Relating Theory – Clinical and Forensic Applications

This book brings together recent research developments in relating theory. It is divided into four parts, which introduce the reader to relating theory, how it has developed and how it can be applied to clinical and forensic psychology. Topics include how couples relate to one another, how young people relate to their parents, how assessments of relating can be used in therapy, how specific negative relating styles relate to offending behaviour, risk taking and alcohol use, psychopathic and sadistic tendencies, and how the interpersonal relating of offenders can change during treatment in prison. The book covers international research involving both quantitative and qualitative methods, and will be of interest to clinicians, academics and both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology, clinical psychology, forensic/criminal psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, counselling, art-therapy, and mental health.

John Birtchnell trained in medicine and worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, London, UK. For over twenty years he was a Scientific Officer of the Medical Research Council and has published extensively in the psychiatric literature including three previous books on Relating Theory.

Michelle Newberry is a Chartered Psychologist and Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK where she is the Course Director for the MSc Forensic Psychology. She has worked with personality disordered offenders in psychiatric hospitals and in a therapeutic community prison. She has a number of publications on the relating tendencies of offenders.

Argyroula Kalaitzaki is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece. She has a number of publications on Relating Theory. Her research interests also include (inter)relating within couples and families, the effectiveness of psychotherapy, dating violence and abuse, parenting, social networks, and recently, positive psychology.