Carla Willig is a Chartered Health Psychologist and acts as Course Director for the MSc Health Psychology at City University. Carla is also a qualified Counselling Psychologist who sees clients at Women & Health in Camden.

Carla’s research interests include qualitative research methodology and its application to health psychology research, most particularly the relationship between discourse and risky practices. She is also interested in phenomenological research methods and the exploration of the meanings and quality of embodied experiences. This is linked to her interest in existential approaches to psychotherapy and counselling. Carla is currently looking at ways in which different theoretical models may be integrated with existential perspectives in order to produce fuller interpretations.

Carla is an associate editor of the Journal of Health Psychology and a member of the editorial board of Psychology and Health. She acts as editorial consultant for the British Journal of Social Psychology.

She is a member of the British Psychological Society and a founder member of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology.

Publications

Work in Progress  

Willig, C. and W. Stainton Rogers (eds) (in preparation) Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology, London: Sage 

Willig, C. (in preparation) Second Edition of Introducing Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology, Open University Press/McGraw-Hill

Willig, C. (in press) Discourse Analysis, in J.Smith (ed) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods, London: Sage, Second Edition

Willig, C. (in press) A Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of Taking Part in Extreme Sport, Journal of Health Psychology

Sims-Schouten, W., Riley, S.C.E. and Willig, C. (in press) Critical Realism in Discourse Analysis, Theory & Psychology

Willig, C. (in press) Reflections on the Use of a Phenomenological Method, Qualitative Research in Psychology

Woodall, C. and Willig, C. (accepted for publication subject to minor revision) The Discursive Construction of Dysfunction, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology

Mielewczyk, F. and Willig, C. (in press) Old Clothes and an Older Look: The Case for a Radical Makeover in Health Behaviour Research, Theory & Psychology 

Paulson, S. and Willig, C. (in press) Older Women and Everyday Talk About the Ageing Body, Journal of Health Psychology

Mielewczyk, F. and Willig, C. (under review) Effective Planning for Sustained Behaviour Change, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology

Willig, C. (in preparation) ‘Unlike a Rock, A Tree, a Horse or an Angel…’: Reflections on the Role of Existential Guilt in Psychotherapy, Existential Analysis 

Boserman, C. and Willig, C. (in preparation) Gods or Diseases ?

Bibliography

Books

Willig, C. (ed) (1999) Applied Discourse Analysis: Social and Psychological Interventions, Buckingham: OUP                                                                                                     

Marks, D., Murray, M., Evans, B., & Willig, C. (2000) Health Psychology. Theory, Research and Practice, London: Sage                                                                                        

Willig, C. (2001) Qualitative Research In Psychology: A Practical Guide to Theory and Method, Buckingham: OUP

Marks, D.F., Murray, M., Evans, B., Willig, C., Woodall, C. and Sykes, C.M. (2005) Health Psychology. Theory, Research and Practice, Second Edition, London: Sage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Peer-reviewed Articles

Willig, C. (1992) Assumptions in People's Talk About AIDS, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2: 217 – 221                                                                               

Willig, C. (1995) 'I Wouldn't Have Married the Guy If I'd Have to Do That' - Heterosexual Adults' Accounts of Condom Use and Their Implications for Sexual Practice, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 5: 75-87                                                         

Auburn, T., Drake, S. & Willig, C. (1995) Consistency As a Warrant For a Violent Personality, Discourse and Society, 6 (.3): 353-386                                                                          

Roiser, M. & Willig, C. (1995) The Hidden History of Authoritarianism, History of the Human Sciences, 8 (4): 77-97                                                                                                

Willig, C. (1997)  The Limitations of Trust in Intimate Relationships: Constructions of Trust and Sexual Risk-Taking, British Journal of Social Psychology, 36: 211-221               

Gillies, V. & Willig, C. (1997) 'You Get the Nicotine and That In Your Blood': Constructions of Addiction and Control in Women's Accounts of Cigarette Smoking, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 7: 285-301                                                                     

Harden, A. & Willig, C. (1998) An Exploration of the Discursive Constructions Used In Young Adults Memories and Discussions of Contraception, Journal of Health Psychology, 3 (3): 429-445                                                                                                                           

Willig, C. (1998) Constructions of Sexual Activity and Their Implications for Sexual Practice: Lessons for Sex Education, Journal of Health Psychology, 3 (3): 383-392                       

Willig, C. (2000) A Discourse Dynamic Approach to the Study of Subjectivity, Theory & Psychology, 10 (4): 547-570                                                                                               

Roiser, M. and Willig, C. (2002) The Strange Death of the Authoritarian Personality: 50 years of Psychological and Political Debate, History of the Human Sciences, 15 (4): 71-96

Gillies, V., Harden, A., Johnson, K., Strange, V., Reavey, P. and Willig, C. (2004) Women’s Collective Constructions of Embodied Practices Through Memory Work: Cartesian Dualism in Memories of Sweating and Pain,  British Journal of Social Psychology, 43: 99-112                                                                                                           

Sykes, C.M., Marks, D. and Willig, C. (2004) Discourses in the European Commission’s 1996-2000 Health Promotion Programme, Journal of Health Psychology, 9 (1): 131-141                           

Lavie, M. and Willig, C. (2005) ‘I Don’t Feel Like Melting Butter’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of ‘Inorgasmia’, Psychology & Health, 20 (1):115-128.                                                                                                                                        

Gillies, V., Harden, A., Johnson, K., Reavey, P., Strange, V. and Willig, C. (2005) Painting Pictures of Embodied Experience: The Use of Non-Linguistic Data in the Study of Embodiment, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2(3): 199-213.

Book Chapters

Willig, C. (1994) Marital Discourse and Condom Use, IN: P. Aggleton, P. Davies & G. Hart (eds) AIDS: Foundations for the Future, Taylor & Francis, Basingstoke                  

Roiser, M. & Willig, C. (1996)  Marxism, the Frankfurt School and Working Class Psychology, IN: I. Parker & R. Spears (eds), Psychology and Society, Pluto Press                             

Willig, C. (1997) Trust As Risky Practice, IN: L. Segal (ed) New Sexual Agendas, London: Macmillan                                                                                                                       

Willig, C. (1998) Social Constructionism and Revolutionary Socialism- A Contradiction in Terms ?, IN: I. Parker (ed), Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism, London: Sage         

Willig, C. (1999) Beyond Appearances: A Critical Realist Approach to Social Constructionist Work in Psychology IN: D. Nightingale & J. Cromby (eds) Psychology and Social Constructionism: A Critical Analysis of Theory and Practice, Buckingham: OUP                   

Willig, C. (2001) En Kritisk Realistik Ansats Pa Socialt Konstruktionistisk Arbete, in  D. Nightingale and J. Cromby (eds) Socialkonstruktionistisk Psykologi. Lund: Studentlitteratur (translated by Charlotte Palmen) ( this is a translation of a chapter published in 1999)       

Willig, C. (2002)  A Discourse Dynamic Approach to the Study of Subjectivity, in D. Marks (ed) The Health PsychologyReader. London: Sage. (this is a re-print of a journal article published in 2000)                                                                                                                   

Willig, C. (2003) Discourse Analysis, in J.Smith (ed) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods, London: Sage.                                                                                     

Willig, C. and Drury, J.(2004) Acting With: Partisan Participant Observation As a Social Practice Basis For Shared Knowledge,, in D. Pare and G. Larner (eds) Collaborative Practice in Psychology and Therapy, Haworth Press.      

Willig, C. (2004) Discourse Analysis and Health Psychology, in M. Murray (ed) Critical Health Psychology, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan