Psychotherapy is political or it is not psychotherapy: The person-centered approach as an essentially political venture

Abstract

Reflecting on the state of the art of person-centered therapy (PCT), and drawing upon the original understanding of politics as the consequence of an image of the human being, this paper argues that a political understanding (as politics, policy, and polity) is essentially inherent in the person-centered approach. It discusses the policies of psychotherapeutic orientations and stresses the democratic and emancipatory stance of PCT. It concludes that we need a notification of dispute among the different approaches to the person in society and sketches a political way of being for therapists.1

Keywords:

• politics
• democracy
• actualizing tendency
• personalization
• dialogue

Notes

1. Based on keynotes given at the IPS Symposium, Vienna, April, 2007 and the 3^rd BAPCA Conference, Cirencester, UK, September, 2007. I want to thank Mick Cooper and three reviewers for their help with the paper.