Editorial: The Unconscious of the Individual and the Unconscious of the System

Crago, Hugh

doi:10.1002/j.1467-8438.1998.tb00313.x

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Greenberg in an interview (Webster, 1998) described his view that emotions are 'meaning making' and therefore therapists should attend to the expression of emotion and to the subtle changes of this expression. This interview recalled some of the attempts at rapprochement between systemic therapy and other therapies which also appeared in 1998 (Crago, 1998;Stiefel et al, 1998). Greenberg repeats his view that the therapeutic alliance is a core phenomenon for change but also that his research suggests that the resolution of emotional tasks predicts good outcome.…”

Section: The Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

A thematic review of the family therapy journals of 1998

Rivett

1999

Journal of Family Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: The Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

A thematic review of the family therapy journals of 1998

Rivett

1999

Journal of Family Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Integrative practice has increasingly emerged involving the elaboration of a meta‐theory that mixes various therapeutic approaches into a coherent whole (Brown, ). Reflecting this trend is a growing discourse in the permaculture between psychoanalytic ideas and systemic practice (Crago, ; Flaskas, , , 2002; Gibney, , , ; Pocock, , ).…”

Section: From Rivals To Roomies: An Evolving Relationship Between Sysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding and Containing a Couple Through Periods of High Intensity: What Holds the Therapist?

Glasgow¹

2017

ANZ J of Family Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sessions with couples are often peppered with periods of high intensity as they bring conflicts and distress out in the open. These times are emotionally and psychologically challenging for the couple and the therapist potentially triggering defensiveness for all three in the room. The therapist's level of maturity plays a key role, along with clinical knowledge and technique in being able to manage these periods effectively in service of the couple. This paper explores what is required of the therapist in terms of reliability and attunement at times of intensity, and suggests that systemic practitioners have much to gain by leaning more in to the analytic skills of holding and containment to balance the cognitive strengths of systemic practice.1 Relationship counselling is complex, intricate work, often with a lot at stake for our clients. 2 Sessions are often peppered with periods of intensity, which represent important opportunities for constructive change. These require more of the therapist personally and professionally to manage them well. 3 A therapist's emotional and psychological maturity, as much as her clinical knowledge and technique, influences how she attunes to the couple and how she manages these times of intensity in sessions. 4 The analytic concepts of holding and containment offer systemic practitioners a way to understand the implicit, (unconscious) felt layers of the therapeutic alliance, in addition to the cognitive strengths of systemic practice. 5 The functions of holding and containment enable the establishment of a safe therapeutic space for the couple, particularly at times of intensity, and an inner holding for the therapist.Couple sessions are often peppered with heightened emotion, ambiguity, and conflicted communication. Arguably, these moments require more of the person of the therapist to see these periods through effectively in therapy. Couples, by right, expect a therapist who will not be overwhelmed, as they are, by the depth and intensity of their pain and distress. The intensity focused on here is not associated with abuse or domestic and family violence, which requires a 'safety first' response. Intense periods for the purposes of this paper are those with high levels of emotion and conflict that feel unmanageable to the couple, but are within a safe range of behaviours. Achieving this takes a significant level of emotional and psychological maturity as a therapist. Elisabeth Shaw (personal communication, January 20, 2014) offers a definition of emotional and psychological maturity to mean having the ability to tolerate the intensity and complexity of the couple dynamics, attune accurately enough to the couple,

show abstract

“…Crago, 1998;Flaskas, 1997;Ingeborg et al, 1998;Leupnitz, 1997;McFayden, 1997;Pockock, 1997;Speed, 1997). Casting off a mantle of theoretical correctness, family therapists have taken back what was dismissed or split off in the founding of their discipline, namely things psychoanalytic (Byng-Hall, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a common ground in psychoanalysis and family therapy: on knowing not to know

Larner

2000

Journal of Family Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper a common ground between psychoanalysis and family therapy is discussed in terms of postmodern theorizing in both disciplines. Recent systemic, narrative or social constructionist thinking in psychoanalysis and a psychoanalytic turn in family therapy offers the possibility of a shared epistemology. This is described in terms of a critical not‐knowing stance which allows for the therapist’s/analyst’s contribution of meaning, interpretation and knowledge in therapeutic conversation. Here the holding of not knowing and knowing together provides a narrative container for personal meaning and thinking to develop. This ‘knowing not to know’ is what a postmodern psychoanalysis has in common with family therapy: both are ways of being with persons to help them develop and hold their own knowing. This therapeutic process is illustrated in a clinical vignette of narrative child family therapy. For what one knows does not belong to oneself. (Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, p. 898)

show abstract

Editorial: The Unconscious of the Individual and the Unconscious of the System

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

A thematic review of the family therapy journals of 1998

A thematic review of the family therapy journals of 1998

Holding and Containing a Couple Through Periods of High Intensity: What Holds the Therapist?

Towards a common ground in psychoanalysis and family therapy: on knowing not to know

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About