Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. This book outlines a clinical psychology that embraces a constructionist view of the world. It introduces constructionist and phenomenological concepts and shows how these are not incompatible with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) conceptions. The book underlines the importance of an analysis of psychopathology that contextualizes behaviour within uniquely constructed self-world projects. The phenomenological technique of 'eidetic reduction' deconstructs vague feelings of, say, 'anxiety' by a vertical analysis that reveals the essential characteristics defining anxiety versus no anxiety for the client. Some insights in the book have implications for therapy and lead to intervention, although a constructionist therapy is not systematically described. Rather, it intends to illustrate constructionist techniques and show how they may be integrated into current CBT.