Recent posts
Pollard, R., 2010. Letter to the Editors. Reformulation, Winter, p.5.
Dear Editors,
I am writing in support of Janet Toye’s plea in the last issue of Reformulation that ACAT as an organization publicly supports Outcry!, the campaign against the incarceration of child refugees in immigration removal centres. As a protest against the uncivilized and barbaric practice of imprisoning children who have already been through traumatic and highly distressing experiences, fleeing wars, terrorism, torture and even death, this seems to be the very least we could do.
Janet’s article is a graphic example of what Tony Ryle in the same issue refers to as the political origins of reciprocal role procedures and the importance of keeping the broader historical/political context of individual experience in the picture. Otherwise we risk reformulating oppression in all its various guises as individual and family pathology and doing our clients a profound disservice.
I would also like to draw CAT therapists’ attention again to the ‘Psycho-Social’ checklist (available through the website), which originated in work done by Janet Toye and Yvonne Harris on working with diversity and difference in cognitive analytic therapy. When used either on its own or in conjunction with the psychotherapy file, it can help to bring the social and political dimensions of mental distress to the forefront of therapy and encourage both therapists and their clients to think and act politically.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Pollard
CAT Psychotherapist