Psychotherapy and Politics International (E-Journal)
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Ecopsychology's Wilding
Get PDFThis article follows Nick Totton's focus on “Wild” as paradigmatic for ecopsychology. It re‐examines the tension between domestication and wildness that Totton sets out and links the devastation felt at the estrangement from “mother nature” with the experience of shame and loss of reciprocity. In differentiating between pre‐conquest wildness that holds homogeneity of values and that of post‐conquest groups, a central paradox in ecopsychology is identified as that of our dual nature: that we are both a part of nature and apart from nature. In complement to Totton's qualities epitomised by “Wild Mind”, the Trickster is seen as a vital source of imaginative power with which to face the demonic presence of collective destruction. With an ecopsychology perspective, a parallel is drawn between the dilemmas of individual therapy and the collective challenge of potential species extinction, suggesting a reciprocal affinity with the more‐than‐human. Finally, the article notes the difficulties inherent in creating alternative discourses while also looking to be published
Defining Australian Indigenous Wellbeing: Do we Really Want the Answer? Implications for Policy and Practice
Get PDFIndigenous wellbeing is a current priority for the Australian Government. Given this prioritisation one might be tempted to conclude that a readily accessible and consensual definition of Indigenous wellbeing would be available. Such a definition would be important, for example, in the design and delivery of programmes of psychotherapy that aim to improve wellbeing. A literature review was undertaken to locate such a definition. In particular, the relevance of definitions to Indigenous Australians living in remote communities was of interest. While a small number of definitions are frequently cited in the literature, there is not unanimity in their acceptance. It became obvious that the terms “health” and “wellbeing” are often confused. Sometimes health is included as a component of wellbeing, sometimes wellbeing is included as a subset of health, sometimes the terms are used jointly as in “health and wellbeing”, and sometimes persuasive arguments are made that health and wellbeing are different. The politics of wellbeing is a potent theme in the literature. It seems that the indices of wellbeing that are important to the Government may not always be important to Indigenous Australians. Current Australian Government policy could be seen to be more focused on gently steering Indigenous Australians to adopt a Western style of living rather than providing opportunities for them to live lives of personal meaning and value. This tension may well be a fundamental issue in addressing Indigenous wellbeing
From Politics to Poetry
Get PDFViolent and dangerous socio‐political dynamics affect each individual powerfully. This is particularly true after profound trauma, such as the pogroms of Europe, the most disturbing being the Holocaust or Shoah. Trauma such as this can be internalised and preserved in symbolic form for generations. Many psychodynamic theorists describe how traumatic repetition can continue across generations unless the trauma is integrated or transformed in some way. One important way to integrate trauma is through poetics. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and others provide the foundations for the contemporary work of Russell Meares, who shows that metaphor and imagery are vital to the integration of traumatic experience. The psyche is structured around associative and imaginative process and responds best to poetic communication and relationship. As daughter to both Russian Jewish and German emigrants/immigrants, the author has experienced remnants of the dynamics of the pogroms and the Holocaust in the internal dynamics of her own family. As well as describing some of this story, she crafts her own present‐day response to the emotionality of this experience by speaking in a poetic voice
Ebb and Flow: One Year on from The Turning Tide: Pluralism and Partnership in Psychotherapy in Aotearoa New Zealand
Get PDFThese notes provide an update on the situation regarding the state registration of psychotherapists in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the attempts of the Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa New Zealand to extend its “regulatory regime”, without consultation, to include scopes of practice, such as educator/trainer, beyond the clinical scopes of practice, and not to approve supervisors who are not registered health practitioners and who are critical of statutory regulation. Differing approaches to and politics of regulation are presented in relation to a taxonomy of models of regulation. Finally, in the fight against the state control and regulation of psychotherapy, the author reports some good news
Dreams and Politics: How Dreams May Influence Political Decisions
Get PDFThroughout history dreaming has influenced leaders of religion, culture and politics, in both overt and subtle ways, although written dream reports relevant to politics are not easy to find. Dreams can provide creative inspiration in all fields of human endeavour; capture one's subliminal impressions of other people; preserve memories of trauma; and express deep feelings about social as well as personal and spiritual issues. This article highlights the relevance of dreams to politics; briefly reviews historical examples of dreams from several cultures; summarises some recent research on political attitudes in the USA; and draws attention to environmental dreams as a rising political concern
Collaborative Practice: A Way of Being “With”
Get PDFWe live and practice in a rapidly changing world in which people demand democracy, their human rights and social justice, and want to have a voice in concerns that affect their lives. Such changes and demands require practitioners to step back and reflect on their practices and find ways to keep our practices in sync with these. This article presents collaborative practice, a dialogic conversational therapy, as a response. It discusses the assumptions on which the practice is based and the implications for the practitioner's stance. Two examples of clients' experiences and descriptions of a consultation session illustrate the transformational nature of such conversations
Locating Context in Counselling: The Development of Indigenous Psychology in South Africa
Get PDFThis article attempts to foreground the role played by the local context in influencing the development of Indigenous Psychology. The development of psychology in South Africa is discussed in relation to global trends and models that describe the developmental process of any Indigenous Psychology. This discussion is illustrated with reference to the impact of African traditional beliefs on the psychological wellbeing of the indigenous people of South Africa, and the impact of not taking local context into consideration when conducting counselling; and to a particular research study conducted under the author's supervision. In terms of developing a South African Indigenous Psychology, the article concludes by outlining certain shifts necessary in order to move towards, in Azuma's model, indigenisation and integration
Living in Shadows, Healing in the Law: An Aboriginal Experience of Recovery Using Psychotherapy and Aboriginal Spiritual Practice
Get PDFThis paper presents an Aboriginal experience of recovery from the effects of the violence of sexual, emotional, cultural and spiritual abuse which caused the author to develop dissociative identity disorder and complex post‐traumatic stress disorder, from which she recovered utilizing psychotherapy combined with Ngungkari medicine from traditional Aboriginal healers. The paper discusses aspects of these different traditions and the clinical, social and political necessity of understanding and accepting the use of traditional medicine in the process of recovery
Southern Psychotherapies
Get PDFDrawing on Connell's ground‐breaking and ground‐affirming work, Southern Theory, published in 2008, this paper explores the concept and possibility of “Southern psychotherapy” – or, more accurately, as the author advocates pluralism in psychotherapy, “Southern psychotherapies”. The paper first discusses the significance of context, personally and in theory, and the relationship between culture and theory. From this, it then addresses the hegemony of Western theory, the arguments by which this is maintained, and the “Northernness” of general theory. The second half of the paper responds to the “characteristic textual moves” of Northern theory, identified by Connell, and offers four “textual” counterpoints as defining the theory and practice of Southern psychotherapies
We Are the Soul Keepers
Get PDFCronenberg's film A Dangerous Method is based on Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, staged in London in 2002, in which Hampton, in turn, drew on a non‐fictional account written by Jim Kerr about the story of the relationship between Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Sabina Spielrein. In Kerr's account of the well‐documented feud between Jung and Freud, he resurrects Spielrein from being an obscure footnote in the history of psychoanalysis in which, according to Kerr, her contribution to the development of psychoanalysis was eclipsed by the massive egos of Freud and Jung. Whatever the truth, it is a fact that Spielrein became the first female psychoanalyst