ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to bring awareness to the theoretical and practical opportunities and values for mental health professionals, in considering atypical information when adapting typical formulation models. It examines theoretical understandings of personality and how it is a fundamental contributor to valid formulations that capture the essence of what it means to be a person. The book discusses historical and current theory on sexuality from a psychological perspective, describes some of the potential for considering the sexual world of the client in formulation, and highlights examples for therapeutic dialogue that may capture the nature of relevant information. It also highlights approaches and tools for designing best practice formulations based on what we have learnt from evidence based research.
