Summary of Cheon and Murphy, Essay Example

Drawing on the insights of a number of postmodern approaches, Cheon and Murphy (2007) explore the ways in which they develop the uses of the self of the therapist in marriage and family therapy. Rather than the modernist conception of a single objective truth, these postmodern approaches recognize the construction of many truths by many selves, and see the therapist as an integral part of the system responsible for therapy. That is, instead of the therapist being ‘outside’ of the clients and their lives, the therapist is ‘inside’ a system with them. Thus, the Collaborative Language Systems (CLS) approach has the therapist participate in conversation with clients, seeking to draw out their clients in order to understand their clients’ situations (p. 6). In narrative therapy, therapists help their clients ascertain how they make sense of their lives as narratives, and seek to challenge some of the unhelpful ways in which clients may be responding to societal or other norms (p. 7). Feminist therapy, similarly, promotes a critical examination of behavior in light of broader sociocultural systems (p. 8). I thought all of these insights were very productive and helpful.

Cheon and Murphy (2007) offer a number of recommendations which struck me as very good. One is for therapists to increase self-awareness, even monitoring breathing, posture, and what they are responding to. Therapists should also develop self-knowledge, understanding themselves as they would any given theory or model. Finally, they should situate themselves in therapeutic context, going so far as to encourage clients to ask questions of them (pp. 10-11). While caution is needed here, to make sure that what the therapist shares is productive and not harmful in some way, this self-disclosure can provide a very good use of the therapist’s self, since, if properly done, it will enable them to connect with clients. What this means, then, is that the therapist is not ‘simply’ a technician or guide: they are an active partner in the therapeutic alliance with their patients, sharing of themselves for the well-being of those they help.

References

Cheon, H.-S., & Murphy, M.J. (2007). The self-of-the-therapist awakened: Postmodern approaches to the use of self in marriage and family therapy. Journal of Feminist Therapy, 19(1), pp. 1-16. doi:10.1300/J086v19n01_01