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Universal difference? Understanding relationality and difference in transpersonal psychotherapy

Turner, D., Callaghan, J., Gordon-Finlayson, A. and Buchanan, K. (2013) Universal difference? Understanding relationality and difference in transpersonal psychotherapy. Paper presented to: British Psychological Society's Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMiP) Conference 2013, Huddersfield University, 2013-09-05.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract: As a working class, black, male, who is the son of immigrants who travelled from the Caribbean with the Windrush Generation, I often feel at odds with my psychotherapy profession, dominated as it is by middle class, white, women, who typically have a British family line flowing back generations. My sense of otherness is with me throughout my working day, in my psychotherapy practice, as I sit with a diverse range of clients within the complex context of contemporary ‘multicultural’ Britain. The sense of ‘the other’, the sense of myself as ‘other’ impacts on, and to some degree constitutes therapeutic relationality. Within most styles of psychotherapy difference is mainly understood in terms of the acknowledgement of the various categories, consideration of power imbalances, which we try as therapists to work with, work around, work through. But I am a transpersonal psychotherapist, and within this modality, there is very little consideration of ‘difference’, or otherness, except to highlight the apparent universality of us all. In this paper, we will explore ways of carving out a space within transpersonal ways of thinking to consider the relational context of therapy, and to explore the constitution of ‘othering’ within this transpersonal therapeutic context. This paper outlines how the use of creative techniques common to Transpersonal psychotherapy, such as visualisations, drawing, and Sand Tray work can be used in research on therapy to explore the emotional bodily and relational experience of difference, between therapist and client, and between researcher and researched
Uncontrolled Keywords: Difference, the other, Jung, creativity, research
Creators: Turner, Dwight, Callaghan, Jane, Gordon-Finlayson, Alasdair and Buchanan, Kevin
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Date: 5 September 2013
Date Type: Publication
Journal or Publication Title: British Psychological Society's Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMiP) Conference 2013
Event Title: British Psychological Society's Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMiP) Conference 2013
Event Dates: 2013-09-05
Event Location: Huddersfield University
Event Type: Other
Language: English
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: No
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/11407

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