiven andmove on. London: Guilford Press.

Macaskill, A. (2004). Defining forgiveness: Christianclergy and general population perspectives. Submis-sion.

Macaskill, A., Maltby, J. & Day, L. (2002). Forgivenessof self and others and emotional empathy. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142, 663–665.

Maltby, J., Macaskill, A. & Day, L. (2001). Failure toforgive self and others: a replication and exten-sion of the relationship between forgiveness,personality, social desirability and general health.Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 1–6.

McAlister, E.W.C. (1984). Christian counselling andhuman need. Journal of Psychology and Christianity,2, 50–61.

McCullough, M.E. (1997). Marital forgiveness: Theo-retical foundations and an approach to preven-tion. Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal, 1,77–93.

McCullough, M.E. & Worthington, E.L. (1994).Models of interpersonal forgiveness and theirapplication to counselling: A review and critique.Counselling and Values, 39, 2–14.

McCullough, M.E. & Worthington, E.L. Jr. (1999).Religion and the forgiving personality. Journal ofPersonality, 67, 1141–1164.

McMinn, R.C. & Rhoads, K.R. (1996). Forgiveness. In R.C. McCinn, Psychology, theology, and spiritual-ity in Christian Counselling. Wheaton, Il: TyndaleHouse.

Miller, T.Q., Smith, T.W., Turner, M.C.W., Guijarro,M.L. & Hallet, A.J. (1996). Meta-analytic reviewof research on hostility and physical health.Psychological Bulletin, 119, 322–348.

Mosher, P. (1991). Title, Key Word, and Author Index toPsychoanalytic Journals: 1920–1990. New York:American Psychoanalytic Association.

Pattison, M. (1965). On the failure to forgive or to beforgiven. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 31,106–115.

Pennebaker, E.W. (Ed.) (1995). Emotion, disclosureand health. Washington, DC: American Psycho-logical Association Press.

Schontz, F.D. & Rosenak, C. (1994). Psychologicaltheories and the need for forgiveness: Assess-ment and critique. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 7, 23–31.

Scobie, E.D. & Scobie, G.E.W. (1998). Damagingevents: The perceived need for forgiveness.Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 28,373–401.

Seligman, M.E. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Posi-tive Psychology: An introduction. AmericanPsychologist, 55, 5–14.

Sells, J.N. & Hargreave, T.D. (1998). Forgiveness: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Journal of Family Therapy, 20, 21–36.

Tennen, H. & Affleck, G. (1990). Blaming others forthreatening events. Psychological Bulletin, 108,209–232.

Terry, D.J. & Hynes, G.J. (1998). Adjustment to a low-control situation: Re-examining the role ofcoping responses. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 74, 1078–1092.

Worthington, T.A. (1998). The pyramid model offorgiveness: Some interdisciplinary speculationsabout unforgiveness and the promotion offorgiveness. In E.L. Worthington, Jr., Dimensionsof forgiveness: Psychological research and theologicalperspectives (pp.107–137). Philadelphia: Temple-ton Foundation Press.

Worthington, T.A., Kurusu, T.A., Collins, W., Berry,J.W., Ripley, J.S. & Baier, S.N. (2000). Forgivingusually takes time: A lesson learned by studyinginterventions to promote forgiveness. Journal ofPsychology and Theology, 28, 3–20.


Ann Macaskill

Emotional Health and Well-being:A practical guide for schoolsHelen Cowie, Chrissy Broadman,Judith Dawkins & Dawn JenniferLondon: Sage Publications, April 2004. ISBN: 0-7619-4354-4 (Cloth); 0-7619-4355-2(Paper).Cloth £60.00; Paper £18.99.

� Reviewed by Rachel Lewis

Emotional health and well-being is a conceptthat is not always associated with schooling.This point is as relevant now as it ever hasbeen. At a time when many people are call-ing for greater achievement in schools, thisbook is a timely reminder that academiclearning is contingent upon emotional well-being and that the effective transition intoadult life is not just dependent upon theacquisition of skills in literacy and numeracybut upon social and emotional learning too.This last statement, may come as no surpriseto counselling psychologists, however, it maybe of interest to know that there are manypractical steps that schools can take in orderto safe guard the emotional health of theirpupils. Moreover, this book may be of use toany counselling psychologist wanting to takea systemic view of their work in schools andperhaps hoping to understand how they canbest support teachers in supporting theirpupils.

The book is written in three sections.Section One provides an introduction to thenotion of emotional health in young peopleit provides a rational for the book andsuggests how interventions can be matchedto a given school. Section Two highlightsdistinct categories of emotional difficultieswith an introductory chapter on creating aschool community that can support thesevarious difficulties. Finally Section Three,looks at predicting difficulties and suggestshow emotional health initiatives can bemonitored and evaluated.

The introduction reveals some interest-

ing facts. We aretold, for example,that two to four percent of childrensuffer from depres-sion. And that 41per cent of thosethat self-harm, seek help from friends beforethey act. We hear that roughly 9210 pupilsare excluded from school per year and thatfor the rest of their lives, many of thesechildren remain involved with mental healthagencies or the criminal justice system.Furthermore, it is revealed that 1000children annually are admitted to hospitalwith alcohol-related illness. The need foreducators to develop an awareness ofemotional health is, therefore, clearly stated.Factors, which are thought to contribute tomental health problems, are also high-lighted as well as the factors which supportthe effective implementation of mentalhealth interventions in schools.

In this first section, the stigma of mentalhealth is also explored it is argued thatstigma prevents children from looking forthe help that they need and suggests ways inwhich negative views about mental healthcan be challenged. We also look at whyschools should be involved in supportingemotional health, how schools function in awider social setting, why schools shouldintervene at a whole school level and whereto start in terms of choosing an intervention.There is also a checklist for pupils tocomplete. It is intended as a diagnostic toolproviding a window onto the emotional lifeof a school.

In the second section, there is a changeof pace with an examination of distinct cate-gories of emotional and behavioural disor-der. We look at disaffection, violence,bullying behaviours, sexual behaviour, alco-hol, drugs and substance abuse, sociallyisolated children, bereavement, eating problems, self-harm and Attention Deficit


Book Review

and Hyperactivity Disorder. Each chapterhas practical ideas for schools in addressingthese difficulties. In addition, ways aresuggested in which schools can create anemotionally safe environment for it’s pupils.We are introduced to the unsavoury subjectof school toilets and locker rooms. Teachingcounselling skills to staff is also recom-mended, as is the teaching of problem solv-ing and relaxation skills to children.

Some of the suggestions in this sectionmay sound very familiar to schools. However,there are so many initiatives presented herethat even the most well-informed headteacher will be exposed to some new ideas. Ihad never heard about LEAP, which teachesconflict resolution to teenagers; or Circle ofFriends, which actively seeks to create asupportive social network for vulnerable andisolated youngsters. Of the many approachesoffered in this book, however, my favouritewould have to be Teens and Toddlers. It is a12-week course where teenage girls are givenfirst-hand experience of working in a nurs-ery. This has been found to impart useful

parenting skills and, not surprisingly, to radi-cally reduce incidents of teenage pregnancy.

In the final section, the practical implica-tions of developing policy in schools areconsidered. Stumbling blocks are identifiedand explored. Some of the points in thissection may not be new to policy makers,however there is some useful considerationgiven to issues such as a teaching staff’sreadiness to work with outside agencies.

In summary then, this book represents along awaited change in thinking aboutchildren’s schooling. It is no longer appro-priate for schools to only be interested in thebehaviour and academic achievement oftheir pupils. Nor is it sufficient for the iden-tified child with emotional and behaviouraldifficulties to be taken out of class weekly forhis play therapy session. This is an importantbook, of which counselling psychologists canbe aware. It places the emotional health ofchildren firmly on the educational map andidentifies clearly the roads and bridges thatcan be taken to assist in multidisciplinaryinvolvement.


Book Review

THE HOT ISSUES for us at the presenttime are the negotiations over entryinto statutory regulation under the

Health Professions Council, and the movetowards making a Doctoral award the exitpoint for all accredited Counselling Psychol-ogy training programmes. The first of theseinvolves us in discussions in which many ofthe parameters are set by others; the HealthProfessions Council itself, the Department ofHealth, and the government. The second issomething we have decided to work towardsfor ourselves, based on principles of equity.Both issues have implications for otherconcerns of the Division, such as funding fortraining in Counselling Psychology andworkforce planning for the AppliedPsychologies in the NHS.

However, it is all too easy to let thesematters dominate our thinking, such that webecome predominantly inward-looking andforget about the wider world. Two thingshave reminded me of this recently. The firstwas a discussion that took place during arecent meeting of the Society’s ProfessionalPractice Board about human rights abuses,resulting in a minuted statement that humanrights constitute a central issue for psychol-ogy, and the setting up of a group to plan ashort conference on psychology and humanrights to take place in Manchester during theSociety’s Annual Conference. If ever therewas an area where we Counselling Psycholo-gists should have something to contribute tothe wider community, it is this.

The second reminder came when Iattended the annual conference of thePsychological Society of Ireland in Novem-ber and was able to meet and talk with anumber of Irish Counselling Psychologists.What was impressive was the European andinternational perspective that was much inevidence there. From an awareness of devel-opments in psychology and psychotherapyin continental Europe and North America,through to travelling abroad to widen ordeepen one’s training, our hosts demon-strated an outward-looking perspective thatwas admirable.

The challenging but very worthwhileapplication process for entry onto theSociety’s Register of Psychologists Specialis-ing in Psychotherapy asks candidates at onepoint to situate themselves as practitioners inthe wider social, cultural and political world,and to comment on the implications of that.And as Counselling Psychologists, we learnto be able to focus on the internal workingsof our clients whilst maintaining awarenessof their, and our, context and environment.Perhaps we need to do the same with respectto applied psychology, both for the health ofthe profession and for the benefit of thewider society.


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

IONLetter from the Chair

Alan Bellamy

THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICALSOCIETY, the Department of Healthand the Health Professions Council have

all been moving towards making AppliedPsychology a regulated profession. It isplanned that, within the next year or so, theHealth Professions Council (HPC) will regu-late all Applied Psychologists who provideservices to the public. At this stage in theprocedure, it is envisaged that the HPC will beresponsible for disciplinary issues, accredita-tion of courses, continuing professional devel-opment (CPD) requirements and maintaininga register of Applied Psychologists, although itshould be noted that none of these decisionshas been finalised and will shortly beconsulted upon by the Department of Health.

One of the key debates surrounding thismove was to decide which specific title(s)should be regulated. It is proposed that thetitle ‘psychologist’ is not protected or regu-lated because it might lead to a criminalisationof those not intended to be regulated (such asacademics or research psychologists). It hasbeen proposed that seven titles will be regu-lated in the first instance, of which ‘Coun-selling Psychologist’ is one. In other words, theHPC will regulate practising CounsellingPsychologists in the future and anyone notregistered with the HPC but calls him orherself a ‘Counselling Psychologist’ will beliable for prosecution. For existing membersthe BPS will manage this transition to statutoryregulation by simply writing to all CharteredCounselling Psychologists who hold a practis-ing certificate to ask if they wish to transfer tothe HPC Register. The HPC will also put inplace time-limited ‘grandparenting’ arrange-ments to allow those professionals, who maynot be Chartered with the Society, but who

have been practicing ‘safely and lawfully’access to the Register when it opens. TheSociety is in discussion with HPC to try toensure that high standards are maintained forthose entering the Register via this route.

It is not intended that people engagedpurely in Counselling Psychology researchwill be subject to regulation, but they will nolonger be able to call themselves ‘Coun-selling Psychologists’ unless they are regis-tered with the HPC and will be legallyobliged to call themselves a ‘CounsellingPsychology Researcher’ or ‘Lecturer inCounselling Psychology’ as appropriate.

Chartering will still exist, but only as anadjectival title owned by the BPS – this meansthat appropriately qualified people will still beable to describe themselves as a ‘CharteredPsychologist’ but can only describe themselvesas a ‘Chartered Counselling Psychologist’ ifthey appear as a Counselling Psychologist onthe HPC’s list. The Society is seeking to clar-ify whether this will be the legal position.

The Division of Counselling PsychologyExecutive Committee is concerned that theSociety may not adhere to its stated aim ‘Toensure that the move towards statutory regu-lation does not compromise the Society’sstandards and aspirations’ in its drivetowards Statutory Regulation via the HealthProfessions Council. These concerns centreon the messages ‘we have no choice,’ ‘thiswill protect the public’ and yet no definitiveagreements from HPC to maintain standardsor the profession are forthcoming.

It is claimed Society members approvedjoining the HPC in a referendum regardingstatutory regulation. However, the HPC wasnot created until 2002, after the vote, andmembers have not had the opportunity to


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION Statutory Regulation: Implications for

Counselling PsychologistsSusan Van Scoyoc

On behalf of the Division of Counselling Psychology Executive Committee

vote on whether a regulatory body not solelyfor psychologists is acceptable.

The HPC has to date regulated health-related professions mostly embedded in theNHS. Psychologists may be reluctant toembrace a regulatory organisation so influ-enced by the Department of Health.

The currently regulated professionswithin HPC are primarily at graduate level.There are as yet no written guarantees thatour professional standards or monitoring oftraining routes will be maintained with rigorequal to that of the Society.

There is lack of clarity over how the HPCwill approve training for doctoral levelcourses leading to registration and concernthat course inspectors will primarily be non-psychologists without qualifications equal tothe courses they are inspecting.

It is possible that future training willbecome focused on becoming ‘registered’rather than ‘Chartered’ which the Society issaying will become the ‘gold standard’ aboveand beyond registration. What will motivatepractitioners to attain that further standard?

The HPC monitoring process for CPDappears less rigorous than that of the Societyand annual practice certificates will not beissued. How does this protect the public orthe profession as effectively as presentSociety procedures?

Several other health professions havetheir own regulatory bodies. The govern-ment has made it clear it wishes all futureregulation under central councils such as theHPC and does not wish to support furtherindividual regulatory bodies. As a resultSociety members are told we must join theHPC. This lack of co-operation from thegovernment should not result in us unre-servedly handing our profession over to HPC.

Becoming a ‘Registered Psychologist’may lessen the friction between specialisa-tions, but the Department of Health may bepolitically motivated to homogenise the‘applied psychologies’ via HPC for adminis-trative simplicity.

The public will be able to check whethera psychologist is ‘registered’ with the HPC

but in order to establish whether the psychol-ogist is practicing within their area of compe-tence they will have to go to the BPS register.This disadvantages those who have to trainfor a minimum of six years to register fortheir specialised title as anyone may continueto call themselves a Consultant Psychologist,Psychotherapeutic Psychologist, or any varia-tion other than those specialist titles used bySociety Divisions. How does this protect thepublic who often struggle with the differencebetween a psychiatrist and psychologist?

Richard House, a psychotherapist,provocatively asks: ‘Can existing or aspiringregistrants, in the privacy of their ownconscience, with their hand on their heartand beyond all reasonable doubt, sincerelyaver that statutory regulation is on balance abeneficent process – rather than one drivenby commercial competition and profession-centred self-interest, culturally fashionable,anxiety-driven ‘control-freakery’, and the‘dysfunctional’ institutional dynamics towhich all organisations – and especiallypsychotherapy ones – seem subject?’

Further information, including a useful‘frequently asked questions’ section can befound on the Society website: http://www.bps.org.uk/statreg/ index.cfm. The HPCwebsite is: http://www.hpc-uk.org.

The DCoP executive committee isconcerned to represent the views of all itsmembers and invites comments on possiblestatutory regulation by the HPC. Pleasecontact the Honorary Secretary of the Divi-sion with your views. We will be providing anopportunity to discuss this matter at a forumfollowing the Division AGM the during theAnnual Conference in Manchester.

Correspondence Jennie Rowden, Hon Sec DCoPThe British Psychological Society, St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East,Leicester LE1 7DR. [email protected]

ReferenceHouse, R. (2001) The statutory regulation of

psychotherapy: Still time to think again. The Psychotherapist, 17, 12–17.

Divisional News


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION

THE DIVISION COMMITTEE has beenconcerned about the current qualifica-tions situation in the profession as a

number of variables have highlighted thatconfusion exists in the understanding ofthese qualifications. These variables includeAgenda for Change and other job evaluationschemes in the public sector. It seems thatdue to the range of awards available, somestakeholders might fail to recognise thatcounselling psychology is a D level profes-sion as outlined in Quality Assurance Agencyand Benchmarking frameworks agreed bythe Society.

After consultation with the TrainingCommittee in Counselling Psychology andthe Board of Examiners, the Division ofCounselling Psychology committee fullysupports the BPS policy that all appliedpsychologies are D level professions. It is theDivisional Committee’s position that allCounselling Psychology trainings thatdirectly lead to eligibility to apply for regis-tration as a Chartered Counselling Psycholo-gist, whether by the course or theindependent route, should confer aDoctoral award.

Executive Committee Division of Counselling Psychology24 November 2004.

Divisional News


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

IONPolicy Statement: Qualifications in

Counselling PsychologyDivision Committee

Subgroup for Press and Communications

AS PART OF THE Division’s ongoingdrive to raise the profile of Coun-selling Psychology as a profession the

Division Committee has set up a sub groupfor Press and Communications. We are look-ing for members from all levels of the Divi-sion to take part in the sub-group and

incidental expenses will be paid. Experienceisn’t necessary but an enthusiasm for spread-ing the word certainly is. If you would like toknow more or would like to volunteer pleasecontact Owen Hughes DCoP Press Officeron 01874 712508.

Sorry for the delay.

A S YOU READ this, the new cohort oftrainees in the Surrey course havealready completed their introductory

training in therapeutic skills and are busy intheir placements. However, it is not only thetrainees of the course that are rather indus-trious at the moment.

Mid-placements visits are currentlyunderway, with professional tutors, myselfincluded, ‘out in the field’ meeting supervi-sors, discussing trainees’ progress in theirtherapeutic work with clients and planningways to facilitate their growth as counsellingpsychologists.

As is the tradition at Surrey, trainees havetaken up a range of placements within NHSdepartments in primary, secondary and terti-ary care. They include specialist servicessuch as substance misuse, personality disor-ders, eating disorders and pain managementclinics. Outside the NHS, trainees are gain-ing equally valuable experience in studentand staff counselling services. The courseendeavours to provide trainees with diverseclinical experiences throughout the threeyears of the training. Consequently, theother Professional Tutors and I continuallypursue new and exciting placement oppor-tunities for the cohorts.

This is the first year for me in the role ofProfessional Tutor for the course andpersonally it has been a challenging butexciting time. It has also been a period oftransition as I have come to this post toreplace Dr Margaret Tholstrup, who retiredback in September 2004 after three-and-a-

half years of invaluable contribution to thecourse. Thankfully, Margaret will be comingback to Surrey in a few weeks’ time to facili-tate a supervision group for the third yeartrainees. We will be delighted to have aroundus once again as we can all learn from her years of therapeutic and training experience.

Another noteable absence, albeittemporarily, is Dr Riccardo Draghi-Lorenz(Lecturer and Research Supervisor) who isaway on a six-month sabbatical to the inspi-rational countryside of Vienna. Dr Draghi-Lorenz will dedicate his time to the write-upof research, which will further contribute tothe department’s publications’ record. Hewill be undoubtedly missed by trainees andstaff alike and we hope that this time awaywill be productive, refreshing, and that hewill return ready for the new academic year.

As for the rest of the Course Team, ourinspiration has been cultivated during ourannual away day, where new and creativeideas were developed for the course in lightof the new Society criteria for counsellingpsychology training in the UK. We are allenthusiastic to implement some of theseideas as we’re making exciting changes tothe curriculum for the coming years.

CorrespondenceDr Elena TouroniProfessional Tutor,PsychD in Psychotherapeutic andCounselling Psychology,University of Surrey.


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION News from the Surrey Course

Elena Touroni

IS RETIREMENT THE end of the affair?Do psychologists know enough about sex?Pals after punch ups. Dignity in relation-

ships. Integrating Spirituality andPsychotherapy. These are just some of thetitles that met the conference committee’seyes as our reviewing meeting got under wayin early November. Over coffee and biscuitsneural energy was stimulated by theunprecedented number of submissions thisyear; so many that we had to add a thirdstrand to the conference programme andstill had to reject some good submissions. Webelieve the delegates to this conference arein for a treat.

Not satisfied with keynote addresses byAndrew Samuels (University of Essex andSociety of Analytical Psychology), Gail Simon(The Pink Practice) and Lennox Thomas(Refugee Therapy Centre) the committeealso recognises the importance of the entiremembership debating our New Horizons. A Hot Topics Keynote workshop has beenarranged to follow the AGM when we are allable to come together and explore a numberof crucial and exciting developments in ourprofession; the opinion and advise of themembership is needed and this is a greatchance for all of us to consider the shape ofour future.

The programme has been designed toallow delegates to attend the Society’s Quin-quennial Conference keynote speakers atthe start of Friday and Saturday before we

divide off to our own keynote speakers,academic papers and workshops. We are alsodelighted to have a whole symposiumpresented by the trainees at Roehampton onCulture, Change and Loss which promises tobe an interesting series of papers chaired bytheir course director Peter Martin. Therereally is something for everyone. The divi-sion registrar, Alan Frankland, has not beenforgotten; in addition to his usual workshopfor trainees considering the independentroute he will also be available for individualconsultations.

By the time you read this report youshould have received a conference posteradvertising the conference. If you would likemore posters then please contact Jill Myttonon [email protected].

Sometime in January you will havereceived a short questionnaire in the post.Only three questions so please help yourconference committee provide you withwhat you want by replying. It is not too late… yet. One lucky person drawn will beoffered free registration at the conference.

And finally – the conference committeeis looking for new members to help it planthe conference in 2006. If you are interestedand would like to know more about the workinvolved then please contact either Jill Mytton (Conference 2005 co-ordinator)on [email protected] or Martin Milton(Acting Chair of the Sub-Committee forConference) on [email protected]


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

IONCounselling Psychology Conference 2005

Relationships in Counselling Psychology:New HorizonsReport from the Sub-Committee for Conference

WE WOULD LIKE to briefly introduceourselves to you. Our names are Olivia

Thrift (Course Route Trainee Representative)and Therese Paterson (Independent RouteTrainee Representative) and we represent theneeds of Counselling Psychology trainees onthe Divisional Committee for CounsellingPsychology.

This section of the CPR is dedicated tothe needs of trainees and we are keen to seeit reactivated. We would like your feedbackon how you feel this space can best beutilised and if there are any specific issuesyou would like discussed.

While we have a few ideas of what wemight like to see this page used for we wouldlike to hear from you. For instance, webelieve that trainees have limited under-standings of the different training experi-ences that colleagues encounter. Yourcontributions may help to dispel the mythsand misunderstandings amongst trainees.

In our role as representatives we are keento set up a dialogue so that trainees canshare the good, the bad and the ugly. If youare thinking about it, the chances are some-one else is to. If you want to contact us thenfeel free to send either of us an e-mail(addresses at the foot of this article).

We thought one way to get more out ofour training would be an open forum ofexperience and knowledge sharing. Pleasedo think about making a contribution andbroadening the communication amongsttrainees.

Olivia ThriftRepresentative for Trainees on the CourseRoute.E-mail: [email protected] PatersonRepresentative for Independent RouteTrainees.E-mail: [email protected]


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION Trainee Column

Dear Trainees

IREAD THE last Counselling PsychologyReview with great pleasure. It was no singlearticle that prompted me to write, rather

the whole which did indeed seem to begreater than the sum of its parts. The point Ihope to get to is one that goes to the heart ofour Division of Counselling Psychology andthat is its ability and desire to embrace differ-ence with good humour. The specialedition’s papers on the utility of psychomet-ric measures by counselling psychologistswere informative and documented theextent to which rigorous scientific method isemployed by counselling psychologists withhuman sensitivity and fiduciary ethical prac-tice. All of this was wonderfully contrasted byMartin Milton’s disarmingly personal obser-vations of his journey from trainee to trainerand practitioner. It is clear in my mind that itis this ability to contain apparently disparate

ideas and to move freely between them atwill is a major beneficial characteristic of theDivision and its members. This ability toembrace and allow such differences ofpeople’s opinions and worldviews afford usthe possibility of development. Like MartinMilton, my time as a trainee was personallyshocking but also a quiet revolution tookplace and I suspect continues. I am speakingof a waning of the need to be in agreement.Paradoxically this seems to me to allow moreroom for my patients and supervisees to findtheir own way of being and doing, to clarifyin their own minds their own opinions aboutthemselves and their circumstances. UnlikeGroucho Marx, I am very pleased to be amember of this particular club that wouldhave me as a member.

Peter Ford, CPsycholPartnerships in Care Ltd


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

IONCorrespondence

Dear Editor

I’VE SPENT A large portion of my freetime over the last 10 days hoovering,wondering if I should oil my decking,

yacking endlessly on the telephone with farflung friends, swimming, playing with thecat, hoovering again (well the cat doesgenerate a lot of fluff), and generallyattempting to stave off impending panic andensuing paralysis. Why? No I’m not about toget married or anything, I have been in thethroes of avoiding doing my first academicpaper on the MSc in counselling psychology.Thankfully I’ve handed it in now, so am nowin the gloomy throes of disengaging myselffrom the mania involved in getting largeamounts of information into one’s tiny brainand then slowly and painfully disgorging it,bit by slippery bit.

One of my fellow students has a sort ofconspiracy theory going, whereby the tutorsare going to purposefully fail us all to teachus some obscure lesson about not seeing it as‘failure’ but as an ‘opportunity’ (they talkabout this a lot). But somehow I don’t thinkthis would be a good idea, because what witheverything else we are grappling with, I thinkthey’d have a mutiny on their hands! Ofcourse doing any training course, particu-larly one that is quite emotionally charged, isgoing to be full of challenges. Settling into anew group of strangers, knowing they won’tbe strangers for long, and that they’re goingto be around for the next two or four years ismomentous enough. Then there’s the infa-mous anxiety around getting placements,engaging an acceptable supervisor, therapist,hairdresser – the list is endless.

However, there is a great upside to allthis. Speaking for myself not only am I learn-ing to be proficient in something I reallywant to do, I am also benefiting from expo-

sure to some really charismatic teaching andmind expanding thought. It puts me in mindof those adverts for teacher recruitment,whereby adults, including our most reverendPM, wistfully recall the schoolteacher thathad the most positive impact on them. Well I think we are blessed with one such person,who is like a refreshing waterfall raininggreat droplets of self-acceptance on ourgrateful heads. If we are lucky enough tohave such a high quality of teaching for therest of our four-year stint at university, fortu-nate indeed we shall be!

To embark on a training in counsellingpsychology seems very much to be aboutstriking new balances, from surface concernsright down through every aspect of one’sphysical and emotional life. Within the over-all structure of the training – half academic,half practical – lie so many other more diffi-cult tightropes to walk. Outside universityand on a personal level, it’s amazing how lifesubtly changes. I’m sure I am not the onlyone who has experienced a shift in certainpeople around me in terms of what theywant, need and demand from me, and howthey experience themselves when they arearound me. Some more needy types are nowbacking off, while emotional clams now sitdown and start questioning themselves usingme as some kind of witness; children who Ihave so far felt to be very untrusting andwary of adults in general have started tellingme about unpleasant events from school orfamily life and how upset they feel about thewhole thing. On the one hand this sort ofbehaviour gladdens my heart because it addsto my sense of justification in the career pathI have chosen. I can see it’s not necessarilywhat I do, but more who I now am and whatI represent, that allows some people to feel


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION Talking Point

The Good Life is hanging in the balanceFenella Quinn

they can explore themselves a bit moredeeply in conversation with me. But on theother hand, the sense of responsibility isenormous. I can see that if I didn’t retain afirm grip on boundaries in my personal lifeas well as my professional one, I would soonfeel burned out and isolated. But the otherside of the coin is that the temptation onoccasion to overcompensate must beavoided. Telling my friends to ‘get a life whydon’t you’ isn’t going to be too helpfuleither! So maybe it’s all about striking abalance; taking responsibility for retainingone’s true identity and acting in an authenticmanner, without getting swallowed up byother people’s need.

If all this sounds a bit difficult, that’sbecause it is! But of course it must be betterto realise the reality of a situation and dealwith it, than ignore it and let it fester. A sitewhere this seems crucially important to me isin the practical element of the course, wherewe practise being therapists while our peersnecessarily (who else would do it?) take theclient role. As a group we have spoken aboutthe issue of crossing boundaries and feelinguncomfortable having to talk about live, andoften distressing, concerns with our fellowstudents. We all know that everyone in apractice session cannot help but take awaythe knowledge they glean about us within‘the room’, which will inevitably inform howwe think and feel about each other outside‘the room’. The sense of vulnerability andexposure is profound. Interestingly despitehaving mooted and agreed to change our

practice groups around, all my fellowstudents have stuck firmly to their originalgroup. Perhaps the thought of having to gothrough the same process with new people isjust too exhausting, too daunting, or plainfrightening; I don’t know. Even within eachgroup, I imagine there are some quite seri-ous inequalities in terms of how muchemotional material each participant is will-ing or able to get in touch with. To beemotionally open towards someone who hasnot ever gone near the really sensitive anddifficult stuff within themselves could possi-bly be quite a dangerous process for bothparties. Speaking for myself, I have a deep-seated sense of unease about engaging intherapeutic work from the client perspectivewithin those college-based sessions; I wouldprefer to keep that for my own personal ther-apy. However, I have a responsibility to myfellow students to give them enough to workon so they can hone their skills, as they havetowards me. So while I really wonder if this isthe best way to train therapists, in the mean-time all I can do is take ultimate responsibil-ity for my own well-being and attempt tostrike a tricky balance. If anyone has any tips,I’d be glad to hear them…!

CorrespondenceFenella QuinnDepartment of Psychology,University of East London,Romford Road, Stratford,London E15 4LZ.E-mail: [email protected]

Talking Point


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION

Format of events listed is:date: eventvenuecontact

MARCH/APRIL 2005

30 March – 2 April: BPS Quinquennial Conference – Psychology for the 21st CenturyUniversity of Manchester.BPS Conference Office: Lorna Savage.E-mail: [email protected]: 0116 252 9555 Fax: 0116 255 7123Web: www.bps.org.uk/events/ac2005/index.cfm

MAY 2005

12–15: XIIth European Congress on Work and Organizational Psychology Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected] (Handan Kepir Sinangil)Web: www.eawop2005.org

20–21: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy 11th Annual ResearchConferenceBirmingham.Angela Couchman,Research Office Manager,British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP House,35–37 Albert Street, Rugby,Warwickshire, CV21 2SG.Direct line: 0870 443 5237 E-mail: [email protected]: www.bacp.co.uk/research/conference2005/index.html

JUNE 2005

18–21: 9th ECOTS European Conference on Traumatic Stress Stockholm, Sweden.Tina Holmgren, Information Manager,The Swedish National Association for Mental Health (sfph), Box 3445,SE-103 69 Stockholm, Sweden.Tel: +46 (0)8 34 70 65 Fax: + 46 (0)8 32 88 75 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.stocon.se/ecots2005


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION Events Diary

Jennifer Liston-Smith

20–21: British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies & Oxford CognitiveTherapy Centre Workshop: Emotion in psychotherapyOxford.Natalie Meade, Psychology Department, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX.Tel: 01865 223986 Fax: 01865 226411E-mail: [email protected]: www.octc.co.uk

JULY 2005

3–8: 9th European Congress of Psychology Granada, Spain.E-mail: [email protected]: +34 91 444 9020 Fax: +34 91 309 5615 Web: www.ecp2005.com

4–6:1st International Conference on Post-Cognitivist Psychology(Organised by BPS Scottish Branch)Glasgow.Dr Tony Anderson,Department of Psychology,University of Strathclyde, 40 George Street, Glasgow G1 1QE.E-mail: [email protected]: www.strath.ac.uk/conferences/postcog2005/index.htm

SEPTEMBER 2005

7–9: Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference 2005: ‘Health Psychology across thelifespan’. Coventry University.Heather BuchananE-mail: [email protected]: 08700 407285Or BPS Conference Office: Lorna Savage.E-mail: [email protected]: 0116 252 9555 Fax: 0116 255 7123

Please send details of all appropriate conferences to me:

By post: People in Progress Ltd, 5 Rochester Mansions, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2HA.By fax: 01273 726180By e-mail: [email protected]

I look forward to hearing from you.

Jennifer Liston-Smith

Events Diary


NEW

SLET

TER

SECT

ION

Notes for Contributors Counselling Psychology ReviewContributions on all aspects of Counselling Psychology are invited.

Academic Papers: Manuscripts of approximately 4000 words excluding references should be typewritten, double-spaced with1'' margins on one side of A4, and include a word count. An abstract of no more than 250 words should precede the mainbody of the paper. On a separate sheet give the author’s name, address and contact details, qualifications, currentprofessional affiliation or activity, and a statement that the paper is not under consideration elsewhere. This category mayalso include full-length in-depth case discussions, as well as research and theoretical papers.

Issues from Practice: Shorter submissions, of between 1000 and 3000 words, are invited that discuss and debate practiceissues and may include appropriately anonymised case material, and/or the client’s perspective. As with academic papers, on aseparate sheet give the author’s name, address and contact details, qualifications, current professional affiliation or activity,and a statement that the paper is not under consideration elsewhere.

These two categories of submission are refereed and so the body of the paper should be free of information identifying the author.

Other Submissions: News items and reports, letters, details of conferences, courses and forthcoming events, and book reviewsare all welcomed. These are not refereed but evaluated by the Editor, and should conform to the general guidelines given below.

● Authors of all submissions should follow the Society’s guidelines for the use of non-sexist language and all referencesmust be presented in APA style (see the Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines, and the Style Guide, both available from the British Psychological Society).

● Graphs, diagrams, etc., should be in camera-ready form and must have titles. Written permission should be obtained bythe author for the reproduction of tables, diagrams, etc., taken from other sources.

● Three hard copies of papers subject to refereeing should be supplied, together with a large s.a.e. and a copy of thesubmission on disk or CD-ROM (if possible save the document both in its original word-processing format and as anASCII file, with diagrams in their original format and as a TIFF or an EPS). Two hard copies of other submissions should besupplied. Subject to prior agreement with the Editor, however, items may be submitted as e-mail attachments.

● Proofs of papers will be sent to authors for correction of typesetting errors, and will need to be returned promptly.

Deadlines for notices of forthcoming events, letters and advertisements are listed below:For publication in Copy must be received byFebruary 5 NovemberMay 5 FebruaryAugust 5 MayNovember 5 August

All submissions should be sent to: Heather Sequeira, Editor, Counselling Psychology Review, Psychological Therapies Team, Sage Ward, Gulson Hospital, Gulson Road, Coventry CV21 2HR. E-mail: [email protected] submissions and correspondence should include e-mail address, where available.

Book reviews should be sent to: Kasia Szymanska, Book Reviews Editor, Centre for Stress Management, 156 Westcombe Hill, London SE3 7DH.

St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR, UKTel: 0116 254 9568 Fax: 0116 247 0787 E-mail: [email protected] www.bps.org.uk

© The British Psychological Society 2005Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No 229642

Contents1 Editorial

Heather Sequeira

Academic Papers2 The process of transformation: A fighter’s perspective

Martin Milton

11 Story: A personal reflectionSheelagh Strawbridge

17 A phenomenological enquiry into the effect of meditation on therapeutic practiceJyoti Nanda

26 The treatment of forgiveness in counselling and therapyAnn Macaskill

33 Book ReviewEmotional Health and Well-Being, by Helen Cowie et al.Reviewed by Rachel Lewis

Newsletter Section35 Letter from the Chair

Alan Bellamy36 Statutory Regulation: Implications for Counselling Psychologists39 Policy Statement: Qualifications in Counselling Psychology39 Subgroup for Press and Communications40 News from the Surrey Course41 Relationships in Counselling Psychology: New Horizons42 Trainee Column43 Correspondence44 Talking Point – Fenella Quinn46 Events Diary

Counselling Psychology Reviewbps-dcop-uk.s3.amazonaws.com/cpr/cpr_2005_20_1.pdf · Counselling...

Documents

Transcript of Counselling Psychology Reviewbps-dcop-uk.s3.amazonaws.com/cpr/cpr_2005_20_1.pdf · Counselling...