ABSTRACT
According to Kelly (1955) and most PCT-oriented clinicians (see Winter, 1992a, 2003a), a basic premise of psychological assessment, indeed all clinical work, within PCT is a credulous approach to dealing with clients. For Kelly (1955), if you really want to know what a person is like, and what might be bothering them, all you need to do is ask directly because the individual may well be able to indicate, in some manner, what they are about and what they are experiencing. By adopting this credulous approach, the clinician “never discards information given by the client merely because it does not conform to what appear to be the facts” (Kelly, 1955, p. 322). Of course, some clients, and very likely most clients who have committed sexual offenses, have a vested interest in presenting a version of events that leads a clinician to incorrect inferences. Indeed, in some jurisdictions the interest may be a matter literally of life and death. Even falsehood contains some useful information, and Kelly would have all clinicians and assessors interested in complete and useful psychological inquiries take all information provided by a client seriously. According to Kelly (1955), a “perceptive clinician always respects the content of his client’s ‘lies,’ although he is equally careful not to be misled by them” (p. 322). In the context of understanding violent offenders, especially murderers, Winter (2003b, 2007) has written extensively about the nature and role of Kelly’s credulous approach. Winter (2007) has also discussed the limits of therapeutic credulity. This issue of credulity and the implications that it has for both assessment and psychotherapy is significant enough, and potentially misleading enough, to warrant further reference throughout the following two chapters.
