In response to a perceived lack in this area, this study has investigated how White trainee counselling psychologists construct their experience of training in the area of racial difference, and how they discursively explore and negotiate their own potential for racial prejudice within the therapeutic encounter. Using the framework of Critical Discursive Psychology (CDP), data from eight interviews and two focus groups have been discursively analysed and are presented as one of an ever evolving number of possible analyses. The present analysis of the data has found that as the participants grapple with their professional identities as counselling psychologists in training, they inhabit one of three omnipresent discursive fields, which in turn create distinct subject positions. The discursive fields of ‘colour-blindness’, ‘interculturalism’ and ‘pluralism’ all offer the trainees alternative constructions of practice which are drawn on depending on which professional representation appears to be at stake. In particular, the participants struggle to balance the desire for value free openness associated with a pluralistic approach, alongside a need for professional competency characterised by a dependence upon generalised understandings of other racialised groups as supported by an intercultural perspective. However, whilst trainees themselves wrestle with matters of ethics and competence, the present analysis highlights the unintended contributions to racism and racial prejudice which are created when the trainees inhabit alternative discursive fields and their related subject positions. Throughout this process of professional positioning, this study identifies how incidents of racial prejudice appear in the trainees talk, both directly and indirectly. This deconstructive process offers a window into the presence of unintentional racism, and generates some suggestions for the practical application of the findings presented. In addition, via a reflective process these findings are discussed and there is a questioning of the methods used, including an examination of how the interviews/focus groups were conducted and how the data were analysed.

Clinical supervision is viewed as being an essential and integral part of both trainee and experienced therapists’ development. The cultural shift towards Evidence Based Practice has led to increased practitioner accountability and a requirement to ensure that patients gain access to the best-available mental health care. Supervision is heralded as the vehicle through which best practice can be obtained and, as a result, a strong demand for more research to support supervision practice has emerged. Most of the existing research is based on trainees with very little attention given to the views of more experienced or ‘expert’ practitioners. This study aimed to explore ways in which clinical supervision impacts the practice of experienced Counselling Psychologists by asking seven experienced practitioners (with 7-31 years of post-accreditation experience) to describe how they see their lived experience of supervision as having helped or hindered their practice. Data were collected using open-ended semi-structured interviews and were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Participants’ experiences clustered into three superordinate themes: a) Factors which Help Supervisee; b) Factors which Hinder Supervisee; and c) Impact on Working with Clients. The empirical findings suggest that clinical supervision can have both a helpful and hindering impact on practice and that experience-levels play a significant role in determining the way in which learning in supervision is viewed and experienced, the attitude with which supervision is approached, and the expectations of the supervisory alliance. In particular, these experienced practitioners adopted an open, flexible, curious and sometimes humorous attitude towards learning in supervision, valuing supervisor flexibility and insight whilst deploring supervisor rigidity. Furthermore, these experienced practitioners did not express a need or desire for a mutually strong supervisory alliance in supervision. Rather, the analysis revealed a one-way need to be able to trust and respect the supervisor for his/her insight and expertise. Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and research. In addition, questions are raised about the positivist approach to knowledge which underpins most supervision research and it is argued that a broader conceptualization of knowledge might serve to expand our understanding of this important phenomenon. Implications for counselling psychology and for further research are explored.

This study is concerned with the subjective experiences of therapists working with clients diagnosed with schizophrenia, and seeks to gain insight into what it feels like for practitioners to be in a therapeutic relationship with clients who experience hallucinations, delusions and other symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Six psychotherapists and counselling psychologists, all of whom have previously worked with clients diagnosed with schizophrenia, were interviewed. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was chosen to generate rich interview data. Participants were asked about their experience of working with clients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Participants’ narratives were analysed using IPA to identify common themes. The analysis resulted in twelve interrelated themes from which three master themes emerged. The first theme, ‘The dark territory’, explores the impact of chaos on the practitioner; participants noted that this type of work was experienced as part of the typical work of psychotherapists, yet simultaneously it felt alien and utterly chaotic, and was characterised by rich, powerful experiences that were alarming, especially at the beginning of the participants’ careers. The second master theme, ‘The symbiotic relationship’, reveals how emotionally involved the participants are with their clients. This was evident in their protectiveness and affection towards their clients. All participants emphasised the beneficial value of psychotherapy with people diagnosed with schizophrenia, and which makes therapeutic relationship mutually beneficial. This study found that psychotherapists and counselling psychologists require specialist supervision and training. These are explored in the final theme – ‘Containment’. Potential implications of the themes that emerged were explored. This study contributes to the literature on counselling psychology and schizophrenia, and to the understanding of how best to support therapists in working with this client group.

In recent years, the psychotherapeutic world has become increasingly interested in the characteristics of the relationship between client and therapist. Two key influences on this relationship are the therapist’s ability to mentalize and the therapist’s attachment style (or the degree to which they are securely or insecurely attached). The main aim of this study was to evaluate mentalizing abilities and attachment orientation in therapists, but in particular to explore the relationship between the two. A group of 20 therapists and a matched group of 21 nontherapists undertook a battery of self-report, behavioural and eye-tracking mentalising tasks, and a self-report attachment questionnaire. Mentalizing tasks were designed to measure various aspects of mentalizing including not only mental state comprehension but also the proclivity to use mentalizing skills. In terms of group differences, therapists showed a greater proclivity to use elaborative mental state language and a greater focus on social cues when visually scanning the same situations. Therapists also demonstrated a self-reported higher level of affective and cognitive empathic ability than non-therapists. However, in behavioural terms, therapists did not evidence a significantly enhanced ability in traditional Theory of Mind tasks, emotion understanding, or visual perspective taking tasks. Thus, therapists generally exhibited a greater tendency to process some but not all aspects of social and emotional information more thoroughly. The influence of attachment orientation on the mentalizing skills of both the therapist and the non-therapist group was complex. Non-therapists tended to behave according to the expectations of previous attachment related research. For example, attachment anxiety was associated with poorer perspective taking and a preoccupation with the use of mental state words. Avoidant attachment correlated with a significant reduction in the first-fix looking time at social information. In the therapist group however, only two significant associations between attachment and mentalization were seen: avoidance and the proclivity to use mentalization skills as measured by the use of elaborative mental state language, and avoidance and self-reported empathy. No other significant influences of attachment on therapist mentalization appeared to exist. Thus, therapists who reported an insecure attachment orientation still generally managed to behave as though they were more secure. Some suggestions are made as to the underlying reasons for this phenomenon, and the clinical implications are discussed.

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Bibliography: pages 207-212. / The purpose of this study was to determine which biographical or personality variables might be used as indicators of success or failure in a nurse-training program. The population consisted of 502 nursing students in various stages of a diploma course at either the Carinus or Otto Du Plessis Nursing College during June and July 1980. The students received their practical training at one of ten hospitals in the Western Cape Region. The students were given the Personal, Home, Social and Formal Relations Questionnaire (PHSF), the IPAT Anxiety Scale and a biographical questionnaire (designed by the researcher). Both the PHSF and IPAT are multiple choice questionnaires. For the purpose of this study a successful student was one who was rated average or above average in the college as well as the hospital, who enjoyed her work and intended making nursing her profession. An unsuccessful nursing student was one who resigned as a result of not being able to cope, emotional problems and a general dissatisfaction with her job.

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