Personal Construct Therapy: A Handbook

This book provides a description of the change processes that occur in psychotherapy when it is viewed from a personal construct perspective. This perspective assumes both therapist and client to be active construers, making sense of themselves and one another. The ideas about people in general, which are basic to the constructivist approach, are introduced and followed by those which are specifically about psychotherapy. The construing of therapists and clients about themselves and psychotherapy is explored. Then the central role of reconstruing is considered. The reconstructive process is dealt with in some depth, including the goals of personal construct therapy, the process of reconstruing and the sharing of it between therapist and client. The main strategies of individual and group personal construct therapy are described, together with the self-monitoring that is involved in becoming an effective therapist using these ideas.