Psychological Formulation, a Critical Viewpoint: Illness Ideology in Disguise

Joseph, Stephen

Abstract

Recent years have seen a surge of interest by clinical psychologists in the idea of psychological formulation. Interest in this idea has also been shown by humanistic psychologists as evidenced by a recent issue of this journal, in which formulation is offered as a possible antidote to diagnosis. In this article, I examine the idea of formulation from the viewpoint of client-centered therapy, offering a critical perspective and concluding that as formulation is ultimately about identifying a specific pathway for a specific problem, it continues to subtly promote a medical ideology, incompatible with client-centered therapy.

Citation

Joseph, S. (2022). Psychological Formulation, a Critical Viewpoint: Illness Ideology in Disguise. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 62(5), 683-693. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820985411

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 12, 2021
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 12, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Humanistic Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0022-1678
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-650X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 683-693
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820985411
• Keywords: Philosophy; Sociology and Political Science; Social Psychology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5198625
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167820985411