Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
How do psychodynamic counsellors understand and work with class in the consulting room? A constructivist grounded theory study. |
| Authors: |
Jones, Melanie (AUTHOR), Ross, Alistair (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Psychodynamic Practice. Feb2026, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p46-71. 26p. |
| Subjects: |
Social classes, Class consciousness, Grounded theory, Patient-professional relations, Psychological techniques, Mental health, Counseling |
| Geographic Terms: |
England |
| Abstract: |
This study aimed to generate a substantive theory to inform how Psychodynamic psychotherapists approach social class issues. Ten participants were purposely recruited. This included psychodynamic counsellors, psychodynamic psychotherapists and psychoanalytic psychotherapists. Four men and six women, all of white ethnicity and based across six counties of the south of England, took part in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Importance was placed on participants' self-identification of their class status. The data was analysed using Charmaz's (2014) constructivist Grounded Theory methodology to create a substantive theory to inform how psychotherapists approach social class issues. Class was hard to define, making it difficult to talk about. Yet its impact on mental health and the therapeutic relationship was notable. Psychodynamic trainings were seen to be middle-class and rarely covered class on the curriculum, though this seemed to be changing. There was a lack of research and literature on class and psychodynamic clinical work, which alongside the lack of training reported, pointed to a lack of class-awareness in psychodynamic counselling. The key finding was that class is present in all psychodynamic therapeutic encounters, expectations, and trainings, whether clients and therapists were actively aware of it or not. The therapists in this study drew on other modalities when working with clients at either end of the class hierarchy, suggesting that psychodynamic theory and practice is normatively middle-class. The study recommends that psychodynamic therapists reflect on their own class assumptions and positions. Participants who did this better negotiated classed encounters with clients. Implications and recommendations for clinical technique are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
