Abstract
This portfolio was submitted to the University of Surrey for the completion of the Practitioner Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology. It consists of three dossiers, namely the academic, therapeutic and research dossiers. Three essays are included in the academic dossier, starting with an exploration of the concept of projective identification. Social anxiety examined from a cognitive perspective is the second essay of the dossier, followed by a paper on the use of behavioural experiments in CBT and their effect on the therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic dossier offers a description of the four clinical placements I undertook during my training and the competences gained throughout this time. It concludes with the final clinical paper which provides an account of the experiences contributing to my personal and professional development as a counselling psychologist. The last dossier comprises of a literature review on panic disorder and pregnancy, followed by two empirical studies employing qualitative methodologies. The first paper uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine the experience of pre-existing panic disorder among pregnant women, while the second is interested in therapists’ experiences of working with such clients. This was achieved through the use of thematic analysis.