ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to show how representative types of psychological disorders can be structured in terms of our proposed set of axes, instead of being pigeonholed in conventional nosological categories. The discussion of disorders is arranged according to the diagnostic dimensions which are principally involved. From the standpoint of the psychology of personal constructs, psychological disorders can be traced to characteristics of a person’s contruction system. For the clinician the cultural approach should never be more than a preliminary step in the understanding of his client, the first in a series of approximations which bring the client into sharp focus in a complex matrix of basic psychological dimensions. One way to deal with such a case is to start by accepting whatever omnipotency transferences the client is inclined to use for construing the therapist. Spontaneous elaboration is sharply curtailed; the client has difficulty making the decisions required in the ordinary routine of living.
