Re-Visioning Person-Centred Therapy

Theory and Practice of a Radical Paradigm

Manu Bazzano

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780815394082
• eBook ISBN: 9781351186773
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

By exploring various ways to assimilate recent progressive developments and to renew its vital links with its radical roots, Re-Visioning Person-Centred Therapy: Theory and Practice of a Radical Paradigm takes a fresh look at this revolutionary therapeutic approach.

Bringing together leading figures in PCT and new writers from around the world, the essays in this book create fertile links with phenomenology, meditation and spirituality, critical theory, contemporary thought and culture, and philosophy of science. In doing so, they create an outline that renews and re-visions person-centred therapy's radical paradigm, providing fertile material in both theory and practice.

Shot through with clinical studies, vignettes and in-depth discussions on aspects of theory, Re-Visioning Person-Centred Therapy will be stimulating reading for therapists in training and practice, as well as those interested in the development of PCT.

PART I

Some kinds of love: person-centred therapy and the relational dimension

1

Therapy as an accident waiting to happen

Julie Webb

Old tradition – new wave

Accidental therapy – a

Poesis that beckons

The uncomfortable

Precarious and fragile

Becoming.

Unconvinced of the

Shamanic pretence of

Pseudo-science

The accidental therapist

Can only practise

Her faith in the

Old tradition that

De facto travels permanently

On the crest of a

New wave.

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

Hi Julie,

It was so good to be back in touch and I was fascinated to hear that you are now a psychotherapist! I think that is so fantastic and really worthwhile, giving something back eh. I bet you hear some stories. Was Freud right – is it all about sex? Hahaha ☺

Sam

From: Julie Webb

To: Samantha Coldman

Subject: Re: Hello

Hi Sam,

I am enjoying being back in contact with you too, and feel so glad that we met up after all these years. As for being a therapist, I don’t know that it is about ‘giving back’ for me. I have no altruistic motive, of that I am certain. I have to make a living so that I can house myself, feed and clothe myself. I want to do that in a way that makes me feel alive, that gives me time and space to think, to write, to walk, to breathe. I’ve done plenty of mind numbing jobs in my life-time so far, as you probably remember. I feel I know the difference between feeling alive in my work and feeling dead it in. I know the difference between feeling alive and dead in my life per se. Anyhow, it seemed natural that I would find myself on this path for a while.

I notice I wince after typing that :-/. I think I am supposed to be doing it for altruistic reasons. I think that is why my profession is expected to do so much free work or low paid work, we are supposed to be members of a sainthood – in more ways than one! As for it all being about sex, I am not a Freudian psychotherapist, I am a person-centred one, so I don’t approach the client from that frame to begin with ☺.

Julie

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

I think I know what you mean. I have been really bored in jobs, same old same old – that’s why I gave up. I’m disappointed it’s not all about sex otherwise I might have re-trained ☺. So, what is a person-centred therapist then? Or am I being a bit thick – is the clue in the title?

Sam

From: Julie Webb

To: Samantha Coldman

Subject: Re: Hello

Sam, I don’t remember there ever being anything thick about you. You’d think the clue would be in the title wouldn’t you, but I feel the title doesn’t actually do it justice now. Back in the day (1950s) when the term client-centred was coined by its founder Carl Rogers, it was in reaction to Freudian psychoanalysis and prescriptive technique – you know, kind of knowing everything upfront and then making your client fit into the knowing – a kind of set theory. I would say I am more engaged with description than prescription and set theories. That is not to discredit Freud, his work was, and still is, very valuable – he was a pioneer after all, especially where ideas of unconscious process are concerned. Although you wouldn’t believe that talking to some therapists. I work with unconscious process (I would call it an actualizing tendency) in so far as I wait for it to reveal itself and its meaning for the client, not me. I mean, how could I possibly know someone else’s unconscious process when I cannot know my own – that is why we call it unconscious isn’t it?! Don’t get me started …

Julie.

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

So you don’t have a set theory? What do you mean? And aren’t you supposed to be able to know what’s going on with a person? Isn’t that the point of going to see a therapist? I have been close to seeing one myself, God knows I need one at the moment, life is so blah. I know I was upbeat when we first got back in touch but well, it’s not easy for me, and Tom’s always away, the kids have gone off doing their own thing and well, you probably deal with this stuff all the time but I am soooo bored and weepy ALL the time, and now you’ve got me doubting going to see a therapist that I thought could sort me out!

S.

From: Julie Webb

To: Samantha Coldman

Subject: Re: Hello

I’m sorry to hear that life feels blah for you Sam. Feeling bored and weepy sounds draining, and with Tom away and the kids off doing their thing I can imagine your boredom and weepiness. I am wondering how boredom and weepiness may be linked for you or not? It is not my wish to put you off seeking help. I am curious as to what it is that I have said that may have put you off, but perhaps the clue is in the questions that you have asked. I will try and answer them …

Set theory: I do work with a theory of sorts; a person-centred (PC) theory, but I feel it is more to do with concepts, backdrops, and attitudes than anything written in stone as a method or formula – despite how it is often so reductively taught. Concepts, backdrops and attitudes are a bit of a problem in the current culture of evaluation, statistics, and having to show at every breath I take that my breathing is of benefit to the client and by extension the organization’s feel-good stats and targets. Of course, I want to be of aid. I feel better taking my fee when I feel that I am actually aiding the person who is paying for my time, but I can’t afford to be too invested in that feeling either. The PC approach is grounded in a concept about the conditions required for optimizing that aid and that is grounded in what is fast becoming a radical ethics. It is my job to meet the client empathically (you know, can I put myself in the client’s shoes? Of course, not fully or else I would lose sight of myself – though sometimes it might be advantageous for me to lose sight of me for a while); an attitude of non-judgement, an attempt to not judge the person adversely (though apparently it is OK for me to prize and encourage autonomy, how I do that without judging is beyond me); it is helpful apparently if I can be myself and not pretend to be an expert about the client’s life or predicament (this is sometimes challenging as all too often I do not know myself – how can I possibly?). I am trying not to be too theoretical or else I could end up writing you an essay!

Knowing: This is a tricky one to answer as clients mostly arrive thinking I know stuff. I mean why would you cough up £60 an hour to someone you think doesn’t know stuff?! I think though, it is more about my aspiration for an unconditional openness towards the client (and myself), than my knowing anything. Of course, I have spent many years training and being educated for the work. As you know, one of my backdrops is philosophy and that still underpins not just my work, but my very being in the world full stop. I guess then, I have a particular understanding and world view that necessarily impacts my work, because in a way, I am my work. I don’t really have anything more tangible to offer than me. ☺.

Anyhow, I hope that helps clarify a little for you Sam. I would hate for you to be put off seeking help from a therapist just because of a misunderstanding created by me.

J.

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

Crikey, that was more than I expected, but thanks for the explanation – I think! It sounds simple on the one hand and yet complicated on the other. You don’t want to judge but find that you do. You aim to be yourself but don’t always know what that is, and you want to understand from the client’s point of view but have to keep yourself separate somehow or else you get ‘lost’ but getting lost might be helpful? Plus, there is not really a method or formula, it’s all about concepts and backdrops, you have to understand stuff but not necessarily know stuff, and philosophy underpins your work although you are it – the work.

What little I know about therapy is that it’s a space where I can come and talk and not be judged whilst I fathom stuff out. I mean it’s the worst thing being judged eh. So, if you were sitting there listening to me talking about all my secrets, and thinking I was a dippy mare, or not very kind, or deceitful or something – would you say it? Because that would just make me feel like shit – although I would probably know by the look on your face without you saying it – either way – rubbish.

Don’t you have to know how my brain works and why I think the way I do so that I can stop it?

I pondered on your question as to whether my boredom linked with my weepiness. It made me cry just thinking about it. I just feel a bit lost, kind of empty. I can be sitting there and just start crying for no reason and then I get irritated when Tom comes home, and he’s been all busy and just wants to chill out. I know I should get a hobby or a job, just do something but I don’t know what. Well, actually, I do go to a book club on Wednesday mornings. I don’t cry those days, mainly because the lovely Chris does such a good job of uplifting my spirits with knowledge and wit. Actually, emailing you lifts me a little too, even though the question you asked made me cry. It just all felt a bit hopeless in that moment. Maybe that’s why I cry, I feel hopeless or life feels hopeless or something like that. What’s it all for? I bet you’re thinking I am dippy mare now ☺.

Sx

From: Julie Webb

To: Samantha Coldman

Subject: Re: Hello

Hi Sam,

It sounds like it really matters what I think of you. For the record, I have never felt you to be ‘dippy’. Is that maybe how you see yourself? What if you are dippy Sam, what then? Wednesday book club looks important to you and Chris seems to make an uplifting impact on you and your day.

I am really enjoying you making me question what it is that I do as a therapist. Clients do it when they get angry with me for not fixing them or feeling undervalued by me somehow. I thrive on these moments in the work as they are sometimes the site for great movement. I mean, who cares what I think? Who am I in the scheme of things? Actually, there is a part of me that thinks it a real audacity to sell oneself as a therapist. I do spend most of the time disabusing clients of thinking I know better how to be a human than they do. In fact, I would say that is a prime factor in the work. Anyway, my current thinking is more an urge towards embracing the animal than the human. Our animality is more honest I feel, but that’s another story. Therapy isn’t about me knowing something clients don’t. I think you are absolutely right – of course you will know if I am judging you. You are not stupid and neither are any of the clients that I have worked with: traumatized and troubled they might be, stupid they are not. Therapy is about movement. For sure, validation or soothing may be part of the dance, but it seems that when a client arrives feeling something has changed or moved then it seems therapy happened. I also think that by and large therapy happens outside of the therapy room in between sessions, so I don’t always get to witness the moment. I usually hear the reporting of it, or observe the change. Sometimes the movement is in me too – how could it not be? I find that my work can be like reading a novel in the very moment and process of it being written. We have numerous drafts, and are constantly spell checking, with a thesaurus always at hand to find the right word to create the best description of the moment that shows us something in a new light. You know better than me, that the best writing always shows us something, rather than tells us something explicitly. It seems to me that the showing and the seeing can lead to subtle or great movement of the senses. I am back to movement again: a chance and a dance between the senses.

As for aiming to be myself but not always knowing myself, that is really about being willing to be open to the surprise. I mean, I might find in the moment that I have prejudices I didn’t know I had, new feelings about past situations I thought had been dealt with, desires I didn’t know were there. In fact, come to think of it, I sincerely hope that the truth is I can never know myself, otherwise I have no surprises left in life, and what a tragedy that would be. Thinking I really, really, know myself upfront in all my glory is likely to come crashing down in disappointing horror – and it has done so many times. Every person and situation that I encounter in life is going to bring up feelings that I didn’t know I had, and that has to be wonderful!

You don’t really want to get me started on the brain, or rather I don’t want you to get me started on the brain. It seems to me that the latest neuroscientific findings have been hijacked by pop-psychology and meditation apps re-describing our existence as though we are just a brain on a pillow: a constant conflating of mind being IN the brain and not in my big toe too; no need of a body, anyone else, or chocolate cake – and what would I do without chocolate cake I ask?

I was wondering what you were reading at book club at the moment? I remember our uni days… ☺

Jx

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

Well, you are never going to believe it, but I am reading Room with a View – haha good old Forster. Oh, do you remember our uni days? The laughter, and me having a crush on every tutor I encountered. I mean bloody hell, I married one – what was all that about? I feel like a completely different person now. I have no interests, no energy, and I can’t remember the last time I had a really good laugh. Well, I say that but I have a good laugh on Wednesdays, and I do really look forward to going and being with the group. Chris creates a really happy and light-hearted vibe and I feel full of energy afterwards.

Sx

From: Julie Webb

To: Samantha Coldman

Subject: Re: Hello

Ahh Lucy must have a view! The right kind of view though. I never really reconciled within myself whether Lucy chose her own view. We as readers were supposed to find Miss Bartlett’s constricted and constrained view for Lucy as a metaphor for the stuffy bourgeoisie. We were then called upon to accept George as some kind of Hades stealing his woman for a life underground, and of course after great struggle Lucy as Persephone succumbs. I would have much preferred Lucy to be not so genteel and create her own view and beg George to drag her away by her hair, into his underground cave.

I do remember your tutor cravings. There is a real energy in having a crush and you always seemed to be a bundle of energy in those days. I notice I feel a little sad that you feel you don’t laugh much and have no interests. Except for your Wednesdays of course. Is Chris one of the members or is he the group leader or something?

Jx

From: Samantha Coldman

To: Julie Webb

Subject: Re: Hello

OMG! There was always something violent about your view of the world and isn’t that a bit of a backward step for us women – being dragged by our hair into the man cave ☹? And don’t be too hard on Forster, he was writing in a particular time and place. He is writing about freedom and love and unrestricted passion, and with such colour. The imagery is just delicious.

I think I was sounding a bit depressed in my other emails eh? I am sorry about that. I will try and be more upbeat from now on.

As for Chris, SHE is a tutor from the c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• Tribute to Fyodor E. Vasilyuk
• PART I: Some kinds of love: person-centred therapy and the relational dimension
• PART II: The politics of experience
• PART III: Person-centred therapy and spirituality
• PART IV: Person-centred learning and training
• PART V: Challenging some aspects of person-centred practice
• Index