Abstract
This is a portfolio of academic, therapeutic practice and research work. It consists of three dossiers that demonstrate my personal and professional development as a counselling psychologist throughout my training. The academic dossier contains three papers. The first is an exploration of the concept of therapeutic empathy within the context of a review and critique of a paper on empathy within person-centred theory. The second explores working psychodynamically with a client suffering from depression, and draws on the psychoanalytic concepts of anaclitic and introjective depression. The third paper examines the integration of cognitive therapy and gender role strain theory, and considers the effectiveness and limitations of this approach. The therapeutic practice dossier focuses on my clinical experience, and contains a descriptive overview of my clinical placements as well as a final clinical paper which provides a personal narrative of my evolving identity as a counselling psychologist. The research dossier contains a literature review and two research studies relating to the male gender role and its implications for therapeutic practice and training. The literature review explores and critiques the overarching ways in which male gender has been conceptualised, researched, and employed in therapeutic practice, and highlights areas which warrant further investigation. The first research report is a critical discursive psychological analysis of male therapists working with men, which identifies interpretative repertoires the therapists may draw on, and ideological dilemmas they face. The second research report is an interpretative phenomenological analysis of how men experience becoming counselling psychologists, which identifies three superordinate themes which encapsulate and elucidate their experiences.