Wished I’d been there: Reflections on the special issue’s articles as refracted through my appreciations for qualitative researchers’ innovativeness

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, the innovativeness and critical responsiveness of qualitative researchers in studying psychotherapy and mental health has been astonishing to witness. A social constructionist or postmodern (e.g. with narrative, solution-focused, and collaborative approaches) therapist who went on to conduct, teach, and supervise qualitative research, I bring an appreciative view of this recent history to comment on the articles of this Special Issue. This history shows qualitative researchers developing and refining their methods to pose new questions and ways of answering them in line with therapist curiosities about meaning making. Qualitative research also became a tool for surfacing social justice concerns, or for answering or addressing questions in novel contexts. The innovativeness of qualitative researchers often derives from how new ideas, concerns, and sense-making practices are honed by methodical rigors that extend beyond the one-off understandings or hunches therapists develop through working with clients. Though use of any method has limitations on what can be claimed from its use, what matters most is that good qualitative research offers useful understandings. From this appreciation of qualitative research’s recent history and its potential usefulness to therapists and mental health workers, I selectively comment on the following articles.