Grammar of power in psychotherapy: Exploring the dynamics of privilege.

Fors, Malin

doi:10.1037/0000086-000

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 138 publications

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“…For example, the barrier of wage discrimination may limit women's resources to develop or realize agentic plans for their own development (Bart et al, 2019). These concerns highlight the importance of considering the role of cultural and societal constraints when assessing a patient's baseline level of agential functioning, but do not in themselves preclude working to increase the patient's agency over the course of treatment; indeed, awareness of the relevant cultural and societal constraints may enable the therapist to intervene more effectively on the patient's agential functioning, such as by helping the client become aware of these cultural limitations and also the agency they have over how they relate to, question, confront, or accept these limitations (Fors, 2018).…”

Section: Cultural Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency via Awareness: A Unifying Meta-Process in Psychotherapy

Gorlin

Békés

2021

Front. Psychol.

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To address the need for conceptual and clinical consensus within the field, psychotherapy research has increasingly focused on identifying common principles of change. While the field contends that this approach is atheoretical, we argue that principles of change cannot be fully understood or applied without the context of some theoretical framework. This article develops such a framework by identifying and explicating two theoretical assumptions that are implicitly shared by multiple therapeutic approaches: (1) that increasing agency is a fundamental aim of psychotherapy, and (2) that therapists enhance clients' agency by increasing their awareness. Building on the largely disparate empirical literatures demonstrating the importance of client agency and awareness to successful therapeutic outcomes, we provide a theoretical account of the highly iterative and synergistic meta-process by which these two factors jointly produce change. Explicit identification and empirical investigation of this Agency via Awareness psychotherapy meta-process, we argue, could facilitate scientific and clinical progress within the field. The hypothesized meta-process is discussed in relation to existing integrative models of therapeutic change, and its manifestations in the theory and practice of major therapeutic orientations are reviewed and illustrated. We discuss how this framework can facilitate psychotherapy research by providing a common language and conceptual foundation for wide-ranging therapeutic approaches, constructs, and findings. Finally, by raising clinicians' awareness of the implicit assumptions underlying their therapeutic work, we suggest that the Agency via Awareness framework can increase their agency over when and how they apply these assumptions in therapy to maximize client improvement.

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Section: Cultural Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency via Awareness: A Unifying Meta-Process in Psychotherapy

Gorlin

Békés

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…Such questions have been addressed by contributors from the paradigms of cultural competency/ cultural sensitivity (e.g., Kirmayer, 2012;Tummala-Narra, 2015; feminism (e.g., Brown, 2004;Herman, 1992;Worell & Remer, 2003); anti-racism (e.g., Holmes, 1992Holmes, , 1999Leary, 1995Leary, , 1997Leary, , 2000Leary, , 2002; neuro-diversity (e.g., Emanuel, 2016), and overall social justice (e.g., Fors, 2019a;Layton, 2020;Layton et al, 2006). I have previously suggested the term relative privilege to explore these issues (Fors, 2018a).…”

Section: ) Socio-political Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some have even critiqued the normativity of psychotherapy in a way that I read as more pessimistic, suggesting that any kind of psychotherapy assumes norms and operates according to agendas of power (e.g., Firestone, 1970;Kitzinger & Perkins, 1993). This area encompasses politically related, internalized processes that affect psychotherapy, including internalized oppression and internalized privilege (Davids, 2003(Davids, , 2011Fanon, 1952Fanon, /2008Fors, 2018aFors, , 2018cLaMothe, 2014;Layton 2002Layton , 2006aLayton , 2006bWeinberg, 1972). Writing on this topic addresses both conscious and unconscious themes related to how our social surround affects clinical functioning (e.g., Fors, 2018aFors, , 2018bFors, , 2018cFors, , 2019b.…”

Section: ) Socio-political Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Dynamics in the Clinical Situation: A Confluence of Perspectives

Fors¹

2021

Contemporary Psychoanalysis

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Power issues in psychotherapy are often addressed from the perspective of intersectional and societal power, enacted or embodied in the therapy relationship. Following the thinking of Young-Bruehl, who argued for acknowledging the heterogeneity of oppression, this article posits a heterogeneity of power themes in psychotherapy. Four areas of power are highlighted: Professional power, transferential power, socio-political power, and bureaucratic power. All these kinds of power are explored through the case of "Sonja," with the overall aim of illuminating power issues in psychotherapy and illustrating how they may operate simultaneously and synergistically.

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“…I am an immigrant from urban Sweden, and my favorite colleague, a woman I have worked with for more than 10 years, is a Kenyan in her sixties. I previously wrote about her (Fors, 2018) as follows:…”

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confidence: 99%

“…I suddenly realized that I was not, as I recalled the following account of my own shameful racism. I have written about this painful episode previously (Fors, 2018):…”

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confidence: 99%

The Implosion of the Moral Third: Moral Omnipotence in the Era of Horror About Donald Trump

Fors

2019

Studies in Gender and Sexuality

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This article, while unsympathetic to Donald Trump, critiques the frequent tone of moral omnipotence and narcissistic display of good-heartedness in much current political discourse in the American psychoanalytic community. The author argues, from the perspective of a Scandinavian psychoanalyst, that the United States violated basic human rights long before the Trump era, and that the problems with the Trump era lie on a continuum with what came before, rather than suddenly crossing an unacceptable line. It suggests that there are dangers in seeing a bad other, rather than exploring our own dominant behavior. Invoking Akhtar´s term "beguiling generosity," the author cites studies of "moral self-licensing" that suggest that, paradoxically, people who commit a self-consciously ethical act tend to feel free to behave unethically afterward. It explores some dangers in taking satisfaction for being the good, critical anti-Trump voice. "I recently visited the Civil Rights museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1, 1960, four brave young black men in that town refused to respect the "Whites only" rule that prohibited their eating at lunch counters alongside White people and started a sit-in movement that echoed throughout the United States. It marked the beginning of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, including the 1963 Civil Rights March and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The museum affected me strongly. I found myself fighting back tears during the whole tour. I did not want to cry in public. My Whiteness burned on my skin as I determinedly swallowed the lump in my throat. So much unfairness, so much violence, so much oppression, so much White narcissism. Room after room with unbearable stories. The impact of colonization and slavery was breathing down on me heavily. There were eight people in our group, all White, guided from room to room. I knew none of the others. In one room we were asked to do the literacy test that all African Americans had had to pass as a condition of voting. All of us failed the test. I think I got only two questions right. This was the point at which I could not hold back my tears. Who had invented this sadistic test? How many people took it and felt stupid? So much violence just in words. We moved into yet another room. A huge American flag hang on the wall. It was artfully lit, and the wall behind it featured important names in gold. The Black male guide asked, in that theatrical, solemn voice that only some Americans can produce: "How do you feel about this flag?" I woke up from my thoughts as I realized he was gesturing to me, and I said the first word that came to me: "Imperialism!" To my surprise, everyone in the room suddenly seemed uncomfortable. The guide seemed to feel he needed to smooth over my rudeness and said something conciliating, like "That's certainly an opinion, too," and then he quickly pointed at the others, one by one, who then expressed their feelings about the American flag. I realized that I had ruined the script. This was the point ...

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Grammar of power in psychotherapy: Exploring the dynamics of privilege.

Cited by 28 publications

References 138 publications

Agency via Awareness: A Unifying Meta-Process in Psychotherapy

Agency via Awareness: A Unifying Meta-Process in Psychotherapy

Power Dynamics in the Clinical Situation: A Confluence of Perspectives

The Implosion of the Moral Third: Moral Omnipotence in the Era of Horror About Donald Trump

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