Evaluation of Psychotherapy Approaches In Terms of Subjectivity, Context and Culture

Moderator: Kubilay Taner

Contemporary therapy approaches emphasize a common area where client and therapist interact. Intersubjective approach, relational psychoanalysis and field theory are also seen as theories that act with this perspective. Here, therapies are considered multidimensional. In other words, the cultural structures, values and developmental pro- cesses of the client and the therapist are in a mutual relationship at all times in the therapy room. In such an ap- proach, the therapist focuses on new construction processes rather than finding the client’s past patterns. Body psychotherapy, similarly, aims to create a common experience together by emphasizing the body in the therapeutic relationship that the client and the therapist will create. Body psychotherapies deal with people in mind-body integ- rity. Therefore, it emphasizes the importance of the embodiedness of the client and the therapist in the construction process of creating a new meaning between the therapist and the client. Approaches to the body differ from each other in terms of the subjectivity of the therapist and the client and also culturally. On the other hand, according to clinical observations made in Turkey for many years, it has been noticed that clients vary considerably according to culture and context in the psychotherapy process. Considering that a theory goes through many different stages in its development process, we witness how a therapist changes over the years as he works with different therapy approaches, different client groups and different contexts. We observe that each therapist’s relationship with each client is unique and different from each other in the context of their own subjectivity. This shows us that each unique relationship established between the therapist and the client creates a new common, unique meaning. To make this clearer, the re-evaluation of 5 cases treated by a therapist in a private clinic in the 1990s and 2000s in terms of sub- jectivity, context sensitivity and cultural characteristics after 30 and 20 years will be discussed.

Key Words: Intersubjectivity, body psychotherapy, culture

Examining Psychotherapies In Terms Of Subjectivity, Context, And Culture

Bugra Kal / Psychologist Psychoterapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey bugrakal97@gmail.com

Psychotherapies were shaped around a mechanistic view until the end of the 20th century. In these approaches, which are called single-person therapies, there is a therapist who knows the problem of the client. In other words, when the client comes to therapy, he tells about his own life. The therapist creates hypotheses about the nature of the problem by listening to the client. Then the treatment is shaped by these hypotheses created by the therapist. The source of the hypotheses formed in the mind of the therapist is the transferences that the client has felt. Coun- tertransferences felt by the therapist are excluded from treatment planning. If the therapist brings up countertrans- ference feelings, it is thought that a client-centered approach has been avoided.

In two-person therapies, there are effects of chaotic structures, systems, field. Such effects emphasize the relation- ship between client and therapist in the therapy room. Here, the identity, culture, values and subjectivities of the therapist and client are in constant interaction. Intersubjective psychology, relational psychoanalysis and field theory have also tried to place treatment approaches on a relational basis by looking at it from this perspective. Stolorow, one of the pioneers of the intersubjective approach; He examined the approaches of Freud, Jung, and Wilhelm Reich. As a result of the investigations, he concluded that the theorists’ own life stories shaped the theory they created. It is questionable to what extent therapists who adopt theories formed by subjective experiences can exclude their countertransference feelings when entering the therapy room.

In this study, the development of the theories will be examined by making a literature review. In addition, it will be tried to understand which therapy approaches will be functional in the psychotherapy of individuals, couples and groups in Turkish culture.

Keywords: One-person therapy, two-person therapy, transference, countertransference, mechanistic, field

Cases Which Were Previously Treated; Retrospective Re-Assessment In Terms Of Subjectity, Context, And Culture

TahirOzakkas /MD,PhD Psychoterapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey tahirozakkas@gmail.com

The 20th century marks a period in which mechanistic therapies dominate in accordance with the spirit of the time in terms of the history of psychotherapy. The effects of mechanistic therapy understandings and approaches are also felt in the 21st century. The subjectivity, context-sensitive approach and cultural emphasis that started in the last years of the 20th century and influenced the 21st century began to make itself felt even more effective. Therapy theories seem to move from a definitive and reductionist approach to a phase that emphasizes subjectivity, tries to understand the phenomenon in context, and formulates it within the framework of cultural characteristics. In this case, chaotic orders, system structures and field effects, in which the boundaries of the theories are intertwined, have become more evident from the historical processes in which the theories are separated from each other within defi- nite limits. The handling and formulation of psychotherapy cases are tried to be made by considering more subjective, context sensitive and cultural characteristics.

In this study, the re-evaluation of 5 cases treated by a therapist in a private clinic in the 1990s and 2000s in terms of subjectivity, context sensitivity and cultural characteristics after 30 and 20 years will be discussed. The results obtained from the study of the cases on video recordings and transcripts will be discussed.

Keywords: Subjectivity, Context, culture-specific therapy, mechanistic approach in therapy, chaos approach in therapy

Body Psychotherapies In Terms Of Subject, Context And Culture

Kubilay Taner / MA, PhD (Student) Psychoterapy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey kubilaytaner@gmail.com

According to Freud’s understanding, while transference was a phenomenon that was considered as a situation to be avoided and excluded at the beginning, he later had the view that transference was a very valuable thing, but still, countertransference is considered a concept that is considered very unacceptable and inconvenient to enter the session room. Later, with the countertransference revolution in the nineteen fifties, it was proved that countertrans- ference is actually important in terms of the quality of the therapeutic alliance formed between the client and the therapist in the progress of the sessions. That body psychotherapy nevertheless relied heavily on Freud and Wilhelm Reich, as it did not depart much from its classical psychoanalytic roots at that time. A dilemma arises here. Because the birth of relational psychoanalysis, the works of Stephan Mitchell, Atwood, Stolorow and Aron, for example, even when the title of the book was the meeting of minds, could not have a complete mind-body understanding, and the concept of embodiment could not be fully integrated into these contemporary approaches. Body psychotherapy, on the other hand, deals with the human being not as a mind, but as a mind-body. Considering the understanding that a person does not exist only with his mind, but a mind creates itself within the integrity of the body, a new un- derstanding will occur in psychotherapies. Relational psychoanalysis has the view that the transference and coun- tertransference processes that occur between the therapist and the client are about creating a new meaning from the interaction that occurs within the field. Only if a person has mind-body integrity will he be able to achieve this rebuilding process through incarnation. In this presentation, the reflections of body psychotherapy in psychotherapy approaches in the context of subjectivity and the handling of the body in the cultural context will be examined.

Key Words: Body psychoterapy, subjectivity, transference, context, culture