Clinical Psychology Observed

Clinical psychology has slowly developed as a profession over the last 50 years of so. It has been shaped in response to psychiatry, scientific positivism and the therapeutic monopoly of medicine, as well as the organizational setting of the National Health Service. Clinical psychologists are trained in a professional culture which stresses the primacy of research knowledge and the development of skills. Yet, as David Pilgrim and Andy Treacher insist, it is an eclectic science with no agreed methodology. Consequently, its ability to provide a secure basis for practioners is suspect. "Clinical Psychology Observed" examines this contradictory state of British clinical psychology. It contrasts its confident public persona with its private insecurity and confusion. Throughout the book, this paradox is examined in relation to the cultural history of clinical psychology, its training practices and its responses to the radical changes in health care policy in the 1980s. Finally, the implications of this are discussed in relation to the problems facing practitioners in the future. This book should be of interest to students, lecturers and practioners of clinical psychology, psychiatry, and health policy.