This episode is about the PCP way of doing a useful therapy session in a one-off session. The evidence for using a single session, or One-at-a-time therapy is that a single session can be helpful. Tom Ravenette has a useful paper on this which I use in this episode but you can also take a look at Windy Dryden’s model.

References:

Personal construct Psychology and the assessment of young people: the ‘one-off’ interview. Ch. 13 in Ravenette, T. (1999). Personal Construct Theory in Educational Psychology. A Practitioner’s View.

Windy Dryden Single Session Therapy on You Tube:

https://youtu.be/wIcuOVOABRw?feature=shared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT_XmacU83U

The inspiration for this episode came from a BBC Radio 4 programme, The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan. The programme is an abridged version of her book. This episode looks at Kelly's definition of disorder, something quite different from current diagnostic manuals. His version is more likely to help us to understand and help the person because it is focussed on their construing and this is something that could change. Kelly said, "Perhaps the proper question is not what is a disorder but where, and the therapist question is not who needs treatment but what needs treatment" (Kelly 1991).

Reference:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00291y8

This episode looks at De Boeck’s (1981) analysis of Kelly's statements about loose

construing. This is a helpful summary. If you would like to read the paper, it is largely about

grids analysis of construing in schizophrenia, so it may not suit everyone.

Reference

Van den Bergh, O., de Boeck, P., and Claeys. W. (1985) Schizophrenia: What is Loose in

Schizophrenic Construing? Button, E. (Ed.) Personal Construct Theory & Mental Health.

Room Helm,Australia