Configuring Psychology

Access to Therapy and the Transformation of Psychological Care

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

AvMartyn Pickersgill

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Configuring Psychology offers a vibrant, multimodal sociological analysis of clinical psychology as a profession and practice in the UK. Starting from the widely-accepted principle and goal of enhancing access to care, it examines how political, economic, legal, and social dynamics intertwine with clinical norms and expertise. These interactions configure broader healthcare contexts, defining not only entry into therapy but also exclusion from it. Through close attention to policy developments, professional strategies, and psychologists' experiences, Martyn Pickersgill reveals how access reforms shape clinical knowledge, therapeutic practice, and understandings of psychology itself. He shows how expanding access has become both a moral imperative and a managerial project, with clinical psychologists balancing competing bureaucratic, ethical, and emotional demands in an increasingly strained NHS. As such, Configuring Psychology provides essential insights for social scientists as well as clinicians and policymakers navigating reform. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-03-12
Mått157 x 235 x 17 mm
Vikt482 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor226
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781108494250

Tillhör följande kategorier

Sociala och etiska frågor inom Samhälle och politik
Sociologi inom Samhälle och politik
Psykisk hälsovård inom Medicin
Klinisk psykologi inom Medicin

Introduction: psychology, therapy, and society; Part I. Configuring Contexts: 1. Positioning psychology: configuring professional boundaries and identities; 2. Proliferating therapy: the rise of the improving access to psychological therapy (IAPT) initiative; 3. Producing treatability: reconfiguring the subjects of therapy through entwinements of clinical practice and mental health law; Part II. Configuring Care: 4. Prefacing care: the reciprocal configuration of patients, services, and professionals during referral and assessment; 5. Performing autonomy: working with and against healthcare structures to configure access and exclusion; 6. Prompting exclusion: how 'did not attend' policies shape the involuntary discharge of patients; Coda: psychological therapy and the ambivalence of access; References; Acknowledgements.

'Martyn Pickersgill here configures a rich and compelling account of clinical psychology. This vital book tells an important story of how clinical psychology is configured, including through its encounters with other disciplines such as law, and the implications of these encounters. Pickersgill invites us to reflect on how bureaucratic, technological, social, legal and political dynamics shape care, care providers and the subjects of care themselves, and the ethics of these configurations, along the way.' Kate Seear, Professor of Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University, Australia