The Relationship Inventory A Complete Resource and Guide

Written by a pioneer in person-centered therapy, this is the only resource to provide full access to the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI) – along with information on the instrument’s history and development and supporting materials for counseling practitioners, researchers, and students.

• Provides a complete instrument for  measuring empathy in relationships, a critical component for success across a wide range of therapeutic interventions
• Charts the development and refinement of the BLRI over more than 50 years, with particular attention to the influence of Carl Rogers’ theories, and outlines the future potential of the instrument
• Contains all the materials necessary for critical understanding and  application of the BRLI, including the full range of forms and adaptations, and guidelines for successful implementation
• Also presents the author’s Contextual Selves Inventory (CSI), which permits direct study of the self as distinctively experienced in different relationship contexts

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

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