[Introduction to] Handbook of Social and Clinical Psychology: The Health Perspective

From 1988 to 1991 Donelson R. Forsyth worked with C.R. Snyder and many other experts in the field of social and clinical psychology, editing a handbook that--at that time--summarized ongoing efforts in what was known as the social-clinical interface. This interface recognized the growing interdependency of these two fields. Up to that time social psychologists were mostly preoccupied with the study of the interpersonal determinants of thought, feeling, and action. Their work was primarily theoretically driven, the behaviors they sought to explain were the sort that occurred in everyday settings, and they preferred to test their hypotheses through laboratory experimentation. Clinical psychologists, in contrast, sought to understand the causes of and cures for dysfunctional behavior. They were concerned with developing effective treatments and diagnostic techniques, the behaviors they puzzled over were abnormal ones, and they preferred to test their hypotheses in field settings. The Handbook that C.R. Snyder and Donelson R. Forsyth developed, however, explored the boundary line separating social and clinical psychology. It included chapters by social psychologists who, recognizing the potential applicability of their theories to clinical practice, had began exploring sources of dysfunction and suggesting socially based treatment strategies. It also included chapters by clinical psychologists not only recognized the role of interpersonal dynamics in adjustment and therapy, but who had begun to integrate social psychological principles and clinical practice. The Handbook of Social and Clinical Psychology (HSCP) served as a comprehensive resource book for theorists, researchers, and scholars working at the interface of social and clinical psychology.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1167/thumbnail.jp