Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling: Appraisals and reappraisals

250 Pages·2014·24.37 MB·English

by  Del Loewenthal

RELATIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY,
PSYCHOANALYSIS AND COUNSELLING
Is therapy’s relational turn only something to celebrate? It is a major worldwide
trend taking place in all the therapy traditions. But up to now, appreciation of
these developments has not been twinned with well-informed and constructive
critique. Hence practitioners and students have not been able to engage as fully
as they might with the complex questions and issues that relational working
presents. Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling: Appraisals
and reappraisals seeks to redress this balance.
In this unique book, Del Loewenthal and Andrew Samuels bring together the
contributions of writers from several countries and many therapy modalities, all
of whom have engaged with what ‘relational’ means – whether to espouse the
idea, to urge caution or to engage in sceptical refl ection.
Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling: Appraisals and
reappraisals presents clinical work of the highest standard in a way that is moving
and draws the reader in. The more intellectual contributions are accessible and
respectful, avoiding the polarising tendencies of the profession. At a time when
there has been a decline in the provision and standing of the depth therapies across
the globe, this book shows that, whatever the criticisms, there is still creative
energy in the fi eld. It is hoped that practitioners and students in psychoanalysis,
psychotherapy counselling and counselling psychology will welcome this book
for its cutting-edge content and compassionate tone.
Del Loewenthal is Professor of Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Director of
the Research Centre for Therapeutic Education at the University of Roehampton,
where he also convenes Doctoral programmes. He is an analytic psychotherapist,
chartered psychologist and photographer. He is founding editor of the European
Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling. He is chair of the Universities
Psychotherapy and Counselling Association and former founding chair of the UK
Council for Psychotherapy Research committee. His publications include
Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography in a Digital Age (Routledge, 2013),
Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling after Postmodernism: The Selected
Works of Del Loewenthal (Routledge, forthcoming) and, with Robert Snell,
Postmodernism for Psychotherapists (Routledge, 2003), among numerous others.
Del also has small private practices in Wimbledon and Brighton.
Andrew Samuels has, for 40 years, been evolving a unique blend of post-Jungian,
relational psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches to therapy work. He is
recognized internationally as a leading commentator from a psychotherapeutic
perspective on political and social problems. His work on the father, sexuality,
spirituality and countertransference has also been widely appreciated. He is a
Founder Board Member of the International Association for Relational
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, past chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy,
and co-founder of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility and
also of the Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is Professor of
Analytical Psychology at Essex University and holds visiting chairs at New York,
London and Roehampton Universities. His many books have been translated
into 19 languages, including Jung and the Post-Jungians (Routledge, 1985); A
Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (Routledge, 1986); The Plural Psyche:
Personality, Morality and the Father (Routledge, 1989); The Political Psyche
(Routledge, 1993); and Passions, Persons, Psychotherapy, Politics: The selected
works of Andrew Samuels (Routledge, forthcoming).
RELATIONAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY,
PSYCHOANALYSIS AND
COUNSELLING
Appraisals and reappraisals
Edited by Del Loewenthal
and Andrew Samuels
Routledge RTayolour &t Flreandcisg Geroup
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2014
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Del Loewenthal and Andrew Samuels
The right of the editors to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Relational psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and counselling appraisals
and reappraisals / edited by Del Loewenthal and Andrew Samuels.
pages cm
1. Interpersonal psychotherapy. 2. Psychotherapist and patient.
3. Interpersonal relations. I. Loewenthal, Del, 1947– editor of
compilation. II. Samuels, Andrew, editor of compilation.
RC489.I55R45 2014
616.89'14—dc23
2013046508
ISBN: 978-0-415-72153-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-72154-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77415-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Sufolk
CONTENTS
List of contributors viii
Permissions xiii
Acknowledgements xiv
PART I
Mainly celebrations 1
1 The magic of the relational? An introduction
to appraising and reappraising relational psychotherapy,
psychoanalysis and counselling 3
DEL LOEWENTHAL
2 Democratizing psychoanalysis 12
SUSIE ORBACH
3 Beloved 27
JANE HABERLIN
4 The primal silence 39
MARSHA NODELMAN
5 The intricate intimacies of psychotherapy and
questions of self-disclosure 54
WILLIAM F. CORNELL
6 Forgiveness – a relational process: Research
and refl ections 65
JUDITH ANDERSON
v
CONTENTS
7 Mortality in the consulting room 80
SUSAN COWAN-JENSSEN
8 Relational psychotherapy in Europe: A view
from across the Atlantic 93
LEWIS ARON
9 Commentary on relational psychoanalysis
in Europe: How is this dialogue different? 107
CHANA ULLMAN
PART II
Mainly critiques 119
10 The relational turn in psychoanalysis:
Revolution or regression? 121
ZVI CARMELI AND RACHEL BLASS
11 It’s the stupid relationship 130
IAN PARKER
12 Relational ethics: From existentialism to
post-existentialism 140
DEL LOEWENTHAL
13 Ordinary stories of intermingling of worlds
and doing what is right: A person-centred view 152
PETE SANDERS
14 Staying in dialogue with CBT 161
TOM STRONG
15 Relational as theory? Relational as a principle?
Relational as symbol of integration? 176
HELENA HARGADEN
16 Shadows of the therapy relationship 184
ANDREW SAMUELS
vi
CONTENTS
17 A critical commentary on ‘the relational turn’ 193
KEITH TUDOR
18 The relational: A postmodern meta-narrative 212
ALISTAIR ROSS
19 Afterword: The personal equation 224
ANDREW SAMUELS
Index 228
vii
CONTRIBUTORS
Judith Anderson is a Jungian Analytical Psychotherapist and Consultant
Psychiatrist. She has a private psychotherapy practice working with adults and
couples and draws on relational theory for her work. She chaired
Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility for some years and
is on the Steering Group of the Climate Psychology Alliance (judith.anderson@
btinternet.com; www.leamingtonspapsychotherapy.co.uk).
Lewis Aron, PhD, is the Director of the New York University Postdoctoral
Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He has served as President of
the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association;
founding President of the International Association for Relational
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP); and founding President of the
Division of Psychologist-Psychoanalysts of the New York State Psychological
Association (NYSPA). He is the co-founder and co-chair of the Sándor
Ferenczi Center at the New School for Social Research. Dr. Aron is one of the
founders and is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and is the
series editor (with Adrienne Harris) of the Relational Perspectives Book Series
(Routledge). He is the Editor of the Psychoanalysis & Jewish Life Book Series
(The Academic Studies Press); Author of A Meeting of Minds (The Analytic
Press, 1996) and co-author, with Karen Starr, of A Psychotherapy for the
People: Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2013) (lew.aron@
nyu.edu).
Rachel Blass (British Psychoanalytical Society and Israel Psychoanalytic
Society) lives and practices in London where she is Professor of Psycho-
analysis and of Psychology of Religion at Heythrop College, the University of
London and a Visiting Professor at University College London. She is on the
board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, where she is the editor of
the ‘Controversies’ section. She has published and lectured widely on the
conceptual, epistemological, and ethical foundations of psychoanalysis and
their relevance to contemporary thinking and practice, focusing on Freud’s
work and its evolution in Kleinian psychoanalysis ([email protected]).
viii
CONTRIBUTORS
Zvi Carmeli is a clinical psychologist and a candidate at the Institute of
Psychoanalysis of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society. He is the Head of the
Department of Education at Herzog College and an Adjunct Lecturer at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has researched and written on the
underpinnings of the theory of mind of Relational Psychoanalytic theories
and on the negative impact of introducing neuroscientifi c metaphors into
psychoanalytic and psychological discourse ([email protected]).
William F. Cornell, MA, TSTA-P, studied behavioural psychology at Reed
College in Portland, Oregon, and phenomenological psychology at Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, following his graduate studies with
training in transactional analysis and neo-Reichian body-centered psycho-
therapy. Since his formal training experiences, Bill has studied with several
mentors and consultants within psychoanalytic perspectives. He has published
numerous journal articles and book chapters, many exploring the interface
between transactional analysis (TA), body-centered and psychoanalytic modali-
ties, and has edited several books. He is co-editor of the Transactional Analysis
Journal. He is the author of Explorations in Transactional Analysis: The
Meech Lake Papers and the forthcoming, Meeting in the Flesh and J’ai mal à
ma vie. Les contradictions du soi ([email protected]).
Susan Cowan-Jenssen is a UKCP registered integrative psychotherapist working
in private practice. She is an EMDR Consultant specialising in post-traumatic
stress and has an additional training in working with the seriously ill and
bereaved from the Tavistock Clinic. She is a founder member of The Relational
School in the UK and the London Psychotherapy and Trauma Centre. She has
over 30 years’ experience of working with individuals and groups both in the
UK and in Scandinavia. She has published articles in books, journals and
magazines on a wide range of psychological issues (suejenssen@blueyonder.
co.uk; www.suecowanjenssen.co.uk).
Jane Haberlin trained with Arbours as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. She has
worked at the Arbours Crisis Centre and the Women’s Therapy Centre. She is
a founder member of The Relational School in London. She currently works as
a therapist and supervisor in private practice and provides consultancy to
organisations ([email protected]).
Helena Hargaden, MSc, DPsych, is a training and supervisory transactional
analyst, psychotherapist, writer, coach and supervisor. In collaboration with
others she developed relational perspectives of TA and has been widely
published and translated into a number of other languages. She lives on
the English south coast by the sea where she has a clinical practice
([email protected]).
Del Loewenthal is Professor of Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Director of
the Research Centre for Therapeutic Education at the University of Roehampton
ix