Cultural Studies Methodologies and Narrative Family Therapy: Therapeutic Conversations About Pop Culture.

Therapists recognize that popular media culture is an influential force that shapes identities and relationships in contemporary society. Indeed, people have serious relationships with the commodities and practices that emerge from pop culture. However, they often lack the conceptual and conversational resources to engage meaningfully with clients about pop culture's influence in their lives. Cultural studies is introduced as an interdisciplinary approach that provides frameworks for both theory and practice that position therapists and clients to critically examine the role of pop culture in their lives. Cultural studies and narrative therapy are discussed as praxis allies that share a populist political intention and counter-hegemonic discursive practices. The integration of cultural studies methodologies into narrative therapy practice with a parent and her teenage daughter is illustrated through a case vignette.

Psychotherapy research, the recovery movement and practice-based evidence in psychiatric rehabilitation.

This article reviews the literature on psychotherapy outcome research and discusses the relationship between those findings and the tenets of the consumer-driven recovery model. The research provides compelling evidence for practitioners to abandon the current emphasis on diagnosis and theory, model, and technique in favor of a partnership with clients that leverages the common factors and places emphasis on the alliance. Empirical support of the shortcomings of evidence-based practices is provided. Use of outcome and alliance feedback to inform the work and shift to practice-based evidence is offered as a practice that is informed by the research and honors the recovery model's call for consumer-driven mental health services.