Title Details

Godfrey T.Barrett-Lennard is Adjunct Professor in the School of Health Professions and the School of Psychology & Exercise Science at Murdoch University, Australia. He is Honorary Doctor of Murdoch University and Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Australian Psychological Society. He studied with Carl Rogers at the University of Chicago and his research has focused on relationship in therapy and life systems. He is the author of many books, chapters, articles, and research questionnaire instruments. His most recent publications include The Relationship Paradigm: Human Being Beyond Individualism (2013), Relationship at the Centre: Healing in a Troubled World (Wiley, 2005), Steps on a Mindful Journey: Person-centred Expressions(2003), and Carl Rogers’ Helping System: Journey and Substance (1998). He has given addresses and workshops around the world, and in 2011 he was presented with the Carl Rogers Award of APA Division 32 (Society for Humanistic Psychology).

About the Companion Website ix

Part 1 The Relationship Inventory: Beginning, Fruition, Future 1

1 How Change Happens: The Guidance and Refinement of Theory 3

2 The Classic Investigation of Carl Rogers’ Core Theory 8

Definitions of the “therapeutic” variables 10

Instruments and procedure 12

Experimental hypotheses 16

Results 17

Implications and further research 22

Conclusion 24

3 A Major Revision: Crafting the 64-item RI and Emergent Adaptations 26

Purposes of the revision 27

Item analysis and other features 27

The spread of application with varied adaptations 31

Conclusion 34

4 Mature and Travelling: The RI “System” in Focus 35

The theoretical structure of the BLRI reviewed 35

Phases in dialogue exchange linking to the main inventory forms 38

Gathering, scoring, and using RI data: Practice and rationale 39

Reliability and validity: Issues and evidence 43

New and underused applications of the BLRI 46

Conclusion 48

5 The BLRI Story Extended: Later Work and Looking Ahead 49

Reflections on theory and the interrelation of conditions 50

Later studies and analyses 52

Where to next? Underexplored and adventurous regions 60

The spectrum of BL relationship inventories 61

Conclusion 63

6 Training Applications: Exercises in Facilitation 64

Use of the whole BLRI early in counsellor training 64

Learning from interviews in triads with BLRI-derived participant ratings 65

Conclusion 71

Part 2 The Journeying Self in Personal and Group Relations 73

7 The Contextual Selves Inventory: For the Study of Self in its Diversity 75

Origins and manifestations of self-diversity 76

Constructive change in relations within the plural self 78

Studying the self in context – new focus and method 78

The CSI poised for fresh inquiry 83

Conclusion 83

8 Tracking Self and Relational Process in Experiential Groups 85

End-of-meeting participant process appraisals 86

Illustrative results from use of the in-group questionnaires 87

Conclusion 89

Part 3 Reframing: Envisioning the Path Ahead 91

9 Looking Ahead: Fresh Horizons in Relationship Study 93

Invitations to connected further study of relationship 93

Towards the study of relations between very large systems 96

Conclusion 98

Appendix 1: The Relationship Inventory Forms and Scoring Keys 99

Appendix 2: Contextual Selves Inventory and Triad and Group Rating Forms 160

References 175

Index 184

“This is a book that provides all you need to know about measuring perceptions in a relationship. Barrett-Lennard has given us a tour de force of the history and development of The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, which has been internationally recognized for its broad empirical support, strong theoretical development, and practical applications. This work launches the study of the relationship conditions into new territory and provides a significant contribution to the study of human relationships.”—Leslie S. Greenberg, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, York University, Canada 

“Godfrey Barrett-Lennard's Relationship Inventory has had remarkable impact and staying power. This book explains why: a strong conceptual basis, careful cycles of item selection and crafting, alternating with validation studies, and a continuing interest in conceptual elaboration and empirical diversification. This book traces the Inventory's continuing development from its grounding in Carl Rogers's conceptualization of the therapeutic relationship, to application in a variety of clinical and educational settings.”—William B. Stiles, Miami University and Appalachian State University 

“This is an indispensable book for all those interested in the therapeutic relationship. It provides detailed information on the use of the BLRI, and training exercises based on using it. Furthermore it covers the author’s exciting new work on the ‘contextual self’ – the idea that our selves have multiple aspects – an idea gaining momentum in psychology at the present time. It is highly recommended for psychotherapy researchers, students of psychotherapy, and researchers in other fields that involve the relationship.”—Arthur C. Bohart, PhD, Professor Emeritus, California State University Dominguez Hills 

“The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory family of assessments occupies a unique space from the past to the future and from the diversity within each of us to the interconnections between all of us. This book provides full access to more than a dozen distinct instruments to measure relationship in nearly any context. It is a remarkable resource and a testimony to the enduring process to understand and improve life through both relationships and science. We all can be grateful for it as a contribution.”—Jeffrey H. D. Cornelius-White, Psy.D., Missouri State University 

This is a book that provides all you need to know about measuring perceptions in a relationship. Barrett-Lennard has given us a tour de force of the history and development of The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory which has been internationally recognized for its broad empirical support, strong theoretical development, and practical applications. This work launches the study of the relationship conditions into new territory and provides a significant contribution to the study of human relationships—Leslie S. Greenberg, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, York University, Canada 

Godfrey Barrett-Lennard's Relationship Inventory has had remarkable impact and staying power. This book explains why: a strong conceptual basis, careful cycles of item selection and crafting, alternating with validation studies, and a continuing interest in conceptual elaboration and empirical diversification. This book traces the Inventory's continuing development from its grounding in Carl Rogers's conceptualization of the therapeutic relationship, through a series of revision and validation studies, to application in a variety of clinical and educational settings.  There is much history here, but also reviews of current work, copies of Inventory forms adapted for a variety of specific research and clinical situations, and proposals for future research directions.—William B. Stiles, Miami University and Appalachian State University 

This is an indispensable book for all those interested in the therapeutic relationship. Furthermore it covers the author’s exciting new work on the idea of the “contextual self” – the idea that our selves have multiple aspects – an idea gaining momentum in psychology at the present time. Overall it traces the history of the development and use of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, surely one of the two or three most widely used instruments for measuring facilitative therapeutic relationship conditions. It provides detailed information on the use of the BLRI, and training exercises based on using it. It also covers its use in other fields such as education, with families, groups and organizations, and medical practice. Finally the book concludes with Barrett-Lennard’s exciting new work on measuring the concept of the ‘contextual self’ – the idea that our selves have multiple aspects – an idea gaining momentum in psychology at the present time.. Barrett-Lennard provides a useful measure. Overall, a book highly recommended for psychotherapy researchers, students of psychotherapy, and researchers in other fields that involve the relationship.—Arthur C. Bohart, PhD, Professor Emeritus, California State University Dominguez Hills 

The Relationship Inventory brings to life the origins of the research on psychotherapy as we know it today, rooted in one of the most enduring common factors of the psychotherapy literature: Therapeutic relationships can facilitate personal growth. It also points to the future of our understanding of who we are as persons in all of life’s contexts, increasingly diverse yet embedded in a vast array of (inter-) relationships. The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory family of assessments occupies a unique space from the past to the future and from the diversity within each of us to the interconnections between all of us. The Relationship Inventory provides full access to more than a dozen distinct instruments to measure relationship in nearly any context from the most intimate through the professional to the societal. This book truly is a remarkable resource and a testimony to the enduring process to understand and improve life through both relationships and science. We all can be grateful for it as a contribution.—Jeffrey H. D. Cornelius-White, Psy.D., Missouri State University