Abstract
This portfolio encompasses a compilation of work that I submitted as part of my Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling psychology. It is divided into three dossiers which, combined, demonstrate my varied interests, learning and understanding, and my personal and professional development as a counselling psychologist. The academic dossier contains a selection of three essays. The first explores the dangers of unconscious countertransference associated with play therapy. The second discusses whether we, as counselling psychologists, can incorporate our understanding and use of the therapeutic relationship when working with clients within a Cognitive-behavioural (CBT) framework. The third discusses the cognitive approach to working with psychosis. My therapeutic dossier includes a description of my four placements through my training as well as my final clinical paper; this portrays my journey from the naive young girl I was when I started this course, through my personal and professional development, to the counselling psychologist I have become. Finally, my research dossier comprises my literature review and two empirical research pieces. My literature review explored the effect of parental styles and parental control on adolescents’ relationship with food, alcohol and drugs; drawing from the findings of this review combined with my personal interests, research questions were established for my research. My first empirical piece is a baseline study looking at the influence of parental control, modelling and adolescent autonomy on adolescents’ diet and eating behaviour while they live at home. My second empirical piece is a longitudinal study looking at the influence of parental control, modelling and adolescent autonomy on adolescents’ diet and eating behaviour after they left home.