This small scale research study explores psychotherapists’ experience of medical model thinking on their practice delivered in the two separate settings of GP surgeries and private practice. The study’s key philosophical theme is the difference between modern and postmodern perspectives and how they might manifest themselves in social practices (such as medical interviews), knowledge creation and the practice of psychotherapy. The researcher locates the concepts key to the research in existing literature in terms of theory, research studies and their historical development – this latter being in support of the use of a Foucauldian discourse analytic method which is selected as that which best supports a social constructionist, postmodern approach to research. Parker’s method of using the research interview as a text-in-progress is explained and implemented, with eight participants being interviewed twice by the researcher. A discourse analytic framework which draws on defined theoretical resources was applied. The findings from the two part study show that for those participants working in primary care the GP/patient relationship has at least four key impacts on psychotherapy delivered in that setting and that for those working in a private setting it is through their relationships with individual GPs and psychiatrists that participants’ have constructed the biggest impact of medical model discourse on their practice and perhaps more importantly on their clients. Links are made to the literature reviewed concerning notions of the power of doctors and ideas for future research focused on the prevalence of ‘splitting’ in the UK are discussed. The researcher concludes with some thoughts about the fact that whilst the medical models’ invisibility and taken-for-granted nature for participants working within a primary care setting was more severe than expected, it was discursively constructed as having less of a wide-ranging impact on the participants in private practice. The importance of remaining awake to the influence of the medical model is discussed particularly during a cultural moment dominated by modernist approaches to notions of research and increasingly, practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:580543 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Guy, Anne |
| Contributors | Abrams, Erik ; Greenwood, Dennis |
| Publisher | University of Roehampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/exploring-psychotherapists-experience-of-medical-model-thinking-in-the-settings-of-primary-care-and-private-practice-–-a-small-scale-study(5b0c4aff-1dc5-4134-a6da-272be330963f).html |
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