Building bridges to observational perspectives : mapping processes in psychological therapy in psychosis

Ph.D. psychology thesis. Summarises the core social psychological process in psychological therapy in psychosis as derived from a grounded theory analysis and represents a unique start in theorising the activities of therapy in psychosis. Sets of three audio taped therapy sessions obtained from six clinical psychologists and clients experiencing psychosis, as well as individual interviews regarding the experience of talking together in therapy and further interviews to ascertain participants views on the emerging theory, suggested common processes of therapy activities not tied to specific therapy models. Theoretical sampling incorporated interviews with three psychoanalytically aware psychologists and an analysis of 31 published personal accounts of psychosis. Building Bridges to Observational Perspectives is understood as a shared conversational process based on the therapist repeatedly making explicit the activities involved in observing experience in order to facilitate the client's functioning in the social world. Rather than condensing to the private mental experience of reflexivity, therapy in psychosis is understood as intimately linking the social and internal world in a dialogical process. The grounded theory of Building Bridges to Observational Perspectives suggests a number of specific hypotheses for further research that would help to elaborate and defines its applicability to psychological therapy in psychosis and psychotherapy more generally.