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Engagement and the Therapeutic Relationship in Systemic Therapy
Author(s) -
Flaskas Carmel
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6427.00052
Subject(s) - projective identification , systemic therapy , therapeutic relationship , countertransference , psychotherapist , psychoanalytic theory , psychology , identification (biology) , transference , frame (networking) , process (computing) , epistemology , psychoanalysis , medicine , computer science , philosophy , ecology , cancer , telecommunications , breast cancer , biology , operating system
This paper is about the therapeutic relationship in systemic therapy and, more specifically, about engagement as a process. Beginning with some practice examples, a critique is made of the way in which both the therapeutic relationship and engagement have been under‐theorized in systemic therapy. Two different sets of ideas are used to develop some thinking about the process of engagement: the notion of the ‘good‐enough’ engagement as the environment or frame of therapy is developed, and the systemic concept of sequences is held alongside the psychoanalytic ideas of transference, countertransference and projective identification. This theory discussion is used to reflect on the original practice examples.