Citation

Maddux JE. Appl. Psychol. 2008; 57(s1): 54-70.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Association of Applied Psychology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1464-0597.2008.00354.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article challenges traditional views of the proper subject matter of clinical psychology, the nature of psychological adjustment and maladjustment, and the roles and functions of clinical psychologists. Toward this end, the article discusses clinical psychologists’conceptions of psychological adjustment and maladjustment and of the difference between psychological adjustment and maladjustment. It describes and challenges the illness ideology that has prevailed in clinical psychology for the past century—an ideology that has been socially constructed rather than scientifically constructed. This ideology consists of not only a set of assumptions about the nature of psychological adjustment and the “territory” of clinical psychology but also a language that influences the way clinical psychologists and others think about the field. It then offers a statement of a new mission for and vision of clinical psychology based on the values of positive psychology.