Psychotherapy and Politics International (E-Journal)
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Clinical psychologists do politics: Attitudes and reactions of Israeli psychologists toward the political
Get PDFThis article presents an analysis of a survey among Israeli clinical psychologists, examining their attitudes towards diverse political issues. The survey involved the distribution of 600 questionnaires, 115 of which were returned. Within this framework, psychologists were asked to relate to questions regarding political issues in psychotherapy and the ways of dealing with them, socio‐political issues in psychology studies and training processes, socio‐political involvement of psychologists as citizens or as professionals, and more. This inquiry enabled the current state of affairs to be portrayed with regard to common professional‐political conceptions and stances toward political aspects of psychotherapeutic work. The survey's findings point to a divide within the Israeli psychologist community, as expressed by divergent and contradictory opinions that arise in response to a sizable portion of the issues examined. It is quite possible that this rift marks a process of change and indicates the decline of the conservative psychodynamic conceptual system. This theoretical perspective had, up until recently, a hegemonic position within the Israeli psychotherapeutic milieu. In most cases this standpoint was applied in a dogmatic manner, justifying a passive social‐political stance in the name of anonymity and neutrality. It appears that still, today, this epistemic position is predominant within the Israeli psychotherapeutic culture. However, nowadays, a large minority of Israeli clinical psychologists seems to be sensitive to different political aspects of psychotherapy and favourable toward working in a politically informed and socially responsible manner. As political issues are almost entirely absent from psychology academic programs and clinical training processes, there is much confusion and helplessness as to how such issues and phenomena should be treated in therapy
Idolization mourning and catastrophe: transfiguring religious fundamentalism
Get PDFReligious fundamentalism organizes around a core set of attitudes and dispositions: exile, shame, condemnation, grandiose self‐loathing, passivity, moral literalism, idolization, persecution, revenge, and violent messianic transcendence in which an abject self fuses with a vengeful spirit. This paper examines some of the sources that fuel the constellation of this set of positions – which also includes ‘clash of civilizations’ ideologies – in one individual whose way of being is exemplary of the confusion between violence and salvation. The concept of idolization is developed as it is the grounding attitude through which the religious fundamentalist turn of mind inflates. Fundamentalist dispositions undergo modification when the personality begins to soften through the capacity to mourn cumulative losses, violations, and traumatic abandonments. The capacity to mourn disentangles fusion with violent states of self‐other linkage. A space then opens through which symbolic representations of tenderness and care enrich the self and take on more constant internal presence than does fascination with cultic ideologies
Psychotherapy, political resistance and intimacy: Dilemmas, possibilities and limitations, Part I
Get PDFThe following is the first part of a two‐part paper that discusses the challenges faced by psychotherapists working in Venezuela during years of political and social unrest as a way of examining psychotherapy's dilemmas when dealing with political issues. This first part will discuss limitations in the ability of traditional psychotherapeutic technical recommendations to address clinical material stemming from highly polarized political scenarios. Historical examples of how these limitations have led to abuse will be shown. The specific difficulties of traditional notions of neutrality will be questioned. I would like to thank Ian Parker for his suggestions for this paper
The inner rebel – exploring equalizing rhythms in the human psyche
Get PDFThe main argument is that in the place of deepest intuition, core (Winnicott, Reich etc) of humans is an equalizing instinct. This is overlaid by the hierarchical structures of defences, egoism, fear and learnt thought patterns (paradigms). In this part of ourselves we are attuned to the balancing, equalizing rhythms of nature. There is a direct link between progressive politics that values equality and nature's deepest forces. These can be described as flowing between opposites, striving for balance like the Tao in ancient China or enantiodromia in the philosophy of ancient Greece. This instinct can express itself in loving, mature rebellion that is not pathological
Knowing and not knowing: reflections on manhood
Get PDFIt has come to our attention that the abstract for the above article did regrettably not feature within the article, as a result we believe that it would be beneficial for readers to be able to access this information, hence we have provided the relevant abstract below: The current political situation in the U.S. frames two questions about manhood: Is manhood a residual problem in the move from hierarchical to democratic forms? Is fascism, or fundamentalism, in part a reaction to feminism, which challenges the hierarchy of man over woman? These questions direct an exploration of possibilities for breaking the ties that bind manhood to hierarchy and thus to militarism. A paradigm shift in the human sciences, signaled by research in neurobiology and developmental psychology, sets the stage for reconsidering the construction of manhood and the meaning of masculinities. Gender binaries and hierarchies are linked to splits between reason and emotion, mind and body, self and relationships. Resistance to these splits, uncovered by research on child and adolescent development, suggests a potential for transformation that is psychologically rather than ideologically grounded. The linkages between violence and appeals to manhood are examined, leading to the suggestion that we now may be witnessing the endgame in a struggle between democracy and patriarchy. In a consideration of literary and scholarly works that explore the process of liberation, the potential for disarming manhood is addressed along with the release of womanhood from idealization and debasement. The freeing of a voice held captive by the structures of hierarchy and the honor codes of patriarchy suggests how these frameworks can shift. The U.S. presidential campaign of 2004 highlights two different military models of men in leadership: the top‐down image of father‐knows‐best and a band‐of‐brothers—and sisters—vision. Manhood and womanhood appear as garments cloaking a self that may want to be seen, suggesting ways of alleviating human tragedy
The dance of psychotherapy and politics
Get PDFThis paper presents a review of and commentary on the edited collection The Politics of Psychotherapy: New Perspectives. Certain chapters and themes are picked up and elaborated upon. The impact of modernist ‘audit culture’ values on therapy practice are then examined at length. The selective and partial nature of this review article should not mask the rich diversity that constitutes the psychotherapy/politics nexus, which this book admirably represents
Desire, demand and psychotherapy: on large groups and Neighbours
Get PDFExplanations of the disturbing effects of large groups are sought in the group analytic literature, where there is an emphasis on boundary disturbance, and in contemporary psychoanalytic and social theory, where the peculiar nature of the ‘neighbour’ has become a topic for investigation. It is argued that the human subject is an ‘interrupted’ subject, with the other/neighbour being a key figure in creating this interruption. In large groups, the alien nature of the neighbour who is both close and unknowable comes to the fore, disrupting attempts to cover over this ‘interruption’ and promoting confusion and dislocation. The large group is consequently expressive of specific forms of contemporary sociality, and also suggestive for an ethical practice of psychotherapy that does not reduce to consolation
Reparation: a new dawn or a false start in Northern Ireland?
Get PDFPrevious work on the ‘troubled mind of Northern Ireland’ highlighted the effects of the omnipresence of hostility and paranoia in a society exposed to over 30 years of violence. The manifestation of destructiveness has been described using Kleinian theory. This paper presents a new analysis of the state of mind of Northern Ireland following the peace process. The paper suggests, that in Kleinian terminology, Northern Ireland has glimpsed the benefits of the depressive position but much more work needs to be done to make sure we do not regress to the familiar violent experiences of the past
