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Systemic Therapists' Experience of Powerlessness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Judy Hildebrand  and
Desa Markovic
Judy Hildebrand
Affiliation:
Consultant Family therapist and a former Clinical Director at the Institute of Family Therapy London.
Desa Markovic
Affiliation:
Systemic therapist and former Assistant Director at the Institute of Family Therapy London.
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Abstract

In this article we explore and discuss the relevance of the concept of powerlessness in systemic practice. The views and concerns of systemic trainees' groups are compared with those of experienced therapists'. We interviewed 12 experienced systemic therapists and investigated what made them feel powerless and how they dealt with it. Extracts from interviews are quoted and summarised in the text. We argue that therapists' powerlessness is a marginalised subject in the systemic approach and that open discussion about the topic would enhance therapists' self-reflexivity and contribute to a fuller understanding of the part that power and powerlessness play in the therapeutic relationship. We consider the place of gender, culture and wider sociopolitical contexts in the experience of therapists' powerlessness. Finally we discuss the implications of our findings for systemic therapy, training and supervision.

Keywords

systemic therapypowerlessness
Type
Articles
Information
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , 01 December 2007 , pp. 191 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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