‘Parallel Processes’: Observed in the Patient, Therapy and Organization

Abstract

In this theoretically informed clinical study the author introduces the term ‘parallel process’. Five parallel processes of ‘confusion’, ‘genital-centrality’, ‘binary rigidity’, ‘rejection’, and the ‘questioning of authenticity’ are observed in the analytic material presented by trans-gender patients in specialist small group psychotherapy, and observed similarly in the organizational context in which the group takes place. The author provides a theoretical explanation for the occurrence of such parallel processes. The author concludes that the term ‘parallel processes’ describes a phenomenon currently without definition in the existing group-analytic vocabulary and suggests it should be added as a group-analytic term to describe the processes that are clinically and theoretically detailed in this article.

Psychotherapy for gender identity disorders

“…One example that I give is that of genital centrality, where patients, specialist clinics and nonspecialist psychotherapists evaluate or classify individuals in terms of their genitalia. This phenomenon reflects what in psychotherapy are called 'parallel processes': features of either the cognitive style or the pattern of interpersonal relationships of patients in therapy that are also observed (in parallel) in the wider context in which the therapy is delivered (Hakeem 2010b).…”

“…Psychotherapists working outside the service frequently ask whether people with gender identity disorders who are focused on physical solutions should be offered psychotherapy. Some even suggest that 'nothing can be done' for post operative transsexuals not helped by genital surgery (Hakeem 2010b). There is no evidence to support such a speculative correlation of the presence of intact genitalia with the ability to benefit from psychotherapeutic interventions.…”