Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health

Maria Borcsa is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Applied Sciences in Nordhausen (UASN), Germany, licensed psychological psychotherapist (CBT), family therapist, trainer and supervisor and founding member of the Institute of Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Healthcare Research at UASN. She has published research papers, books and book chapters in the domain of family therapy and systemic practice in German, French, Italian and Greek. She has been board member of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA) (2007-2016) and President of EFTA from 2013 to 2016.Carla Willig is Professor of Psychology at City, University of London, UK. She is also a  Chartered Health Psychologist and a registered Counselling Psychologist in private practice. A major theme in her work to date has been a concern with research methodology. She has published empirical and theoretical papers and book chapters concerned with epistemological and methodological questions. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Health Psychology, a member of the editorial board of Qualitative Research in Psychology, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Psychological Therapies.

• Chapter 1. Qualitative research in mental health – innovation and collaboration.- Chapter 2. Psychiatrists' perceptions of schizophrenia and its recovery: a thematic analysis.- Chapter 3. Approaching psychotherapy case studies in a metasynthesis: Deficit vs. conflict in treatment of medically unexplained symptoms.- Chapter 4. Walking interviews: Including vulnerable populations in research.- Chapter 5. Using Researcher reflexivity and multiple methods to study the experience of cancer-related distress.- Chapter 6. Listening for what is not being said: Using discourse analytic approaches in mental health research.- Chapter 7. Re-claiming the power of definition – the value of reflexivity in research on mental health at risk.- Chapter 8. Interpersonal Process Recall in systemic research: Investigating couple therapists’ personal and professional selves.- Chapter 9. Bringing mental health back into the dynamics of social coexistence: Emotional Textual Analysis.- Chapter 10. Engraved in the body. Ways of reading Finnish people’s memories of mental hospitals.- Chapter 11. Qualitative research in mental health: Reflections on research questions, methods and knowledge.

“This diversity of perspectives is well represented in the various chapters of the book. … the chapters do present–in various degrees–the epistemological and procedural founding of the actual qualitative methodology applied in each particular study. … from the methods perspective the prospective reader can expect to be introduced to a large variety of qualitative approaches. … this book should be enjoyed with time and with respect for the rich variety … .” (Jarl Wahlström, European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, December 1, 2021)