Use of self in doing psychotherapy with the hospitalized schizophrenic and adolescent patient
Use of self in doing psychotherapy with the hospitalized schizophrenic and adolescent patient
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Issue Date
1990
Authors
Sella, Anat
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Abstract
This thesis is a phenomenological case study of a paranoid schizophrenic adolescent during six months of hospitalization. It tells a story of a mutual journey of two people, a client and his therapist, who were both in a mental health hospital for the first time, and their process of growth and change. The essence of this thesis is the therapist's use of self, i.e., the therapist's maternal inclinations, creativity, and her own countertransferential feelings, in the existential process of the therapeutic interaction. Her use of herself as a person was an essential concomitant to the professional skills and the techniques she used in this therapy, such as paradoxical interventions, storytelling, use of the arts, metaphors, and role play. Perhaps the single most helpful aspect of the therapy has been the therapist's consistent faith in the healthy parts of the client's ego and his ability to take responsibility for his life. Dealing with the client-therapist's parallel process, this thesis carries a message for the overwhelmed new therapist, encouraging him to trust his own feelings, intuition, and creativity, and integrate his own person with his professional knowledge.