Clinical psychology makes a significant contribution to mental health care across the world. The essence of the discipline is the creative application of the knowledge base of psychology to the unique, personal experiences of individuals who are facing difficulties or changes in their lives. Rather than addressing such experiences as primarily a medical, political or legal problem, clinical psychologists approach personal distress as an unhappy outcome of certain ways of thinking, behaving and relating, often occurring within difficult social, cultural or economic circumstances. Clinical psychologists work with people to try and help them change what is distressing or concerning them, based on a belief in the value of the individual to determine what happens to them and on the importance of using approaches which have been demonstrated through research to be effective.
In this
Very Short Introduction Susan Llewellyn and Katie Aafjes-van Doorn provide insights into the world of clinical psychologists and their clients or patients, and cover the range of domains of practice, the difficulties tackled, and the approaches and models used. They consider the challenges and controversies facing the profession today, and also how it varies across the globe. Finally, they discuss the key questions surrounding clinical psychology, such as whether it should compete or collaborate with psychiatry, how far it is yet another instrument of social control, what new technology can offer in the future, and whether clinical psychology can ever really be considered a science.
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Professor Susan Llewelyn is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford University, Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Oxford Health NHS. She trained as a clinical psychologist at Sheffield and Leeds University and has worked in both the NHS and University sectors in Nottingham, Sheffield, Dorset, Southampton, Edinburgh, and Oxford. She has a particular interest in psychological therapies, and her clinical work has included therapeutic work with survivors of abuse. Professor Llewelyn has also developed expertise in professional issues, leadership, and teamwork, and has written, edited, or co-authored fifteen books and over one hundred academic and professional papers. She is a registered clinical psychologist, and Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Katie Aafjes-van Doorn earned a Master's in Psychological Research, followed by a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, at the University of Oxford, and gained registration in the UK. She has written several empirical and review papers on the process and outcomes of psychotherapy in community mental health settings, and co-authored chapters on 'psychologists as researchers' in the British Psychology Society's handbook and a 'process-outcome studies' in the APA
Handbook of Clinical Psychology. Katie is currently accruing her postdoc clinical hours at Access Institute, a psychoanalytic therapy clinic in San Francisco.
