A Pluralistic Perspective on Research in Psychotherapy: Harnessing Passion, Difference and Dialogue to Promote Justice and Relevance.

The adoption of a pluralistic perspective on research design, processes of data collection and analysis and dissemination of findings, has the potential to enable psychotherapy research to make a more effective contribution to building a just society. A review of the key features of the concept of pluralism is followed by a historical analysis of the ways in which research in counselling, psychotherapy and related disciplines has moved in the direction of a pluralistic position around knowledge creation. Core principles of a pluralistic approach to research are identified and explored in the context of a critical case study of contemporary research into psychotherapy for depression, examples of pluralistically oriented research practices, and analysis of a pluralistic conceptualisation of the nature of evidence. Implications of a pluralistic perspective for research training and practice are discussed. Pluralistic inquiry that emphasises dialogue, collaboration, epistemic justice and the co-existence of multiple truths, creates opportunities for individuals, families and communities from a wide range of backgrounds to co-produce knowledge in ways that support their capacities for active citizenship and involvement in open democratic decision-making. To fulfil these possibilities, it is necessary for psychotherapy research to be oriented towards social goals that are sufficiently relevant to both researchers and co-participants to harness their passion and work together for a common good.

"What is strange is that we don't have more children coming to us": A habitography of child psychiatrists and scholastic pressure in Kolkata, India.

The mental health of Indian school children could be expected to be a major topic of research. More people below 15 years are living in India than in any other country in the world, and India has undergone rapid social, economic, and demographic changes that have greatly increased the pressures on children to do well in school. Yet there is a striking dearth of research in this field. In this article we present the first-ever study focused on child psychiatrists in India. Based on long-term fieldwork and interviews with psychiatrists in the Kolkata metropolitan area, we present a habitography of how psychiatrists experience young people's problems. Child psychiatrists are greatly concerned about the nexus between heightened expectations of educational success and a rise of mental problems among young people. At the same time, they wonder why not many more children are coming to them with school-related complaints. To date, there is not enough research that could either confirm or disconfirm the psychiatrists' analysis of social changes, but some conclusions on the plausibility of their views can be drawn.