Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:22:43.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-case study as a catalyst for personal development in cognitive therapy training

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2010

Niccy Fraser  and
Jan Wilson
Niccy Fraser*
Affiliation:
Wellington Institute of Technology, Counselling, Auckland, New Zealand
Jan Wilson
Affiliation:
Auckland University of Technology – Health and Counselling, Auckland, New Zealand
*
*Author for correspondence: Ms. N. Fraser, Wellington Institute of Technology, Auckland 1141, New Zealand. (email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Personal development is a vital requirement of counsellor development, and educators need to consider how best to promote and support students’ personal development throughout training. ‘Self-case study’ can provide both learning and personal development opportunities for counselling students. This qualitative narrative study explores seven students’ perspectives about their experiences of completing a self-case study as a learning requirement for a compulsory introductory course in cognitive therapy at undergraduate level. Unstructured individual interviews were used for data collection. Data analysis involved identifying themes and analysing the narrative structure of stories. The findings emphasized the view that self-case study provides useful learning opportunities in the areas of theory, practice and personal development. Most participants described transformational life changes resulting from completing a self-case study. This paper presents selected findings. The ethical issues and limitations of this study are discussed. Self-case study is recommended as a potentially effective education strategy.

Keywords

Cognitive therapycognitive therapy trainingnarrative enquiryself-case studystudent perspective
Type
Education and supervision
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 107 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Recommended follow-up reading

Bolton, G (ed.) (2005). Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development, 2nd edn.Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Clandinin, DJ (ed.) (2007). Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

References

Beck, AT, Freeman, A, Davis, DD (2003). Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders. New York: Guilford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, J (1995). Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J, Turner, F, Beaty, T, Snith, M, Patterson, B, Farmer, S (2001). The value of self-practice of cognitive therapy techniques and self-reflection in the training of cognitive therapists. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 29, 203–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J (2003). Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy: the case of automatic thought records and behavioural experiments. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 31, 261–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J (2006). Therapist skills: a cognitive model of their acquisition and refinement. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 34, 57–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J, Lee, N, Travers, K, Pohlman, S, Hamerni, E. (2003). Cognitive therapy from the inside: enhancing therapist skills through practising what we preach. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 31, 145–163.Google Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J, Thwaites, R (2007 a). Self and self-reflection in the therapeutic relationship. In: The Therapeutic Relationship in the Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapies (ed. Gilbert, P. and Leahy, R. L.), pp. 255–281. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bennett-Levy, J, Thwaites, R (2007 b). Conceptualizing empathy in cognitive behaviour therapy: making the implicit explicit. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 35, 591–612.Google Scholar
Bennetts, C (2003). Self-evaluation and self perception of student learning in person-centred counselling training within a higher education setting. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 31, 305–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, G (ed.) (2005). Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development, 2nd edn.Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Corey, G (2009). The counsellor: person and professional. In: Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 8th edn (ed. Brooks, J.), pp. 16–35. California: Brookes-Cole.Google Scholar
Elliott, D, Guy, J (1993). Mental health professionals versus non-mental health professionals: childhood trauma and adult functioning. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 24, 83–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasser, W (1998). Choice Theory a New Psychology of Personal Freedom. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Haarhoff, B, Stenhouse, L (2004). Practice makes perfect: practicing therapy techniques and training. New Zealand Clinical Psychologist 4, 325–332.Google Scholar
Irving, JA, Williams, D (1995). Critical thinking and reflective practice in counselling. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 23, 107–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josselson, R (2007). Ethics in narrative research. In: The Handbook of Narrative Research (ed. Clandinin, D. J.), pp. 827–840. Philadephia: Sage.Google Scholar
Krieshok, T, Pelsma, D (2002). The soul of work: using case studies in the teaching of vocational psychology. The Counselling Psychologist 30, 833–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laireter, A, Willutzki, U (2003). Self-reflection and self-practice in training of cognitive behaviour therapy: an overview. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 10, 19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laireter, A, Willutzki, U (2005). Personal therapy in cognitive-behavioural therapy: tradition and current practice. In: The Psychotherapist's Own Psychotherapy: Patient and Clinician Perspectives (ed. Geller, J. D., Norcross, J. C. and Orlinsky, D. E.), pp. 41–51Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lambert, M, Barley, D (2001). Research summary on the therapeutic relationship and psychotherapy outcome. Psychotherapy 38, 357–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, A (1989). The Practice of Multi Modal Therapy. Baltimore: Baltimore University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepore, SJ, Smyth, JM (2002). The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Well-Being. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieblich, A, Tuval-Mashiach, R, Zilber, T (1998). Narrative Research Reading, Analysis and Interpretation, vol. 47. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Marton, F, Saljo, R (1976). On qualitative differences in learning: I – outcome and process; II – outcome as a function of the learner's conception of the task. British Journal of Educational Psychology 46, 4–11, 115–127.Google Scholar
Myles, P, Milne, D (2004). Outcome evaluation of a brief shared learning programme in cognitive behavioural therapy. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 3, 177–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, QM (1994). Treatment techniques for adult female survivors of child hood sexual abuse Journal of Counselling and Development 73, 32–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennebaker, JW (2000). Telling stories: the health benefits of narrative. Literature and Medicine 19, 3–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prieto, LR, Scheel, KR (2002). Using case documentation to strengthen counselor trainees’ case conceptualization skills. Journal of Counseling and Development 80, 11–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsden, P (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rice, LP, Ezzy, D (2005). Qualitative Research Methods: A Health Focus, 2nd edn.Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ricoeur, P (1986). Life: a story in search of a narrator. In: Facts and Values (ed. Doeser, M. and Kray, J.), pp. 34–68. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, Basic Books.Google Scholar
Schön, D (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. London: Morrice, Templesmith.Google Scholar
Truell, R (2001). The stresses of learning counseling: six recent graduates comment on their personal experience of learning counseling and what can be done to reduce harm. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 14, 97–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wasserman, S (1993). Getting Down to Cases: Learning to Teach with Case Studies. New York: Teachers College.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.