Skip to main content

Women Psychologists in the Mental Health Professions The Adventures of Alice

  • Chapter
The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care
  • 96 Accesses

Abstract

It is only a few months since I left my job as a principal clinical psychologist in psychotherapy, and yet that experience is already taking on an air of unreality in my mind. The mental health world is one which continually calls into question our view of what is real, acceptable and normal; just like Lewis Carroll’s tale of Alice in Wonderland. It is easy, as an outsider, to identify and analyse the characteristics, motives and causes of people’s behaviours and attitudes in a situation, but not so obvious for the participants caught up in the drama. For women psychologists the sharing of personal experience which comes from working in the mental health world provides an opportunity to listen to the inner voice, observe the system as an outsider and build the bridge between illusion and reality, the internal and external worlds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aitken, S. (1984) ‘The Patient as Enemy’, Changes, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker-Miller, J. (1987) Towards a New Psychology of Women, 2nd edn (Harmondsworth: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauvoir, S. de (1953) The Second Sex (London: Jonathan Cape); 2nd edn, 1974, Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodsky, A.M. and Hare-Mustin, R. (1980) Women and Psychotherapy: an Assessment of Research and Practice (New York: Guildford Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Broverman, I.k., Broverman, D.M., Clarkson, F.E., Rosenkrantz, P.S. and Vogel, S.R. (1970) ‘Sex-Role Stereotypes and Clinical Judgements of Mental Health’, Journal of Consultant Clinical Psychology, 34, pp. 1-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. and Harris, T. (1978) The Social Origins of Depression, a Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women (London: Tavistock; 1979, New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burman, E. (ed.) (1990) Feminists and Psychological Practice (London: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, A. (1986) ‘Psychotherapy in Institutional Settings: Another Look’, Changes, 4, No. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, A. (1988) ‘The Psychological and the Physical – Towards Integration on Clinical Practice’, paper presented to British Psychological Society Annual Conference, Psychology and Alternative Medicine Symposium.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichenbaum, L. and Orbach, S. (1982) Outside In, Inside Out. Women’s Psychology I: a Feminist Psychoanalytic Approach (Harmondsworth: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Figes, E. (1978) Patriarchal Attitudes (London: Virago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fransella, F. and Frost, K. (1977) On Being a Woman (London: Tavistock).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gove, W. and Tudor, J. (1972) ‘Adult Sex Roles and Mental Illness’, American Journal Society, 78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guttentag, M., Salasin and Belle, D. (1980) The Mental Health of Women (New York: University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell, E. and Bayes, M. (eds) (1981) Women and Mental Health (New York: Basic Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jung, C.G. (1959) ‘The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious’, The Collected Works, vol. 1, pt 1, 2nd edn (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohon, G. (ed.) (1986) The British School of Psychoanalysis – the Independent Tradition (London: Free Association Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J. (1974) Psychoanalysis and Feminism (Harmondsworth: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J. (1984) Women: the Longest Revolution (London: Virago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1988) ‘Post Natal Depression Reinstated’, paper presented at British Psychological Society Annual Conference, Psychology of Women Section Symposium.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, C. (1989) The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By (San Francisco: Harper and Row).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reason, P. and Rowan, J. (1981) Human Inquiry: a Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research (John Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • St Aubyn, L. (ed.) (1983) Healing (London: Heinemann).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayers, J. (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1983) Breaking Out: Feminist Consciousness and Feminist Research (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmont, E. (1982) Psyche and Substance, 2nd edn (Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 1992 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Douglas, A. (1992). Women Psychologists in the Mental Health Professions The Adventures of Alice. In: Nicolson, P., Ussher, J., Campling, J. (eds) The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12028-4_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics