As the definitions indicate, clinical psychology also draws on the tradition of reflective
practice (Schon, 1987). Reflective practice is a loose term, but implies that the subject
matter of our discipline, human beings and human distress, is not best served by the
narrow ‘technical-rational’ application of research to practice. Rather, it requires a kind of
artistry that also involves intuition, flexibility and critical evaluation of one’s experience.
In other words, formulation is ‘a balanced synthesis of the intuitive and rational cognitive
systems’ (Kuyken, 2006, p.30)