Making Sense of Distress without using Psychiatric Labels

In this part of our work about a comparison between Kelly's personal construct theory and phenomenology, we enter the fields of psychotherapy and research. The topic of intersub-jectivity, meant as original recognition of the other's subjectivity, provides a backdrop for both phenomenological clinic and Kellyan psychotherapy. Though Kelly never used the term "intersubjectivity", his theory and the corollary of sociality in particular, reveals a view of interpersonal relationships as intercorporeality, which is much closer to phenom-enological ideas than to the cognitive ones. Depending on such commonality, in either cases clinical relationship is not viewed as an "aspecific factor" of psychotherapy, but as the essential tool for the care of other. Furthermore, the core role of intersubjectivity in scientific knowledge implies a radical revision of the criteria of research. Consistently with the intent of a science of experience, it is no more a matter of collecting data, as of accepting meanings. Psychological research has to refound itself in continuity with life and recognize the need for a real involvement and real interaction with the subjects, as far as to reverse the traditional relation between clinic and research. It is nonsense to conceive clinic as an applicative sector of a pure science because clinic, on the contrary, is the place where one can know, in first-person, those meaningful realities which take shape in the intersubjective exchange of ideas, in order to make them comprehensible and controllable.

2017

Kelly has repeatedly invited to experiment with his theory to prove its fertility. However, personal construct theory and its application to psychotherapy have seen few developments. A recent contribution comes from Walker’s revision of the notion of psychological disorder which opens new perspectives to the understanding of several psychological events. Other contributions come from the narrative hermeneutic approach. The outline of personal paths of dependency, and the more recent proposal of forms of uncompleted recognition, are just examples of such a line of research that arises from a phenomenological and hermeneutic interpretation and elaboration of personal construct theory and psychotherapy.

This chapter is concerned with the exposition of the psychological aspects of personal construct theory. The basic notions of the construct and construct system are introduced after examining Kelly's model of the person as a scientist making hypotheses in order to try and anticipate events. We then look briefly at psychological disorders as construed by the construct theory framework. We then turn to a discussion of other important theoretical frameworks: behavioural and cognitive approaches, symbolic interactionism and object relations theory. This enables us to clarify the status of construct theory. The intention also is to show the family construct approach’s advantages in relation to alternatives and its ability to subsume under a single umbrella their major strengths. (Abstract 2013)

European Journal Of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2017

Personal construct psychologists seem to take only partially advantage of the great complexity of personal construct theory. On the basis of a review of representative literature (published selections of papers presented at the international congresses on PCP, and articles published in the International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, for a total of about 300 titles), it is shown that only a few of the professional constructs (general diagnostic constructs and constructs relating to transition) described by Kelly are actually used. Differences relative to nationality and types of work will be outlined, and a discussion of the results will be presented.

2015

In this part of our work about a comparison between Kelly's personal construct theory and phenomenology, we enter the fields of psychotherapy and research. The topic of intersubjectivity, meant as original recognition of the other's subjectivity, provides a backdrop for both phenomenological clinic and Kellyan psychotherapy. Though Kelly never used the term "intersubjectivity", his theory and the corollary of sociality in particular, reveals a view of interpersonal relationships as intercorporeality, which is much closer to phenomenological ideas than to the cognitive ones. Depending on such commonality, in either cases clinical relationship is not viewed as an "aspecific factor" of psychotherapy, but as the essential tool for the care of other. Furthermore, the core role of intersubjectivity in scientific knowledge implies a radical revision of the criteria of research. Consistently with the intent of a science of experience, it is no more a matter of collecting data, as of accepting meanings. Psychological research has to refound itself in continuity with life and recognize the need for a real involvement and real interaction with the subjects, as far as to reverse the traditional relation between clinic and research. It is nonsense to conceive clinic as an applicative sector of a pure science because clinic, on the contrary, is the place where one can know, in first-person, those meaningful realities which take shape in the intersubjective exchange of ideas, in order to make them comprehensible and controllable.

Personal Construct Psychotherapy, 2005

2015

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