This episode is based on a short summary of the PCP approach to psychotherapy from David Winter. This is in answer to a question often asked when people are coming to the end of their foundation course in PCP: What is the PCP approach in therapy?ReferenceWinter, D. A., Winter, D. A. and Reed, N. (Eds.) (2016). The Wiley Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology.

I would also like to invite you to rate the podcast the next time you listen. It is easy to do and will help other people to find it. If you have bought any of the books by any of us at the Coventry Constructive Centre, please give them a rating too. We are currently revising the Foundation Course Handbook so if you were about to buy it, hang on until next month and you will get the latest version.

Every day, we make more predictions than we could count. This episode is a reminder that making any prediction involves a lot more construing than is immediately obvious. We need to think about that if we are trying to help someone. Kelly suggests that if we pay attention to what is not being predicted as well as what is, then we have a better chance of understanding their construing.References:Kelly, G.A. (1963). A Theory of Personality. New York: Norton.Ross Green's website is https://livesinthebalance.org/

Tom Ravenette is often thought of as the psychologist who gave us techniques for interviewing children and young people but he was also very hot on the theory of PCP. This is a short section from a paper which gives us another explanation of what Kelly meant by a construct. In order to use PCP in our practice we need to have a sound theoretical knowledge andI think it is always helpful to have another explanation - you might find it validates your current knowledge but maybe that it extends it a little too.

Reference:

Ravenette, T. (1985). Practitioners who work with children in Ravenette, T. (1999) Personal Construct Psychology in the practice of an Educational Psychologist. A Practitioner’s View.