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Title: Theories for Clinical Social Work Practice: Interview with Joseph Walsh, Ph.D.
Episode: 52
Date: August 30, 2009
Duration: 47:26
URL: http://socialworkpodcast.com/2009/08/theories‐for‐clinical‐social‐work.html
Jonathan Singer: Today’s podcast looks at the relationship between theory and clinical social
work practice. I spoke with Joe Walsh, professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth
University (VCU), and author of the Brooks/Cole text, Theories for Direct Social Work Practice,
which came out in a second edition in 2009. We talked about why social workers should learn
practice theories, the differences between practice, developmental and personality theories,
the difference between a theory and a model, and why there are so many different practice
theories. We talked about how knowing theory makes for better social work practice and how
being "eclectic" isn't about eschewing theory, but being well grounded in a few theories and
making intentional choices about when and how to draw from them. Joe suggested that social
workers in the field can contribute to theory refinement by thinking seriously about how well
the theories they use work with the clients they serve. We ended our conversation with some
information on resources for social workers who are interested in learning more about practice
theories.
Now if you are a regular listener to the podcast, you’ll know that at this point I usually
say, “and now on to the podcast with” and I name the guest and the topic. But, before we get
to the interview, I wanted to acknowledge that theory is one of those topics that really makes a
lot of people uncomfortable. It tends to make social work students groan, makes practitioners
throw up their hands and shrug, and incites all sorts of debate among social work scholars. I
think it is because while theory is by definition abstract, there is a debate in social work as to
whether or not theory improves the quality of practice, research and policy. I also want to
acknowledge that the topic of theory is huge and this podcast cannot cover all of it. But, in
order to provide a context for the interview, I’m going to spend a few minutes defining some
basic ideas around theory, identify different types of theories, and talk about some of the pros
and cons of theory in social work practice, research and policy.
A definition of theory
In a 2001 article, Bruce Thyer, one of social work’s most outspoken critics of theory,
defined theory as “attempts to retrospectively explain and to prospectively predict” (2001, p.
16). This is just one of many definitions, but I like it because it suggests two functions of theory.
The first is to explain or help us understand – to provide some insight – into why something
happened. For example, you are working with a woman whose children were removed by child
welfare for neglectful parenting. Why did this happen? During your conversation with her it
becomes clear that she learned how to parent by watching her parents as well as the people
around her. Is that information important? It is according to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning
Theory, which says that people learn behaviors by watching others. This mother modeled her
parenting on what she saw around her. This brings us to the second function of theory ‐ to
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predict what might happen in the future. Taking this same example, social learning theory
would predict that if you model protective parenting behaviors, your client will learn how to
parent her children in ways that are neither abusive nor neglectful. But, you might be asking
yourself, isn’t there more to parenting than just behaviors? Yes. And this suggests the limits of
relying on a single theory to try to explain or predict human behavior. While some theories do a
better job of explaining and some do a better job of predicting, all theories have limitations.
And being an informed consumer of theories means knowing about different types of theories
and specifically about different assumptions of practice theories. So, let’s talk for a minute
about the different types of theories.
Types of theories
There are many types of theories that clinicians need to know about, such as developmental,
personality, and practice theory. Social work students learn about developmental theory in
their Human Behavior and Social Environment courses. Some examples of developmental
theory are Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, Kohlberg and Gilligan’s theories of moral
development, and Erik Erickson’s psychosocial theory. Developmental theories can be useful in
understanding why someone is doing something at a particular stage in life. Personality
theories explain human behavior in terms of personality traits, such as being more introverted
or extroverted, or more dominant or submissive. But neither developmental theory nor
personality theory talk much about what you, the practitioner, can do to help. That’s where
practice theories come in. Practice theories often incorporate components of developmental
and personality theory, but the focus is on why someone is having a specific set of problems
and how we can resolve those problems. The why and how vary by the practice theory.
Practice theories are often divided into four broad categories, psychodynamic,
cognitive‐behavioral, humanistic, and postmodern. If I recorded this podcast in the 1950s not
only would I be a technological genius, but I would talk exclusively about the variations of
Freudian psychosexual theory. By the 1970s, social workers could choose between
psychodynamic, cognitive‐behavior and humanistic theories. In the 1980s, postmodern theories
became popular. These categories are not exhaustive, but do account for most practice
theories that are commonly applied to treating individuals. I’m going to spend a few minute
describing each of these four categories of practice theories. To learn more about these
categories, you can listen to a number of other social work podcasts, or read social work
practice theory texts by Coady and Lehman, Malcolm Payne, or today’s guest, Joe Walsh.
Psychodynamic theory. These theories, including drive or id psychology, ego psychology,
object relations, and self‐psychology, have their roots in the work of Sigmund Freud and the
belief that current problems can be traced back to childhood traumas or developmental
challenges. These theories emphasize insight and personality change. More recent
psychodynamic approaches, such as brief psychodynamic therapy maintain the emphasis on
insight but focus interpretations on current issues.
Cognitive‐behavioral theories. Although they developed separately, cognitive and
behavioral theories are generally considered part of the same broad category because, in
practice, most behavioral interventions have a cognitive component, and most cognitive
interventions have a behavioral component. In contrast to psychodynamic theory’s focus on the
past, cognitive behavior theories focus on the present in order to change future behavior.
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However, CBTs acknowledge that current problems with behavior and thinking often have roots
in the past. Although today’s cognitive‐behavior therapists agree that the therapeutic
relationship is central to the change process, the original writings of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck
described the therapeutic relationship as more of a teacher‐student relationship the therapist
was teaching the client about their patterns of thinking and behavior.
Humanistic. This category of practice theories has its roots in the work of Carl Rogers,
who held the humanistic belief that people have within them all of the resources needed to
achieve their full potential. Humanistic therapies see the therapeutic relationship as central to
the change process. Rogers is famous for saying that in order for change to occur, therapists
must be authentic, genuine, and demonstrate unconditional positive regard for their clients.
Humanistic therapies focus on the present, with little emphasis on the past or future.
Postmodern. Practice theories in this category, most notably Michael White and David
Epston’s Narrative Therapy, are critical of approaches that privilege some ideas at the expense
of others. Postmodernists believe that since reality is a social construction, the therapeutic
relationship is central to change. Postmodern approaches argue that the primary benefit of
labeling a set of behaviors as “dysfunctional” is to elevate those without that label. In this way,
traditional social services, the medical model, and most treatment approaches are tools used
by those in power to maintain control.
Within each of these categories, specific practice theories try to tackle more broad or
narrow ranges of experience. For example, traditional Freudian psychoanalysis is considered a
grand theory that tries to account for the experience of all people. In contrast interpersonal
psychotherapy is more of a practice model in that it uses ideas from psychodynamic theory, but
makes very narrow assumptions about who can be helped by the intervention and in what time
frame.
Arguments against theory
So far I’ve defined theory, talked about types of theories, and specific categories of
practice theories. The last thing I want to talk about before we hear the obviously pro‐theory
interview with Joe Walsh is that there are three compelling arguments against practice
theories.
First, there are no unique so