Bridging the Gap: Similarity and Difference Between Psychoanalytic and Systemic Therapeutic Orientations

Donovan, Mary

doi:10.1111/j.1752-0118.2005.tb00278.x

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The current study seeks to advance an integrative clinical treatment model, including psychodynamic treatment, with the hope that theoretical integration will be more effective than a singular clinical theory (Norcross & Goldfried, 2005). An integrative clinical model is used to create a greater degree of constructive and creative engagement, which has often been lacking in the historical divide of clinical theories (Donovan, 2005). Further, Turner (2011) notes that social work treatment compels us to "consider how complex is our scope of practice and how naïve we are to attempt to include this scope into any one theoretical framework" (p. 571).…”

Section: Integrative Clinical Treatment Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the Distance: A Clinical Phase Model of Family Therapy with Adolescent Residential Treatment

Baez¹

2015

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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As early as the 1970s, residential care sought to include families in the clinical treatment of their children (Kemp, 1971). However, families have not been consistently included in residential treatment (Sunseri, 2004) and models are needed to clinically support the phases of family treatment. This article describes an integrative clinical phase model for supporting family therapy with an adolescent in a residential program. Several different phase models are reviewed for family involvement in residential treatment (Fairhurst,

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Section: Integrative Clinical Treatment Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the Distance: A Clinical Phase Model of Family Therapy with Adolescent Residential Treatment

Baez¹

2015

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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“…This historical backdrop is quite distinct from that in which the mentalization perspective has emerged within psychoanalytic discourse. Viewed from this perspective, it is inevitable that systemic psychotherapy would have much to offer clinicians from a psychoanalytic background wishing to extend their therapeutic repertoire and engage a wider range of clients and presenting difficulties (Donovan, ). But facing the other way, what, we might ask, does the mentalization perspective bring to systemic thinking and practice?…”

Section: Mentalization and Systemic Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Systemic psychotherapy for ‘harder to reach’ families; mentalization‐based therapeutic interventions for families and the politics of empiricism

Donovan¹

2014

Journal of Family Therapy

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In this article I explore the relationship between systemic psychotherapy and the model of mentalization‐based therapeutic interventions for families (MBT‐F) presented by Eia Asen and Peter Fonagy. I consider two important contextual elements in MBT‐F; firstly, the influence of the empiricist tradition in which it is anchored and secondly, the political context of this work. Both elements need disentangling from theoretical and clinical concerns to facilitate greater clarity in debates about mentalization and in wider therapeutic discourse. In essence, I conclude that dialogue between systemic and mentalization perspectives can extend well beyond the empiricist framing of MBT‐F in directions that are more broadly consistent with systemic concerns and interests, not least of which is the ongoing challenge to engage ‘harder to reach’ families in innovative systemic psychotherapy. Practitioner points A focus on mentalization draws us towards the common ground between the different therapies and their shared challenges. Thinking about mentalization has the potential to enhance the systemic practitioner's engagement with ‘harder to reach families’. Thinking systemically has much to offer the mentalization debate. Creative dialogue between systemic and mentalization perspectives can take many pathways beyond the empiricist framing of the MBT‐F model.

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“…The idea of containment in the therapeutic relationship has been explored by a number of writers (Flaskas, 2002(Flaskas, , 2005aGibney, 2003;Larner, 2000Larner, , 2009. Mary Donovan (2005Donovan ( , 2009) has explored the resonance and difference of reflecting processes in systemic therapy and psychoanalysis. The 'set' of ideas of transference, countertransference and projective identification has been used in rich explorations of unconscious processes in family therapy (see, for example, Bland, 2009;Kraemer, 2009).…”

Section: Empathy In the Context Of Family Therapy Theory And Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Therapist's Imagination of Self in Relation to Clients: Beginning Ideas on the Flexibility of Empathic Imagination

Flaskas

2009

ANZ J of Family Therapy

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The therapist's capacity to imagine is one specific par t of the endeavour of empathy, which lies at the heart of the processes of the therapeutic relationship. This article offers beginning ideas about the significance of therapist's imagination of self in relation to her/his clients in the task of trying to understand their experience. In seeking to 'understand' the experience of others, the therapist is able to move between an imagination of sameness/identification with the client/s, and an imagination of difference/'foreignness'. The family therapy orientation of curiosity and 'not-knowing' relies on the imagination of self as different to our clients; more traditional understandings of empathic connection rely more heavily on the imagination of sameness/identification with clients. This article argues that flexibility in the therapist's use of self in moving between these positions allows an expanded capacity for therapeutic connectedness. These ideas have special valence in the practice territories of impasse and intercultural therapy.This article offers a beginning set of ideas about the therapist's imagination of self in relation to her/his clients, which is one very specific part of the territory of empathy. My topic is embedded in a broader interest in the therapeutic relationship, and in the subtlety, richness and mutuality of connectedness between therapists and clients. That the therapeutic relationship is enduring in its centrality to all forms of psychotherapy is a claim that now scarcely needs to be argued. If evidence is required

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Bridging the Gap: Similarity and Difference Between Psychoanalytic and Systemic Therapeutic Orientations

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Bridging the Distance: A Clinical Phase Model of Family Therapy with Adolescent Residential Treatment

Bridging the Distance: A Clinical Phase Model of Family Therapy with Adolescent Residential Treatment

Systemic psychotherapy for ‘harder to reach’ families; mentalization‐based therapeutic interventions for families and the politics of empiricism

The Therapist's Imagination of Self in Relation to Clients: Beginning Ideas on the Flexibility of Empathic Imagination

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