This bibliometric review covers the scientific production with or about the repertory grid technique between 1998 and 2007. The analysis of previous reviews suggests the need for a more careful and broad process of bibliographic research. With this aim, 24 bibliographic sources were used to cover a wide range of specialties. We began with the drawing up of an explicit protocol in which the research terms were detailed. Then the bibliographic sources were consulted, taking into account a specification of inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result of this process, 973 references were obtained: 468 were journal papers, 335 book chapters, 108 doctoral theses and 62 books. The review also evaluates the types of documents found, the evolution of the number of works published, the repertory grid’s fields of application and the degree of openness to other disciplines. The most relevant authors, their affiliations, their countries and the publication language are also revealed in this article, as well as the major journals contributing to disseminate the work done with this technique. Relevance: Since Kelly created his personal construct theory (PCT), the repertory grid technique (RGT) has been the most well-known instrument used not only by researchers and practitioners within PCT but also across a variety of disciplines and approaches. In the present work, we try to portray a recent picture of the status of the RGT using bibliometric analysis.

Cognitive models have contributed significantly to the understanding of unipolar depression and its psychological treatment. Our research group has been working on the notion of cognitive conflict viewed as personal dilemmas according to personal construct theory. We use a novel method for identifying those conflicts using the repertory grid technique (RGT). This study aims to empirically test the hypothesis that an intervention focused on the dilemma(s) specifically detected for each patient will enhance the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression. We expect that adding a dilemma-focused intervention to CBT will increase the efficacy of one of the more prestigious therapies for depression, thus resulting in a significant contribution to the psychological treatment of depression. Relevance: This article describes the protocol of a controlled study aimed at testing the efficacy of dilemma-focused therapy (DFT) as an intervention in the treatment of depression. DFT is a constructivist-oriented intervention targeting the cognitive conflicts that block the pathway to change. Constructivist epistemology has shown its potential for creation and innovation across a variety of psychotherapy approaches. Personal construct therapy is one of these approaches, and DFT arises from it as a structured, but still flexible, intervention aimed at making explicit and fostering resolution of the specific dilemma(s) found for that particular patient in the initial repertory grid assessment.

This study explores the cognitive structures, understood as construct systems, of patients suffering from bulimia nervosa (BN). Previous studies investigated the construct systems of disordered eaters suggesting that they had a higher distance between their construction of the self and the “ideal self,” and also more rigidity. In addition to these aspects, this study explored the presence of implicative dilemmas (ID). In BN patients it was more common (71.9%) to find IDs than in controls (18.8%). They also showed higher polarization and higher self-ideal discrepancies (even more for those with a long history of BN). The measures provided by the Repertory Grid Technique can be useful for the assessment of self-construction and cognitive conflicts in BN patients and to appreciate their role in this disorder. It could also be helpful for clinicians to explore the patient’s constructs system, and especially to identify IDs that could be maintaining the symptoms or hindering change in order to focus on them to facilitate improvement

The idea that internal conflicts play a significant role in mental health has been extensively addressed in various psychological traditions. In the context of personal construct theory, several measures of conflict have been operationalized using the repertory grid technique. All of them capture the notion that change, although desirable from the viewpoint of a given set of constructs, becomes undesirable from the perspective of other constructs. The goal of this study is to explore the presence of cognitive conflicts in a clinical sample (n = 284) and compare it to a control sample (n = 322). It is also meant to clarify which among the different types of conflict studied provides a greater clinical value and to investigate its relationship to symptom severity (SCL-90-R). Of the types of cognitive conflict studied, implicative dilemmas were the only ones to discriminate between clinical and nonclinical samples. Participants with implicative dilemmas showed higher symptom severity, and those from the clinical sample displayed a higher frequency of dilemmas than those from the nonclinical sample.

A research effort aimed at the development and unification of the prerequisite underlying theoretical foundations for an adequate approach to knowledge elicitation from repertory grid data is described. A theory of confirmation that incorporates the basic tenets of personal construct psychology directly into the logic as a basis for the determination of relevance is offered, thus strengthening the logic and extending personal construct psychology. These largely theoretical developments are applied to the representation and analysis of repertory grid data. The concept of an alpha -plane is introduced as a binary decomposition of repertory grid data that furnishes the realization of construct extensions (or ranges of convenience) needed to determine the range of relevance of a particular generalization or hypothesis. In addition, they provide the uniquely determined string of incidences required by any application of Bundy’s truth functional incidence calculus. The theories are applied to the design and construction of NICOD-a semiautomated medical knowledge acquisition system. The system has been successfully employed in the elicitation of valuable heuristic radiological knowledge (mammography) that the domain experts (radiologists) were otherwise unable to articulate.

At its simplest, a construct is a jargon term embedded centrally within George Kelly’s (1955) personal construct theory. It is the unit of his theory and that which is commonly thought to be measured in some form of repertory grid. It is a porthole through which we peer to make sense of the events swirling about us. One property of a construct is bipolarity. I am therefore going to start by telling you two things I think a construct is NOT before telling you what I think it is – that is, I am going to start by defining its opposite pole.

Despite their diversity, constructivist and social constructionist methods share a common concern with revealing the personal or ‘local’ meanings that characterize an individual or group, and strive for pragmatic utility rather than objective veracity in the usual sense. To exemplify this approach, this article reviews representative constructivist methods, including repertory grid technique, the coding of narrative processes, discourse analysis of public rhetoric, and focus group methodology. Each is shown to have broad applicability and special relevance for research and practice in psychotherapy.

Key words: constructivism, deconstruction, discourse, ethnodrama, epistemology, focus group, innovative moments, narrative, personal construct theory, psychotherapy, repertory grid, social constructionism.

This article studies the levels of psychological symptoms, problem-solving skills and self-construction in 28 freshmen, as assessed at the beginning and end of their first year at university. The repertory grid technique was used to assess self-ideal discrepancy, cognitive differentiation, and existence of implicative dilemmas. Results showed an improvement in psychological symptoms and self-ideal discrepancy, an increase in differentiation, but no significant differences in problem-solving skills. One or more implicative dilemmas were found in over half of the sample at the initial assessment and only in one-third at the final one, although this difference was not significant. Psychological symptoms at the end of the first year were predicted only by the initial reported symptoms. However, problem-solving skills at the end were predicted by a model including both initial skills and implicative dilemmas at the beginning of the year.

This bibliometric review covers the scientific production with or about Kelly’s repertory grid technique between 1998 and 2007. 24 bibliographic sources were used to cover a wide range of specialties. We began by drawing up an explicit protocol in which the research terms were detailed. Then we consulted the bibliographic sources, taking into account a specification of inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result of this process, 973 references were obtained: 468 journal papers, 335 book chapters, 108 doctoral theses, and 62 books. The review also evaluates the types of documents found, the evolution of the number of works published, the repertory grid’s fields of application, and the degree of openness to other disciplines. The most relevant authors, their affiliations, countries, and the publication language are also revealed in this article, as well as the major journals contributing to dissemination of the work done with this technique.

The aim of this study was to explore the structural characteristics of the construct systems of women who had suffered intimate partner violence (IPV). We compared a group of 40 women victims of IPV and 40 controls using the symptom check list (SCL-90-R) and the repertory grid technique (RGT). IPV victims showed more psychological symptoms, higher polarization and unidimensional thinking, and more implicative dilemmas than the comparison group. In contrast to previous assumptions and findings about their low self-esteem, no significant differences were found with the control group in the actual self–ideal self discrepancy measure of the RGT. These cognitive characteristics of the construct system should be taken into account in efforts to assist IPV victims psychologically. For example, if results were confirmed by further studies, interventions should give priority to dilemma resolution over self-esteem enhancement as a focus of therapy. Relevance: This a study based on personal construct theory and uses the Repertory Grid Technique to systematically study the personal constructs of women who have been victims of their partner.