Cognitive therapy and social power

Spong, Sheila; Hollanders, Henry

doi:10.1080/14733140312331384382

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Bearing in mind these boundaries, some propositions from the inquiry can be summed up thus: Class is a highly significant yet under explored and under acknowledged issue within counselling. Energy for its exploration seems to come from counsellors with some working-class affinities. Social class can be an important constituent of personal identity as well as an important influence in interpersonal relating. This would be as true for clients as counsellors. The question of access to therapy and counselling training contains significant class issues.Equality of access is an important ingredient of ‘a power‐sensitive approach to counselling’ (Spong & Hollanders, , p. 221). This has a number of strands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly there has been little research into the experiences of working class clients and how perceived differences in social class between counsellor and client affect the therapeutic relationship. Proctor () and Spong and Hollanders () have commented on the lack of attention paid to the dynamics of social power within the counselling relationship. Balmforth () highlights the potential for disempowerment when a middle class counsellor works with a working‐class client.…”

Section: Social Class and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Does class count?’ Social class and counselling

Ballinger

Wright

2007

Couns and Psychother Res

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This article explores the importance attached to social class by experienced practitioners taking part in a co-operative inquiry group. A review of the literature from the last thirty years indicates that there is very little research on class in relation to counselling and psychotherapy reported in the UK. Both authors position themselves as coming from working class origins. Nine co-researchers from both middle and working class origins joined the group. Eight meetings took place over a period of nine months. Extracts from the group's discussions are represented and integrated with 'presentational knowing' drawn from contemporary culture, including poetry and popular music. This study suggests that social class is a neglected aspect of diversity in the counselling field. Implications of the study have relevance for the language of counselling and psychotherapy and class based values; social class and its impact on initial education; and ongoing counselling practice and access to therapy for working class people.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Class and Counsellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Does class count?’ Social class and counselling

Ballinger

Wright

2007

Couns and Psychother Res

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“…The outcomes of these projects have been published elsewhere (Spong, 2007(Spong, , 2008Spong & Hollanders, 2005). This paper reflects upon and further develops the implications of these findings for powersensitised practice (Milton & Legg, 2000;Spong & Hollanders, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Validity, Vision and Vocalisation: Social Responsibility Arguments and Power-Sensitised Counselling

Spong

2012

Psychotherapy and Politics International

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This paper considers the potential for advancing power‐sensitised practice in counselling. Power‐sensitised practice engages with differences in social power, seeing these as significant to therapeutic work. Key to the development of power‐sensitised practice is the availability in therapy discourse of arguments based on social responsibility. It has been noted in previous papers that counselling discourse holds resources for arguments based on “social responsibility” as well as the more dominant strand of “individualism”. Power‐sensitised practice using social responsibility arguments can therefore be seen to be compatible with existing counselling discourses and can occur where counsellors acknowledge the validity of social responsibility arguments in counselling; a vision of how these arguments may be used; and a willingness to vocalise such arguments, generating a personal engagement with social responsibility in practice. Although this article is written with reference to counselling, the argument is equally applicable to psychotherapy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…We hope that the presentation of the research to a wider audience might encourage readers to consider their relationship to the interpretative repertoires identified here, and the ways in which they construct their counselling as reflective of, or critical of, relations of social power. It is our hope that reporting this work, alongside other studies focusing on the aspects of the question of the relationship of cognitive-behavioural counselling to social power (Spong and Hollanders, 2003) might problematize any assumption that cognitive-behavioural counselling is intrinsically unsuited to addressing issues of social power.…”

Section: Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An initial exploration of the second of these is the subject of this paper. The first we have discussed elsewhere (Spong and Hollanders, 2003). Social power is defined here as the exercise of control by members of one group over members of another, whether through coercion, persuasion or hegemony (Van Dijk, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive counsellors' constructions of social power

Spong

Hollanders

2005

Psychother. Politics Int.

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The theory of cognitive counselling makes little reference to issues of social power but, nonetheless, we are likely to find ideas about social power (whether implicit or explicit) embedded within cognitive counselling discourse. Fo r this research five cognitive counsellors were interviewed about the social context of counselling. The transcripts were analysed using a discourse analytic approach, and four interpretative repertoires around social power were identified. In this paper we discuss how these four repertoires are used by the interviewees to manage the ideological dilemma of individualism and social responsibility described by Billig (1988). We conclude with a discussion of the potential significance for counselling of the multiple and flexible explanations of social power construed in these interviews.

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Cognitive therapy and social power

Cited by 14 publications

References 9 publications

‘Does class count?’ Social class and counselling

‘Does class count?’ Social class and counselling

Validity, Vision and Vocalisation: Social Responsibility Arguments and Power-Sensitised Counselling

Cognitive counsellors' constructions of social power

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