The Therapist and the Postmodern Therapy Systemand the Postmodern Therapy System:A Way of Being withOthers1
HARLENE ANDERSON, PH.D.
6th Congress of the European Family Therapy Association and
32nd Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice UK Conference
Glasgow, Scotland
October 5, 2007
Our world is shrinking as globalization and technology catalyze social, cultural, political,and economic transformations. Alongside these transformations is an ever-increasingspotlight on (1) democracy, social justice, and human rights, (2) the importance of thepeople’s voice, singular or plural, and (3) the necessity of collaboration. Peopleincreasingly want to have input into what affects their lives. People are losing faith inrigid institutions and their practices--where they are treated as numbers and where theirhumanness is ignored or worse yet violently violated. People are demanding systems andservices that are more flexible and respectful of their needs. These contemporary local,societal and global shifts, the unavoidable complexities inherent in them, and the effectsthey have on our individual and communal lives and on our world challenge us aspractitioners to reassess how we respond. This conference and today’s theme “Self andSystem” is a timely response to this challenge.
My response is situated in the broaderdialogical movementin the social sciences andrepresents over 25 years of evolving thought and practice and a special interest inunderstanding the nature of successful therapyfrom the client’s perspective. Always onmy mind is this question: “How can our theories and practices have relevance forpeople’s everyday lives in our fast changing world, what is this relevance, and whodetermines it?”
1 I dedicate this to the memory of Tom Andersen.
I situate my response in postmodern assumptions—and find that a growing community oftherapists is increasingly becoming more curious about and interested in the usefulness ofthese assumptions for therapy. Other therapists in this community whose work you arefamiliar with and is somewhat similar are: Tom Andersen, Lynn Hoffman, JaakkoSeikkula, and Peggy Penn though they might not refer to themselves as postmodern. (Aswell, it shares common ground with narrative and solution-focused therapies).
Why do I favor the term postmodern and what do I mean by it? I use it because it as anumbrella term to cover a set of assumptions that I find valuable. Postmodern is a complexset of abstract assumptions that form a framework or perspective for the way we thinkabout, create, use, and privilege knowledge. The central challenge of postmodernism is acall to reexamine and seek alternatives to the fundamentals of knowledge.
Assumptions
.The importance of maintaining a skeptical and questioning attitude towardknowledge in the form of grand or meta-narratives and universal truths which wehave inherited.
.The impossibility that grand narratives or universal truths can be generalized orhave applicability across peoples, cultures, or situations.
.The importance of local knowledge – the knowledge, expertise, truths, etc. that iscreated within a community of persons who have first-hand, personalunderstandings of themselves and their situation.
.Knowledge is an interactive process in which all parties contribute and what iscreated is unique and has relevancy and usefulness for that community of persons.
.Knowledge cannot be literally discovered or passed on to another person.
.Language, in its broadest sense—any means we use to try to communicate,articulate with ourselves and with others--is the vehicle through which we createknowledge.
.Language, therefore, is viewed as active and creative rather than as static orrepresentational.
.Knowledge and language are relational and generative.
.Transformation is inherent in the inventive and creative aspects of knowledge andlanguage--dialogue. The transformation is unpredictable as dialogue itself isunpredictable.
These assumptions do not suggest that postmodernism is an oppositional perspective, forinstance, that our inherited knowledge (e.g., psychological theories) should be, or can befor that matter, discarded. The emphasis is on not taking these for granted and notassuming they hold universal truth. Nor do they suggest that postmodernism is a metanarrativeor meta-perspective. Inherent in a postmodern view is a self-critique ofpostmodernism itself. Neither does postmodern define a school of therapy. Instead, itoffers a different language, a set of assumptions useful for those of us whose work ifoften referred to as dialogical or conversational.(Andersen, Hoffman, Seikkula, Penn)
How do these assumptions influence the way that I think about the therapy process, andthe client’s role and my role in it?
Collaborative Relationship and Dialogical Conversation
First, the assumptions that I mentioned about knowledge and language inform and formthe kinds of relationships and conversations that I prefer to have with others. I refer tothese ascollaborative relationshipsand dialogical conversations.
Collaborative Relationship
.A particular way in which we orient ourselves to be, act, and respond“with”another person that invites the other into shared engagement, mutual inquiry, andjoint action.
.The responses of people in conversation with each other create the context fortheir relationship.
.A relationship in which people connectand createwith each other.
.A social activity—a partnership community and process—in which all membershave a sense of participation, belonging and ownership.
.The “self” cannot be separated from the relationship systems which we are a partof, have been a part of, and will be a part of.Dialogical Conversation
.A particular kind of talk in which participants engage “with” each other (out loud)and “with” themselves (silently)—in words, signs, symbols, gestures, etc.—in amutual or shared inquiry about the issues at hand: jointly responding(commenting, examining, questioning, wondering, reflecting, nodding, gazing,etc.).(commenting, examining, questioning, wondering, reflecting, nodding, gazing,etc.).
.A process of trying to understandthe other person.
.Understanding is an (inter) active processnot a passive one.
.Understanding requires responding to connect and learnrather than knowinganother person and their words from a theory.
.Learning about the uniquenessof the other and noticing the not-yet-noticed.
.Developing local understandingsthat come from within the conversation.
.Cannot know another person or their circumstances beforehand.
.Cannot know the outcome beforehand.
.Knowing ahead of time (i.e. categories, theoretical scripts) can inhibit our abilityto learn about the uniqueness and novel—to see the familiar in an unfamiliar way.
.An always becoming, never-endingprocess.
Philosophical Stance
Second, I view my assumptions about collaborative relationships and dialogicalconversations as expressions of a philosophical stance:a way of being.
The philosophical stance is the heart and spirit of my collaborative approach. It is aposture, an attitude, and a tone that communicates to the other the special importance thatthey hold for me. Notably, it reflects a way of beingwithpeople, including ways ofthinking with, talking with, acting with, and responding with them. The significant wordhere is with: a “withness” process that is inherently more participatory and mutual andless hierarchical and dualistic.
The stance communicates to the other that they are a unique human being, not a categoryof people, and that they are recognized, appreciated, and have something to say that isworthy of hearing. It invites the other to participate with them. In holding this belief,connecting, collaborating, and constructing with others become authentic and naturalactions, not techniques. I am reminded that Imelda McCarthy asks us to always “treat thelives of those we work with as precious.”
In living the philosophical stance, connecting, collaborating, and constructing with othersbecome authentic and natural processes, not techniques or methods. (say more here) And,importantly, for practitioners, the philosophical stance becomes an expression of a value,a belief, or a worldview that does not separate professional and personal.mportantly, for practitioners, the philosophical stance becomes an expression of a value,a belief, or a worldview that does not separate professional and personal.
How do these set of assumptions about knowledge and language orient me and translateinto my performance within and outside the therapy room.
Conversational Partners
.A particular way in which we orient ourselves to be, act, and respond“with”another person that invites the other into shared engagement, mutual inquiry, andjoint action—into dialogue.
.As Mikhail Bakhtin said dialogue is the condition for the emergence of newmeaning: what is the condition for dialogue?
.The therapist invites the client into this partnership by taking a learning positionthrough
.Making roomfor and giving the client the choiceto tell their story in theirmannerand at their pace.
.Being genuinely interested and curiousabout the client’s story.
.Listening and respondingattentively and carefully
.Responding to understandfrom their .
.Trying to respond in a way that relates to what the client is saying(notwhat you think they should be saying).
.Responding is an interactive two-way process.
.Noticinghow the other person responds to your response beforecontinuing.
.Paying attention to their wordsand their non-words.
.Keeping in mind that we are always interpreting/translatinganother’swords and non-words.
.Checking-outto see if you have heard what the other wants you to hear
.Pausingand allowing silences—space for listening and reflecting.
.Allowing each person to choosewhat peaks his/her interest and invitesthem into inner and outer conversation (not what you think they shouldchoose).
Story ball metaphor
.This therapist learningone-way process begins to slowly shift to a two-wayprocess of mutual inquiryin which client and therapist begin to engage with eachother in looking into the client’s story, their world, and their way of being/livingin their world.
.Through this joint action, the client-therapist relationship and conversationdetermine the process or method, the process or method does not define therelationship and the conversation.
.Creating from withinthe present relationship and conversation in the moment, aseach moment unfolds, not from outside it ahead of time.
.Experience the richness of different voices, and each as poly-vocal, holdingmultiple, and sometimes simultaneous contradictory thoughts.
.Not striving for consensus.
Relational Expertise
.Both client and therapist bring an expertise to the encounter.
–Client as expert on themselves and their world.
–Therapist as expert on a process and space for collaborative relationshipsand dialogical conversations.
–The therapist does not control the direction of the conversation.
–Client and therapist together shape the story-telling, the re-telling, the newtelling.
.The focus on the expertise of the client does not deny the expertise of the therapist
It is simply to call our attention to and not loose sight that the client has awealth of expertise on his or her life and
To caution us to not value, privilege and worship the expertise of thetherapist as a better knower of the client’s life and how it should be lived
than the client does.
We have far too long operated in a therapist-centered therapy world.
.The therapist of course has an expertise – it is however, from my perspective adifferent kind of expertise that many therapists value.
.A very difficult concept for some therapists to grasp because it is too different
Not-Knowing
.The way that we think about the construction of knowledge.
.The intent with which we introduce
.The manner in which the therapist offers and uses knowledge.
Being Public
.Inner talk is not invisible talk in the sense that it needs to be seenLiving with Uncertainty
.Always speaking an ambiguous and different language that as Bahktin suggestsalways comes peopled with other’s intentions and meanings.
.Spontaneous talk does not include pre-structured questions.
.Spontaneous, endless shifts and possibilities (thoughts, actions, meanings) emergefrom the process.
.Striving for a goal or outcome is therefore not the aim.
.Transformation occurs in the space in between.
Mutually Transforming
.
In my early writings stressed the mutuality of the therapy process for both the“self” of the client andthe therapist.
.
The therapist is as much at-risk for change as is any member of the process – notpassive – or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
Therapy is an active process for both the client and the therapist. It is not passive– or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
The therapist is as much at-risk for change as is any member of the process – notpassive – or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
A postmodern collaborative perspective is often missed-understood to inform apassive, receptive therapist position. This is not the case.
.
The therapist is actively involved in a complex interactive process (ofcontinuously responding)
.
There is no such thing as a “no response” or “lack of response” – what mayappear as such is simply one kind of response which like with any response, thereceiver interprets, translate
Everyday Ordinary Life
.Life is a social event.
.Therapy is a social event.
If a therapist assumes such a philosophical stance, they will naturally and spontaneouslyact and talk in ways that create a space for and invite conversations and relationships inwhich clients and therapists “connect, collaborate, and construct” with each other(Anderson, 1992, 1997). Because the philosophical stance becomes a natural andspontaneous way of being as a therapist, theory is not put into practice and there are notherapist techniques and skills, as we know them. Instead, the characteristics giveemphasis to a set of values and their implications for action. In other words, thephilosophical stance is the “tone” of collaborative relationships as suggested above: aparticular way in which we orient ourselves to be, respond, and act with another personthat invites the other into a shared engagement and joint action—the process ofgenerative dialogue and transformation (Anderson, 1997, 2003).
act and talk in ways that create a space for and invite conversations and relationships inwhich clients and therapists “connect, collaborate, and construct” with each other(Anderson, 1992, 1997). Because the philosophical stance becomes a natural andspontaneous way of being as a therapist, theory is not put into practice and there are notherapist techniques and skills, as we know them. Instead, the characteristics giveemphasis to a set of values and their implications for action. In other words, thephilosophical stance is the “tone” of collaborative relationships as suggested above: aparticular way in which we orient ourselves to be, respond, and act with another personthat invites the other into a shared engagement and joint action—the process ofgenerative dialogue and transformation (Anderson, 1997, 2003).
HARLENE ANDERSON, PH.D.
6th Congress of the European Family Therapy Association and
32nd Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice UK Conference
Glasgow, Scotland
October 5, 2007
“Your attitude towards your life will be differentaccording to which understanding you have.”
Suzuki
“. . . not to solve what had been seen as a problem, but to develop from our new reactions new sociallyintelligible ways forward, in which the old problems become irrelevant.”
Shotter
“Problems are not solved but dissolved in language.”
Anderson & Goolishian
Our world is shrinking as globalization and technology catalyze social, cultural, political,and economic transformations. Alongside these transformations is an ever-increasingspotlight on (1) democracy, social justice, and human rights, (2) the importance of thepeople’s voice, singular or plural, and (3) the necessity of collaboration. Peopleincreasingly want to have input into what affects their lives. People are losing faith inrigid institutions and their practices--where they are treated as numbers and where theirhumanness is ignored or worse yet violently violated. People are demanding systems andservices that are more flexible and respectful of their needs. These contemporary local,societal and global shifts, the unavoidable complexities inherent in them, and the effectsthey have on our individual and communal lives and on our world challenge us aspractitioners to reassess how we respond. This conference and today’s theme “Self andSystem” is a timely response to this challenge.
My response is situated in the broaderdialogical movementin the social sciences andrepresents over 25 years of evolving thought and practice and a special interest inunderstanding the nature of successful therapyfrom the client’s perspective. Always onmy mind is this question: “How can our theories and practices have relevance forpeople’s everyday lives in our fast changing world, what is this relevance, and whodetermines it?”
1 I dedicate this to the memory of Tom Andersen.
I situate my response in postmodern assumptions—and find that a growing community oftherapists is increasingly becoming more curious about and interested in the usefulness ofthese assumptions for therapy. Other therapists in this community whose work you arefamiliar with and is somewhat similar are: Tom Andersen, Lynn Hoffman, JaakkoSeikkula, and Peggy Penn though they might not refer to themselves as postmodern. (Aswell, it shares common ground with narrative and solution-focused therapies).
Why do I favor the term postmodern and what do I mean by it? I use it because it as anumbrella term to cover a set of assumptions that I find valuable. Postmodern is a complexset of abstract assumptions that form a framework or perspective for the way we thinkabout, create, use, and privilege knowledge. The central challenge of postmodernism is acall to reexamine and seek alternatives to the fundamentals of knowledge.
Assumptions
.The importance of maintaining a skeptical and questioning attitude towardknowledge in the form of grand or meta-narratives and universal truths which wehave inherited.
.The impossibility that grand narratives or universal truths can be generalized orhave applicability across peoples, cultures, or situations.
.The importance of local knowledge – the knowledge, expertise, truths, etc. that iscreated within a community of persons who have first-hand, personalunderstandings of themselves and their situation.
.Knowledge is an interactive process in which all parties contribute and what iscreated is unique and has relevancy and usefulness for that community of persons.
.Knowledge cannot be literally discovered or passed on to another person.
.Language, in its broadest sense—any means we use to try to communicate,articulate with ourselves and with others--is the vehicle through which we createknowledge.
.Language, therefore, is viewed as active and creative rather than as static orrepresentational.
.Knowledge and language are relational and generative.
.Transformation is inherent in the inventive and creative aspects of knowledge andlanguage--dialogue. The transformation is unpredictable as dialogue itself isunpredictable.
These assumptions do not suggest that postmodernism is an oppositional perspective, forinstance, that our inherited knowledge (e.g., psychological theories) should be, or can befor that matter, discarded. The emphasis is on not taking these for granted and notassuming they hold universal truth. Nor do they suggest that postmodernism is a metanarrativeor meta-perspective. Inherent in a postmodern view is a self-critique ofpostmodernism itself. Neither does postmodern define a school of therapy. Instead, itoffers a different language, a set of assumptions useful for those of us whose work ifoften referred to as dialogical or conversational.(Andersen, Hoffman, Seikkula, Penn)
How do these assumptions influence the way that I think about the therapy process, andthe client’s role and my role in it?
Collaborative Relationship and Dialogical Conversation
First, the assumptions that I mentioned about knowledge and language inform and formthe kinds of relationships and conversations that I prefer to have with others. I refer tothese ascollaborative relationshipsand dialogical conversations.
Collaborative Relationship
.A particular way in which we orient ourselves to be, act, and respond“with”another person that invites the other into shared engagement, mutual inquiry, andjoint action.
.The responses of people in conversation with each other create the context fortheir relationship.
.A relationship in which people connectand createwith each other.
.A social activity—a partnership community and process—in which all membershave a sense of participation, belonging and ownership.
.The “self” cannot be separated from the relationship systems which we are a partof, have been a part of, and will be a part of.Dialogical Conversation
.A particular kind of talk in which participants engage “with” each other (out loud)and “with” themselves (silently)—in words, signs, symbols, gestures, etc.—in amutual or shared inquiry about the issues at hand: jointly responding(commenting, examining, questioning, wondering, reflecting, nodding, gazing,etc.).(commenting, examining, questioning, wondering, reflecting, nodding, gazing,etc.).
.A process of trying to understandthe other person.
.Understanding is an (inter) active processnot a passive one.
.Understanding requires responding to connect and learnrather than knowinganother person and their words from a theory.
.Learning about the uniquenessof the other and noticing the not-yet-noticed.
.Developing local understandingsthat come from within the conversation.
.Cannot know another person or their circumstances beforehand.
.Cannot know the outcome beforehand.
.Knowing ahead of time (i.e. categories, theoretical scripts) can inhibit our abilityto learn about the uniqueness and novel—to see the familiar in an unfamiliar way.
.An always becoming, never-endingprocess.
Philosophical Stance
Second, I view my assumptions about collaborative relationships and dialogicalconversations as expressions of a philosophical stance:a way of being.
The philosophical stance is the heart and spirit of my collaborative approach. It is aposture, an attitude, and a tone that communicates to the other the special importance thatthey hold for me. Notably, it reflects a way of beingwithpeople, including ways ofthinking with, talking with, acting with, and responding with them. The significant wordhere is with: a “withness” process that is inherently more participatory and mutual andless hierarchical and dualistic.
The stance communicates to the other that they are a unique human being, not a categoryof people, and that they are recognized, appreciated, and have something to say that isworthy of hearing. It invites the other to participate with them. In holding this belief,connecting, collaborating, and constructing with others become authentic and naturalactions, not techniques. I am reminded that Imelda McCarthy asks us to always “treat thelives of those we work with as precious.”
In living the philosophical stance, connecting, collaborating, and constructing with othersbecome authentic and natural processes, not techniques or methods. (say more here) And,importantly, for practitioners, the philosophical stance becomes an expression of a value,a belief, or a worldview that does not separate professional and personal.mportantly, for practitioners, the philosophical stance becomes an expression of a value,a belief, or a worldview that does not separate professional and personal.
How do these set of assumptions about knowledge and language orient me and translateinto my performance within and outside the therapy room.
Conversational Partners
.A particular way in which we orient ourselves to be, act, and respond“with”another person that invites the other into shared engagement, mutual inquiry, andjoint action—into dialogue.
.As Mikhail Bakhtin said dialogue is the condition for the emergence of newmeaning: what is the condition for dialogue?
.The therapist invites the client into this partnership by taking a learning positionthrough
.Making roomfor and giving the client the choiceto tell their story in theirmannerand at their pace.
.Being genuinely interested and curiousabout the client’s story.
.Listening and respondingattentively and carefully
.Responding to understandfrom their .
.Trying to respond in a way that relates to what the client is saying(notwhat you think they should be saying).
.Responding is an interactive two-way process.
.Noticinghow the other person responds to your response beforecontinuing.
.Paying attention to their wordsand their non-words.
.Keeping in mind that we are always interpreting/translatinganother’swords and non-words.
.Checking-outto see if you have heard what the other wants you to hear
.Pausingand allowing silences—space for listening and reflecting.
.Allowing each person to choosewhat peaks his/her interest and invitesthem into inner and outer conversation (not what you think they shouldchoose).
Story ball metaphor
.This therapist learningone-way process begins to slowly shift to a two-wayprocess of mutual inquiryin which client and therapist begin to engage with eachother in looking into the client’s story, their world, and their way of being/livingin their world.
.Through this joint action, the client-therapist relationship and conversationdetermine the process or method, the process or method does not define therelationship and the conversation.
.Creating from withinthe present relationship and conversation in the moment, aseach moment unfolds, not from outside it ahead of time.
.Experience the richness of different voices, and each as poly-vocal, holdingmultiple, and sometimes simultaneous contradictory thoughts.
.Not striving for consensus.
Relational Expertise
.Both client and therapist bring an expertise to the encounter.
–Client as expert on themselves and their world.
–Therapist as expert on a process and space for collaborative relationshipsand dialogical conversations.
–The therapist does not control the direction of the conversation.
–Client and therapist together shape the story-telling, the re-telling, the newtelling.
.The focus on the expertise of the client does not deny the expertise of the therapist
It is simply to call our attention to and not loose sight that the client has awealth of expertise on his or her life and
To caution us to not value, privilege and worship the expertise of thetherapist as a better knower of the client’s life and how it should be lived
than the client does.
We have far too long operated in a therapist-centered therapy world.
.The therapist of course has an expertise – it is however, from my perspective adifferent kind of expertise that many therapists value.
.A very difficult concept for some therapists to grasp because it is too different
Not-Knowing
.The way that we think about the construction of knowledge.
.The intent with which we introduce
.The manner in which the therapist offers and uses knowledge.
Being Public
.Inner talk is not invisible talk in the sense that it needs to be seenLiving with Uncertainty
.Always speaking an ambiguous and different language that as Bahktin suggestsalways comes peopled with other’s intentions and meanings.
.Spontaneous talk does not include pre-structured questions.
.Spontaneous, endless shifts and possibilities (thoughts, actions, meanings) emergefrom the process.
.Striving for a goal or outcome is therefore not the aim.
.Transformation occurs in the space in between.
Mutually Transforming
.
In my early writings stressed the mutuality of the therapy process for both the“self” of the client andthe therapist.
.
The therapist is as much at-risk for change as is any member of the process – notpassive – or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
Therapy is an active process for both the client and the therapist. It is not passive– or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
The therapist is as much at-risk for change as is any member of the process – notpassive – or one-sided – not a unilateral process.
.
A postmodern collaborative perspective is often missed-understood to inform apassive, receptive therapist position. This is not the case.
.
The therapist is actively involved in a complex interactive process (ofcontinuously responding)
.
There is no such thing as a “no response” or “lack of response” – what mayappear as such is simply one kind of response which like with any response, thereceiver interprets, translate
Everyday Ordinary Life
.Life is a social event.
.Therapy is a social event.
If a therapist assumes such a philosophical stance, they will naturally and spontaneouslyact and talk in ways that create a space for and invite conversations and relationships inwhich clients and therapists “connect, collaborate, and construct” with each other(Anderson, 1992, 1997). Because the philosophical stance becomes a natural andspontaneous way of being as a therapist, theory is not put into practice and there are notherapist techniques and skills, as we know them. Instead, the characteristics giveemphasis to a set of values and their implications for action. In other words, thephilosophical stance is the “tone” of collaborative relationships as suggested above: aparticular way in which we orient ourselves to be, respond, and act with another personthat invites the other into a shared engagement and joint action—the process ofgenerative dialogue and transformation (Anderson, 1997, 2003).
act and talk in ways that create a space for and invite conversations and relationships inwhich clients and therapists “connect, collaborate, and construct” with each other(Anderson, 1992, 1997). Because the philosophical stance becomes a natural andspontaneous way of being as a therapist, theory is not put into practice and there are notherapist techniques and skills, as we know them. Instead, the characteristics giveemphasis to a set of values and their implications for action. In other words, thephilosophical stance is the “tone” of collaborative relationships as suggested above: aparticular way in which we orient ourselves to be, respond, and act with another personthat invites the other into a shared engagement and joint action—the process ofgenerative dialogue and transformation (Anderson, 1997, 2003).
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