I’ve seen
Robert J. Sternberg in action at the American Psychological Association
conventions, and he’s always been a favorite of mine. Given a list of choices
for say, a morning, I would choose him out of the crowd of presenters. No
matter what his subject matter it was sure to be interesting. He motivated me
to go back home and do what I do best: psychology.

   A group of
16 psychologists each contributed a chapter to this book. Each of them had
their way of "defying the crowd." The introduction by Sternberg sets
the tone. Most of these psychologists state that they never intentionally set
out to be "defiant," but found their passion in whatever they did to
be out of the mainstream of psychology. Any psychologist reading this book
would recognize at least one of these people. Some are in university
settings, some are clinical, and most do psychological research.

   I think it
is important to learn what the crowd is doing first, in graduate school, and
then to make up your own mind about what is ethical and then interesting,
relevant, and helpful to society. Each of these individuals definitely has a
great story to tell, and the variety of what they each do make this book on top
of my list of books every psychologist should read.

   I attended
graduate school in Florida during the mid-80’s, which is important to know
because some of these people hadn’t yet come into their own, while others were
at the height of their career when I was in high school. I went to school for
nine years in a row to complete all of my degrees leading to my doctorate, and
I chose a clinical degree (PsyD) because I knew I wanted to be a clinician.
Nevertheless, I learned early in my schooling about the importance of
publishing research, and in my junior year of undergraduate I published my
first article on rape. I also later published articles in graduate school,
although I was more peripheral to the design and statistics involved. Still,
when one of the students presented his work to the faculty, I was the one who
told him on a break what was wrong with his statistics. Sure enough, the
faculty came back into the room with the same comments.

   One other
relevant thing to mention is that psychology on the west coast is different
than psychology on the east coast or in the Midwest. These are generalizations
all with exceptions, but it could generally be said at the time (mid-80’s) that
the east coast, especially New York, focused on psychoanalysis
in therapy, while the Midwest was generally more cognitive-behavioral, and
the west coast was cognitive. I was trained on both coasts because
undergraduate work was at San Diego State University, which had a significant
impact on my own approaches to clinical work later, and on the east coast I
received my doctorate, where the "crowd" was psychoanalytic, or as
they liked to say, "object relations." I
managed to get myself into a practicum where the professor was a woman who
became my mentor. She was a feminist with a cognitive and family therapy thrown
into the mix.

   When I read
the stories in this book, it reminds me of my own story of going against the
crowd, because other students in my class were using object relations and I was
guided by mentor and other wonderful supervisors to use concepts from feminism,
family therapy such as Bowenian, and cognitive therapy. I specialized in learning
about women’s issues, working mostly with victims of domestic violence. My
approach affected not only the lives of many women, but also that of their
partners, with whom I also worked separately with groups of men, and children.
I taped my therapy sessions with the consent of the patients, and used them
with my supervisors to improve my skills. Some of the supervisors and
professors were very psychoanalytic, and I often put my grades on the line by
disagreeing with them. Amazingly, my grades were as high as they could be, and
I believe, as did my mentor, that at times I was educating the supervisor about
women’s issues, without using the psychoanalytic approach.

   The reason
I have told my story, which is only a small part of my story and time, is to
show by example how the authors in this book "defied the crowd." My
peers were sure I would fail, not be liked by my professors, etc., but my
mentor and supervisors were much better than they gave them credit for. I had
learned what the crowd did, and could pass any test on it, but I had learned
several totally different approaches that in that time and place were not with
the crowd. Years later, as a licensed clinical psychologist with a private
practice, I applied whatever I needed to for any particular patient. I’ve never
believed in seeing every patient with only one model. The authors of this book
have similar stories except each is unique in the specifics of how they defied
the crowd. I am not famous, but most of them are.

   I think
this would be an excellent book for third year graduate students, who have
learned the basics, and now consider alternatives. No matter which way they go
in their career (psychologists have many choices), each story would provide
fodder for class discussion, followed later by application. Each story can be
applied to a different facet of psychology; for example, social psychologists
would Elliot Aronson’s story applicable to their career. Sternberg has kept up
with my expectations and more. Psychology professors and clinicians should all
read this book for consideration of not only their careers, but those of their
students, who in turn go out into the world and affect the lives of so many
people.   

© 2003 Patricia Ferguson

Patricia
Ferguson is a freelance writer/editor/publisher, as well as a licensed clinical
psychologist. She is a co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Apolloslyre,
an online magazine for and about writers of all genres. She is an editorial
reviewer for The Writer’s Room, and a book reviewer for several venues,
including, among others, Absolute Write and Metapsychology Online. Her most
recent publication was in Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female
Bullying by Cheryl Dellasega, PhD and Charisse Nixon, PhD. She and her husband and son live in
northern California.

Categories: Psychology, Psychotherapy