Cognitive Psychodynamics as an Integrative Framework in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy

This book proposes a novel method of combining the current approaches to counselling and psychotherapy into one coherent framework. The authors argue that the cognitive behavioural tradition (largely focused on thought patterns) and the psychodynamic approach (centred on the client’s experience and relationships), can be successfully integrated with insights from cognitive neuroscience, to form a fruitful synthesis. In doing so they provide a perspective that will enable practitioners to more fully appreciate each client’s unique inner world, based on their individual history and environment.

The authors point towards the brain’s innate ability to understand and learn from experience so as to direct the growth of that inner world. This book elaborates a method of tapping into this innate growth potential, so as to help clients move forward when they have become trapped in non-productive patterns or mental stalemates. It will provide fresh insights and a valuable resource for counselling psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists, as well as for academics and students in these fields.

Preface.- Chapter 1. The psychotherapeutic landscape at the start of the 21st Century.- Chapter 2. Insights from cognitive neuroscience.- Chapter 3. In search of the good life.- Chapter 4. Defined by our past.- Chapter 5. Principles of cognitive psychodynamic therapy.- Chapter 6. When life loses its lustre.- Chapter 7. Traumatic disorders – when the home collapses.- Chapter 8. Invaded by threat: anxiety and obsessive-compulsive thoughts.- Chapter 9. Possible worlds.- Chapter 10. Two paradigms to explore inner worlds.- Chapter 11. High level navigation.- Chapter 12. Conclusions and future directions.- Index.

Tony Ward is Associate Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of the West of England, UK. His research has included therapeutic approaches to working with clients with complex neurological conditions, as well as holistic approaches to depression.

Arnaud Plagnol is Professor of Psychology and member of the Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Neuropsychologie at the University Paris 8, France. He is also a clinical consultant to the medical home Toulouse-Lautrec in Aulnay-sous-Bois, France. His research has included representational spaces and new models of care.