The Future of Psychological Therapy

From Managed Care to Transformational Practice

John Lees editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:28th Jan '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This hardback is available in another edition too:

The Future of Psychological Therapy cover

The psychotherapy and counselling profession has recently experienced far-reaching changes because of the development of evidence-based medicine and managed care systems. The Future of Psychological Therapy brings together leading counsellors, psychotherapists, psychological therapists and managers to address how these changes are beginning to affect all aspects of the psychotherapy and counselling profession. It evaluates the impact of these developments, shows how they affect practitioner’s capacity to care, anticipates future developments and offers a coherent and viable approach to research and practice.

The book draws on psychotherapeutic theory to develop insight into managed care and engages in qualitative microphenonena research into the complexities of clinical practice drawing on cutting edge developments. It aims to establish a balanced counselling and psychotherapy profession by:

opening up a debate about these far-reaching developments which threaten the profession,

challenging the rhetoric of accountability, audit, transparency and measurement of care,

exposing the danger of sleeping through these momentous changes in the counselling and psychotherapy profession.

The Future of Psychological Therapy is a timely and important book, examining the psychotherapy profession's approach to managed care and evidence-based research, and discussing whether a balanced, coherent and viable counselling and psychotherapy research and practice culture can be established. It will be of interest to practitioners, academics and policy makers in the field, non-clinical professionals and anyone who is interested in psychological therapy and addressing the worldwide deterioration in psychological health.

"The helping professions have been increasingly influenced by the prevailing political and economic climate since the 1980s. This book contains a set of timely reflections on how counselling and psychotherapy are affected by the current zeitgeist. They make it abundantly clear that the modernist paradigm, as exemplified by both a state-endorsed version of ‘therapy’ such as IAPT and NICE’s overemphasis on the value of randomised controlled trials, is totally incompatible with non-prescriptive, potentially transformative, ‘authentic’ therapy. This book is an important wake-up call to the pernicious effect of various aspects of neoliberalism, particularly the practices and language associated with it. In the Brave New World of ‘managed care’ public discourse is in danger of falling into a moral vacuum, leading to a general loss of the real meaning of ‘care’. I hope that this book will be widely read."- Dr Els van Ooijen, Psychotherapist, counsellor and supervisor in private practice, Visiting lecturer in Consultative Supervision to the University of South Wales

"Incisive and timely, this collection of critiques of contemporary professional therapy contains astute analysis and radical political challenge regarding the neoliberal trend of managed care, IAPT and associated societal dynamics, presented by some of the most knowledgable observers in the field. It is a gauntlet of a book, not to be missed by all who care about the future of mental health and psychological therapies."- Colin Feltham, Emeritus Professor of Critical Counselling Studies, Sheffied Hallam University

ISBN: 9781138886391

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 408g

196 pages