PCP and Discourse

Mr. Jonathan (jpnorton@rfhsm.ac.uk)
Fri, 06 Oct 1995 11:17:38 +0100

Greetings

I am new to the list. Good to be here.

My interest in PCP stems from both clinical and theoretical activities. I
find Personal Construct Therapy the ultimate frame to place over counselling
processes. It is a true metatheory for understanding, and accordingly is
one which can accomodate great variation within what is actually undertaken
in therapy.

Theoretically, I ahve done previous work looking at the intersections
between psychology and discourse. Applications of this have included
discursive analyses of masculine sexual behaviour. However most of the
theoretical models of discourse in psychology have tended to utilise a
psychoanalytic image of the person as their basis. Ispired by Rom Harre's
recent book, "The Discursive Mind", I have been exploring using a Kellyan
account of personality with which to underpin a discursive approach to
psychological investigation - one which regards entities such as beliefs,
behaviours and utterances as simultaneously social AND psychological. I
have applied this to a group of Irish men in relation to how they deal with
crisis and difficulty in their lives, using the Self Characterisation task
of PCP as a data collection tool.

Presently I am doing clinical and research work on the sexual health and HIV
prevention needs of chronic repeat HIV testers at a Same Day HIV Testing
Clinic in London. I was therefore very interested in the recent discussions
of constructivist risk.

Jock Norton
Royal Free Hospital, London

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%