This research investigates the lived experience of bilingual clients from a Counselling Psychology perspective using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Within the context of the experience of having therapy in a language other than one’s first, six people were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured and conducted in English. The experiential data were analysed guided by Max van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic phenomenology – a post-modern paradigm. The analysis brought up six distinct hermeneutic descriptions (textual portraits) for each of the participants respectively. The main thematic structures amongst participants’ responses were then organised into six main thematic categories, and their similarities and variations were presented and discussed in the light of the pre-existing literature. These themes are: “touching and losing strings of meaning-words inside”, “not finding cultural matches between words in different languages”, “working-together for ‘we’ meanings”, “the liberating effect of a different language”, “sense of restricted self in different languages”, and finally “bridging the gap between self and other: security and understanding across a language gap”. The textual portraits and the discussion of the above mentioned thematic structures amongst them, bring forward an account of the participants’ experiences of living in another language, the difficulties and challenges encountered, the impact on their sense of self and identities, and most particularly their general experiences in the therapy space. Implications for clinical practice are explored and directions for further research are offered.

This research explores a duality in art therapy: is art therapy about using art to help clients make therapeutic relationships or is it about therapeutic relationships facilitating a transformative process in art-making? In my experience art easily becomes subsumed by verbal interaction in art therapy groups in which there is reflection on interpersonal relationships. I contextualise my clinical experience by referring to the art therapy literature in which I identify four historical phases in the art/talk relationship: acknowledgment of a tension between art and talk; splits in types of practice resulting in tension becoming hidden in each; the sliding scale and recognition of creativity in polarity; and finally a celebration of diversity and plurality. Using a heuristic approach, reflexive writing and hermeneutic reflection, I have related texts from Continental Philosophy to my own clinical experience, to interviews and questionnaires previously given to members and the therapist of a colleague's art therapy group, and to the art therapy literature. The interrelated philosophical texts have sought to revise the way that art has been thought about in Western philosophy since Plato. I have analysed them with a view to re-visioning the ontological foundations of art therapy theory. Hierarchical divisions in the way that art is thought about are endemic to the development of the role of art in Western society, and thus reflected in art therapy theory. The philosophical works that I study challenge these divisions through the recognition of paradox. Understanding the hierarchical dilemmas that result from combining art and talk as mutative paradoxes presents a way of working with other hierarchies and for representation of voices that are suppressed. The outcome of this research has been to consider ways of working with tensions in the art/talk relationship in clinical practice and to develop a theoretical framework for art therapy which can be applied across all the client groups that art therapists work with. The aim has been to develop a unified identity for art therapy which resists splits which disadvantage clients, and fragment the profession.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a short-term, intensive, group process-retreat treatment model for bulimia. The multi-component, two-day treatment and follow-up booster session focused primarily on the interpersonal deficits associated with the disorder. A sample of 24 subjects who met the DSM III criteria for bulimia and who binged/purged at least one time per week participated in the study. Compared to a control group (N = 12), the women who received the group treatment (N = 12) evidenced significant improvements in self-esteem and severity of binge eating. The frequency of binge/purge episodes and dysfunctional eating attitudes were also significantly reduced. The results of this study suggest that the intensive group-process retreat model is an effective adjunct in the treatment of bulimia.

In this study the controversial issue of whether to express or not to express anger was investigated. Three different approaches to dealing with anger in an experimental setting with couples were examined. The results support the notion presented by Holt (1970) and Deutsch (1969) that there may be constructive and destructive ways of dealing with anger in an interpersonal relationship, and argue against the conclusions of Berkowitz (1970) and Ellis, (1976) that the expression of anger is so dangerous that it should be avoided. Following role-play of vignettes of typical marital conflicts, subjects in one condition made I-Statements to their partners about their feelings, subjects in a second condition made You-Statements, and subjects in the No-Expression condition listened to a lecture. On outcome measures designed to tap anger, happiness, emotional closeness and distance from partner, liking for partner, other positive and negative feelings, and empathy for partner, I-Statement subjects consistently reported more positive change in their feelings than did You-Statement subjects, and rated their partners as having significantly more empathy in paraphrasing their positions, feelings, beliefs, and wishes. The No-Expression condition did not differ from the I-Statement on variables which measured feelings on anger, happiness, and other "good" and "bad" feelings. However, the No-Expression condition was more like the You-Statement condition in failing to decrease emotional distance or increase measures of empathy, agreement, and feeling understood. Neutral activity which involves time out from interaction with the partner may help to dissipate anger, but seems not to enhance "intimacy," as indicated by lack of change on the variables which involve mutuality and exchange. The I-Statement condition is viewed as superior to either the No-Expression condition or You-Statement condition in conflict resolution, as the I-Statement condition brings about both the dissipation of anger and the restoration of intimacy. It is concluded that there is no evidence from this study, which involves moderate emotional arousal, that avoiding expression of feeling in a conflict situation is superior to talking about the feelings engendered by the conflict. However, I-Statements lead to more constructive changes in feelings and in one's capacity to empathize than do You-Statements.

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