[To encounter oneself, to encounter each other].
The purpose of this article is to elucidate the concept of encounter within the realm of psycotherapy, either individual or group, with its inter and intrapersonal connotations. Its importance is emphasized and means for its achievement are suggested. A double course is followed to attain this end: on the one hand, the tracing of the concept in the contemporary philosophic anthropology (the positions of M. Buber and of K. Jaspers are briefly examined) and in the views of several psychotherapists who have placed it as a significant issue in their treatments (the therapists considered are K. Binswanger, C. Rogers, J. L. Moreno and E. Pichon-Rivière), and on the other hand, some clinical means, and very special attitudes, are indicated as particularly favourable for the promotion of that enlargement of subjectivity leading to the encounter of one-self as well as the other person. Some fragments of sessions are presented demonstrating that in general the "how" of the attitude prevailing in the therapeutic relation is more effective than the "what" of the specific technical resources employed. However, some of these are commendable as a more direct way to bring about the experience of encounter. This leads me to psychodrama, with its techniques of the double, the inversion of roles, the mirror, and most of all with the general group sharing that closes the sessions, and to the gestalt methods, which involve in many instances physical contacts with other people, with the precise object of achieving a maximum insight, or, in the already classical expression, awareness, which is basically an encounter with oneself. Implicit in all the above considerations lies the conviction that man must share his existence with others not only for biological reasons; it is an indispensable requirement for his full development as an individual, a requirement for being himself. If one of the goals of psychological treatments is to promote personal growth and proximity to oneself, an intense encounter with the therapist or with the copatients, as the case may be, must be a part of the process of therapy. Also in this context, the fundamental fact in human existence is, using the formulation of Buber, the relation I and Thou, which, in the words of Jaspers now, must be an amorous battle.
D003379:Countertransference; D005086:Existentialism; D005864:Gestalt Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011577:Psychodrama; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012649:Self Concept; D012681:Sensitivity Training Groups; D014167:Transference, Psychology
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