SW 811 - Deconstructing Clinical Theories and Their Application

3 Credit(s)

The focus of this course is on the change processes presumed to be at work by various clinical theories or models of intervention. This entails a critical conceptual analysis of the theoretical foundations for clinical practice, including the assumptions regarding human nature, change, and the intervention context, as well as their salience for diverse and historically oppressed client populations. Cognitive-behavioral, emotionally focused, narrative, and psychodynamic approaches are considered, as well as more recently developed eclectic blends such as dialectical behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and solution-focused therapy. A combination of case analyses and critical analyses of both empirical studies and theoretical literature is used.