Abstract
This portfolio presents the work completed towards partial fulfillment for the degree of Practitioner Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology. My professional development as a counseling psychologist is represented across the Academic Dossier, Therapeutic Practice Dossier and Research Dossier. The Academic Dossier includes three essays and three publications. In the first essay, the psychodynamic approach was considered in relation to therapeutic work with a fictitious client affected by combat related PTSD. In the second essay, trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy and its therapeutic relationship was evaluated in relation to military veterans and combat related PTSD. In the third essay, the conceptualisation of parasuicidal behaviours and how this is approached in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy was explored. The three publications were written in my second year of training. The first explains a counseling psychology approach towards combat related PTSD. The second is a report on a conference I attended titled ’DSM: The History, Theory and Politics of Diagnosis’. Both were published in the Wessex Psychological Bulletin. The third is a copy of the essay, which explored psychodynamic approach to combat related PTSD. This essay won the Division of Counselling Psychology Runner up for Annual Trainee prize 2013 and was subsequently published in the Counselling Psychology Review. The Therapeutic Practice Dossier includes a brief summary of all four of my clinical placement and the final clinical paper. This includes the setting, brief summary of client work, and other placement activities. My therapeutic practice was assessed through in-depth client studies and process reports, log books and supervisors’ reports. To preserve the anonymity of the placement settings and the clients presented in the in-depth client studies and process reports; these documents were included in the attachment and appendix for the perusal of examiners. Also included in this dossier is the final clinical paper, which explicates my process in becoming a counselling psychologist. This paper draws from and integrates my personal therapy, research and clinical development. The Research Dossier includes three research reports and three conference presentations. Drawing from the NICE (2005) guidelines for PTSD, the literature review aimed to provide a comprehensive review of the various psychotherapies that are available. The second research project used Qualitative Content Analysis to examine practitioners’ understanding of trauma work with military veterans. The third research project used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine military veterans’ experience of therapy.