Abstract

Psychology’s New Design Science: Theory & Research opens a conversation about how psychology, psychiatry, and the counseling professions will adopt technology as an extension of its skill and expertise. We propose that design reasoning and design thinking can play an important role in assisting the field of mental health as it embraces technology and begins to explore what it means to move expertise beyond current health care settings. We have placed our subject in historical context; a “where have we been” and “where are we going” narrative that points to the lineage of thought that has led to design thinking as a natural extension of clinical knowledge. The clinical literature is comprised of three dominant modes of discussion: a) theory which explores and defines the healing process, b) techniques of psychotherapy which are addressed to clinicians, and c) case studies by both clinicians and patients reporting on their experiences of recovery. Our book offers a fourth conversation which includes design reasoning as an established means for applying theory and research to mental health treatment.