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Political therapy: an encounter with Dr John Alderdice, psychotherapist, political leader and peer of the realm
Author(s) -
Little Graham
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of applied psychoanalytic studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.314
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1556-9187
pISSN - 1742-3341
DOI - 10.1002/aps.194
Subject(s) - politics , psychoanalytic theory , alliance , northern ireland , realm , psychoanalysis , sociology , psychotherapist , law , psychology , political science , ethnology
This paper comprises an encounter by the author in 1992 with the distinguished Northern Ireland psychotherapist and political leader, The Lord Alderdice of Knock. Born in Northern Ireland in 1955, John Alderdice graduated in Medicine in 1978, and qualified as a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1983, followed by higher specialist training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Alderdice joined the Northern Ireland Alliance Party in 1978, and in 1987 was elected Party Leader. Raised to the peerage as Baron Alderdice in 1996, he was one of the key negotiators of the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. This 1997 paper includes the author's interview with Alderdice, together with his observations on Alderdice's two‐handed psychoanalytic and political practice, his “political therapy”. Drawing upon the author's roots as a Belfast‐born Australian, the paper reflects on the possibilities of Alderdice's applied psychoanalysis – of politics “off the couch”. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.