Three Therapists, One Group: A Case Study on Subjectivity in

Organizer: Sumeyye Nur Kulce

In psychotherapy, subjectivity does not only apply to the client. In fact, there is growing attention to therapist effect on psychotherapy outcome (Lingiardi et al., 2017, Norcross, 2011) . It is possible to associate this change with the par- adigm shift in our perspective of knowledge. Concepts such as observer effect, uncertainty principle (Heisenberg), and more specifically the growing interest in psychoanalytic field theories are changing our perception of psycho- therapy processes (Katz, et al., 2016). However, there are only a limited number of studies examining the concept of subjectivity in therapy, and the direct effect of the person of therapist on therapy outcome (Lingiardi et al., 2017).

In this study, we aim to examine the subjectivity of both sides, clients and therapists, through a group therapy work named Filial Therapy led by three therapists, a 10-week structured, evidence-based play therapy training program for parents of children aged 2-10 aiming to strengthen the child-parent relationship.

Participants’ (parents’) empathetic abilities and attachments styles will be measured through pretest posttest ex- amination in a quasi-experimental study design. Then differences in therapy outcome for the parents, subjective experiences and therapeutic interventions of the therapists -despite their mutual psychotherapy approach- will be evaluated from the perspective of the concept of subjectivity.

The purpose of the study is to improve our knowledge and to understand the role of therapist’s own subjectivity in order to better understand our actions as therapists and their effect on therapy outcome and the role of clients’ sub- jectivity in which they both will be evaluated as an “impact forcing itself to therapist’ theoretical framework”.

The Same Case Presentation in Terms of First Therapist’s Subjectivity

Sumeyye Nur Kulce / Psychologist Psychotherapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey sumeyyenurkulce@gmail.com

Even though we inspired by machines and industrial revolution to understand human soul, we now know that income is not equal to outcome when it comes to human psyche. Therapists going through the same psychotherapy training come out with different therapy outcomes with their clients; and despite the sameness of their theoretical orientation, they differ from each other in their practice. Subjectivity, where uncertainty is the only thing that is certain, can be seen as the main reason for this. In a group therapy study conducted with multiple therapists, we aim to investi- gate how the subjectivity of all participants – clients and therapists – affect the process and the outcome.

There are two main focus of this examination. The first part is the possible differences of psychotherapeutic out- comes from each participant and these differences will be evaluated from the perspective of the concept of subjectivity. Our main question is why and how these outcomes differ from each other even though all participants will have gone through the same therapeutic work by the same psychotherapists.

The second part is the subjectivity of the psychotherapists. Even all three psychotherapists took the same psy- chotherapy training from the same institute and adopt almost the same psychotherapy approach in their work, it is expected that all three will differ from each other in terms of their subjective experiences of the sessions, what they see, how they will be conducting their theoretical knowledge in the sessions, and the possible impact of these subjectivities on the therapeutic outcome.

The Same Case Presentation in Terms of Second Therapist’s Subjectivity

Seyda Canbay / Psychological Counselor Psychotherapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey seyda_kaya_@hotmail.com

Intersubjectivity theory is a field theory or systems theory whereby it seeks to understand psychological phenomena not as the products of separate intrapsychic mechanisms, but as something that is formed at the point of interaction of mutually interacting worlds of experience. Psychological phenomena “cannot be separated from the intersubjec- tive context where it is revealed” (Atwood and Stolorow1984, p. 64).

Thus, intrapsychic determinism constantly turns into an intersubjective contextualism. It is argued that the domain where correct psychoanalytic inquiry is conducted is not the isolated individual mind, but a broader system created by the interplay between the subjective worlds of patient and analyst, or child and caregiver.

Group psychotherapy is a holistic as well as a dynamic process. Considering this process as divided into separate parts, treating therapeutic factors as if they are independent from each other might be even seen as a faulty, unsci- entific attitude (Bloch, Crouch, 1985; Yalom, 1985).

In this study, group therapy led by 3 different therapists and carried out with the mothers of children aged 2-10 for 10 weeks will be examined in the context of intersubjectivity, from the perspective of the concept of subjectivity.

This is a quasi-experimental study with “pretest and posttest” groups to determine the impact of the 10-week Child-Parent Relationship Therapy model on each parent. Each therapist will evaluate their own actions in therapy comparing to of other two, will observe their subjective experiences and reactions during the sessions, and their subjective experience of each parent. Then all three aspects will be compared and analyzed in terms of intersubjectivity.

The Same Case Presentation in Terms of Third Therapist’s Subjectivity

Esma Kilic / Clinical Psychologist Psychotherapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey psikologesmakilic@gmail.com

Intersubjectivity with therapeutic interaction is a field that focuses on the interaction between the subjective worlds of the observer and of the observed, which are organized in various ways. The observational stance is always within, not outside the intersubjective or ‘contextual unit’ being observed which secures the central position of introspection and empathy as methods of observation (Kohut, 1959).

In the intersubjective field, two minds meet each other. A new world is established in these two meeting minds. With the mutual interaction that occurs in this world, a mental leap and mental product occur that effect each other. In- tersubjective theory argues that there cannot be an ‘isolated mind’, therefore therapy processes should be evaluated considering that interaction

As a result, a new mental state or product formed by two brains connected to interaction emerges (Atwood & Stolorow, 1984).

From this point of view, we will analyze the therapeutic work of filial therapy in the group field and discuss that mutual mental world where minds meet each other.

We will evaluate this experience by conducting a quasi-experimental research with the pre-test post-test study , that different meanings, new understandings and experiences have emerged with the evaluation both in the parent-child relationship, in the process of the parents with each other, and in the subjectivity of the 3 therapists can be observed.

Keywords: Filial Therapy, Field Theory, Group Therapy, Subjectivity, Psychotherapy

Gains:

1- Panel impressions will evaluate and understand the assessments of subjectivity to group therapy.

2- Panel participants will see the effect of working with the group in the field in the filial therapy technique used in play therapy.

3- Panel participants will understand that subjectivity in psychotherapy has a different meaning in each mind within the field.

4- Panel studies will see the parent-child relationship in devices, the theoretical and practical part of therapeutic interventions within the group.

References

Katz, S. M., Cassorla, R., & Civitarese, G. (Eds.). (2016). Advances in contemporary psychoanalytic field theory: Concept and future development. Taylor & Francis.

Rioch, M. J. (1970). The work of Wilfred Bion on groups. Psychiatry, 33(1), 56-66.

Atwood, G., and Stolorow, R. (1993). Faces in a Cloud: Intersubjectivity in Personality Theory, 2nd ed. Northvale, NJ: Jason Ar- onson

Norcross, J. C. (2011). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lingiardi, V., Muzi, L., Tanzilli, A., & Carone, N. (2018). Do therapists’ subjective variables impact on psychodynamic psychotherapy outcomes? A systematic literature review. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 25(1), 85-101.