Content area
Full Text
In this article, the focus is on the therapist's self, which will be in line with Bakhtin's thinking, viewed as a dialogical self. First, the dialogical view of the self is situated in the context of psychology's traditional focus on the individual self. Then, leaning on Bakhtin and Volosinov, the self is described as a dialogue of multiple inner voices. Some of the implications of this concept for family therapy practice are examined, focusing especially on the therapist's participation in the therapeutic process and on the therapist's inner conversation. The author argues that not-knowing does not only refer to the therapist's receptivity and respect but also implies that the therapist is aware of his or her experience and reflects on how his or her inner conversation might inform and enrich the therapeutic conversation. Finally, these ideas are illustrated with a brief clinical vignette.
Keywords: Therapist's Self: Inner Conversation: Dialogue
Fam Proc 44:477-495, 2005
In the past decade, reflection on the therapist's self in the family therapy field has been strongly influenced by the concept of not-knowing. This concept was first introduced by Harlene Anderson and Harold Goolishian in their 1992 article, "The Client Is the Expert: A Not-Knowing Approach to Therapy." It was described as a general attitude in which the therapist's actions communicate a genuine curiosity. In order to really listen to the client's story and to really understand what the client means, the therapist needs to be not-knowing in the sense that he or she has to suspend his or her own assumptions and preconceptions and be open to what the client wants to convey. According to Anderson and Goolishian, the client is the expert.
The notion of the client as an expert does not deny that a therapist has expertise. Harlene Anderson doesn't challenge that therapists have prelearned knowledge-theoretical and experiential, professional and personal: "A therapist cannot be a blank screen, void of ideas, opinions, and prejudices . . . To the contrary, we each take who we are, and all that entails-personal and professional experiences, values, biases, and convictions-with us in the therapy room" (Anderson, 1997, p. 137). Clearly, according to Anderson, the therapist's mind is not empty. He or she has opinions, ideas, and feelings, just as the client...