Psychotherapy and Politics International (E-Journal)
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The Freudo‐Marxist Tradition and the Critique of Psychotherapeutic Ideology
Get PDFThe ideology of psychotherapy is questioned through critical concepts taken from the Freudo-Marxist tradition. The paper first analyses in detail six determinant ideological processes detected in psychotherapy that three pioneers of Freudo-Marxism criticised in the 1920s: dualistic scission and metaphysical immobilisation (Luria); idealist generalisation and mechanistic determination (Bernfeld); and repressive adaptation and historical decontextualisation (Reich). Following this, it briefly reviews seven paired analogous processes that were denounced by continuators of the Freudo-Marxist tradition: valorative moralisation and the psychologisation of the social (Fenichel); instinctual–rational deprivation and the mechanisation of the subject (Adorno); alienating performance and surplus repression (Marcuse); manipulation and dehumanising alienation (Fromm); abstraction and mythologising (Bleger); authoritarianism and suggestion (Caruso); and depoliticisation and rationalisation (Langer). The argument will show how Freudo-Marxist questionings of these operations – many now forgotten – are still current and can be inspiring and enriching for a modern critique of psychotherapy
Nick Totton and the UK Independent Practitioners' Network
Get PDFNick Totton's involvement in, and contribution to, the UK Independent Practitioners Network (IPN) are outlined in this appreciative, impressionistic article. Nick Totton, along with others, took a pivotal leadership role in the founding and development of this radical counter‐cultural approach to “psy” accountability in Britain in the mid 1990s, and his major contribution deserves explicit recognition. That the IPN has, and continues to have, a significant influence on innovative thinking and upon the evolving “politics” of the therapy field in the UK is a fitting testimony to Nick's key contribution
United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy: Questions to London Mayoral Candidates
Get PDFIn May 2012 London elected a new Mayor. In the run-up to the election the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy voiced its concern for the future of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling in and outside of London by way of questions to the main candidates for Mayor of London. These “notes” are the questions put to the candidate and the answers from the three candidates who responded, namely Jenny Jones (Green Party), Ken Livingstone (Labour), and Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat)
Three Hot Potatoes, or Nick Totton's Courage in Inconveniencing the Field of Psychotherapy
Get PDFNick Totton has over a number of years written vigorously about paradoxical, conflict-laden and otherwise inconvenient topics and, in doing so, has contributed significantly to various psychotherapeutic milieux. This paper focuses on three “hot potatoes” that Totton has written about, areas that presented uncomfortable conflicts in and into psychotherapy, namely: body, relationality, and politics. Being aware of and working with the body compels us to confront our aggressive and erotic drives, our wounds and yearnings, and as therapists often reveals us to our clients more than we intend. Being relational also entails the therapist revealing more of themselves and challenges the traditional analytic assumption (let alone the reality or usefulness of) a neutral, “blank-slate” position. Thirdly, I argue that taking an explicit political stance challenges the clinician's comfortable, clinic-bound practice, and discomforts the psychotherapist's habitual position regarding social involvement
Psychotherapy and Social Responsibility: The Challenging Case of Homicide
Get PDFIn this article we consider the social basis of homicide and the suffering experienced by secondary victims (the family, friends and close associates of the primary victim) and tertiary victims (the communities and societies of primary and secondary victims). We propose that alongside the legitimate and enacted professional role in the sphere of personal suffering, psychotherapists have an ethical obligation to tackle the social roots of such suffering. Specifically, we challenge psychotherapists and their organisations to commence or increase substantially individual and collective engagement aimed at reducing fatal violence in global society by addressing those causative factors which lie beyond individual bio-psychopathology. Such substantive “moral action” can contribute significantly to the present underdeveloped socially responsible basis of psychotherapy
Haunting legacies: Violent histories and transgenerational trauma. By Gabriele Schwab. (2010). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. 277 pp.
Get PDFHaunting legacies: Violent histories and transgenerational trauma. By Gabriele Schwab. (2010). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. 277 pp
Nick Totton: An Appreciative Afterword
Get PDFThis afterword appreciates Nick Totton's work in a number of fields by addressing a number of questions that the author asks or poses about Nick Totton
The Energy in the Room: Bodies Behaving Weirdly
Get PDFThis paper elaborates Totton's claim that subtle energy throws into question our separateness as bodies. It examines embodied experience of “the energy in the room” and argues that, however such a quality of experience is theorised, understanding its dynamics is of importance to psychotherapists of different theoretical orientations
The Quietly Ferocious Struggle: A Review of Nick Totton's Contribution to and Thinking about Training in Psychotherapy
Get PDFThis article explores Nick Totton's contribution to and thinking about psychotherapy training. Nick Totton has influenced training through his extensive contribution to psychotherapy literature, and directly through his own work as a trainer and course leader. It is suggested that his major contributions to the field are the development of a new modality: Embodied‐Relational Therapy, and a model of training based on spaciousness, trust and authenticity
Distributive Justice, Narcissism, and the Future of the Welfare State: A Tribute to Mario Jacoby (1925–2011)
Get PDFThis article combines disparate ideas from political philosophy, depth psychology, and political economy to understand better the current backlash against globalization. More specifically, this backlash includes attempts to restore the welfare state, to increase social equality, and to resist the negative influence of narcissism. After presenting these three sets of ideas, the conclusion offers a prognosis about the future of welfare state. In the conclusion, the author quotes Mario Jacoby, a Jungian analyst, whose writings bring together these three sets of ideas. In each of the three domains of inquiry there is a pair of alternatives. Equity and equality are alternative principles in the philosophy of distributive justice. Conditional love and unconditional love are alternative modes of mothering in the psychology of narcissism. The neo-liberal state and the welfare state are alternative perspectives on political economy. The author aligns the first member of each of the three pairs of alternatives; likewise with the second member. What new insight does this alignment yield about current controversies over globalization? What psychological issues arise in the choice between a welfare state and a neo-liberal state? The modern state, in psychological terms, conjures up the image of a mother figure. But, in the imagery of the modern state, what kind of mother fig. is this, a nurturing (positive) mother or a devouring (negative) mother? The public policies of the welfare state, emphasizing the principle of equality, correspond to the behavior of a nurturing mother. The neo-liberal state, on the other hand, by implementing public policies consistent with the principle of equity, corresponds to a devouring mother. The essay concludes with some comments on the future of the welfare state