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On Justifying Psychotherapy:

Posted By: Ian Rory Owen PhD
Date: Thursday, 4 October 2007, at 2:23 a.m.

On Justifying Psychotherapy:

Essays on phenomenology, integration and psychology

iUniverse.com, 2007,

By Ian Rory Owen PhD,

Principal Integrative Psychotherapist,

Leeds Foundation Trust,

Leeds, UK.

This book contains 20 previously published papers from internationally recognised journals. The original view of phenomenology is applied to understand behaviour, attachment, psychopathology, cognitive behavioural, existential and person-centred therapy. It presents the "intentionality model" of integrative therapy. This is a model for integration that primarily focuses on psychological understanding. The selection of previously published papers covers three main areas.
Firstly, it defines and summarises the original work of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in relation to the theoretical psychology of mind approach called "pure" or phenomenological psychology. Secondly, it makes a contribution to the integration of therapy theory and practice. It specifically introduces a model of integration called the "intentionality model". Intentionality refers to the various ways in which consciousness is aware and refers to conscious experience. This is focusing on psychological understanding primarily and not the practice of relating or techniques to improve mood or solve problems. Thirdly, the intentionality model makes critical comments about the role of quantitative psychology in helping practice or organising services on a larger scale. The case is made for a qualitative psychology that focuses on the provision and receipt of care. The already published papers have been added to by four new pieces that introduce the work as a whole.

Phenomenology concerns the interpretation of conscious experience to identify intentionalities (mental processes) that create lived senses of an object. Phenomenology studies the various ways in which people have such senses that are capable of discussion. Original authors are cited to make clear what phenomenology is in relation to existentialism and related areas such as empathy, theory of mind, attachment, quantitative psychology and how to formulate. The function of the book is to raise core topics for discussion in relation to the type of help that tailors treatment to the needs of specific clients, by drawing on more than one type of intervention. "Integration" means viewing psychological problems and their possible remedies in a way that makes links between the problem and what needs to happen. This is in order to understand it, reduce it, manage it or improve mood. The relation to quantitative psychology is a critical one. Some areas of it are genuinely scientific such as behavioural genetics. Whilst areas like personality theory, therapy and the motivation required for self-care are not. The book argues for the recognition of intentionality in everyday life and understanding it as personal and shared between people.

The book provides a model of how to understand conscious experience and is non-partisan with respect to other models and types of intervention. Its 20 chapters discuss a variety of topics including existentialism, phenomenology, person-centred therapy, psychodynamics, attachment, cognitive behavioural therapy, the empirical research base and its use for structuring therapy, ethics and how to provide quality assurance in therapy and co-working in teams. The author has had 60 papers published in peer-reviewed internationally-recognised journals and has been practising in psychiatric nursing, psychiatric social work, private practice and the British National Health Service since 1987. His previous book was Psychotherapy and Phenomenology: On Freud, Husserl and Heidegger which explored the original ideas of these writers in practice. On Justifying Psychotherapy is available through iUniverse.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and other book sellers.