Being yourself thanks to the Other. Levinas' Ethics and Psychotherapeutic Relation
Vol.15,No.2(2021)
This theoretical paper aims to bring Levinas' ethics and its key points into the reflection of basic assumptions of psychotherapy and a therapist-patient relation. The Levinasian ethical understanding of human relation emphasizes its original asymmetry. It is me who is responsible more than the others. Therefore, we question whether it is possible to understand a psychotherapeutic relation in this way and see the patient as the other. Since this profession is a calling to respond to some stranger, who exposes itself as vulnerable and speaks to the therapist. The main thesis is that psychotherapist' acceptance of its incalculable responsibility in practice is what helps him or her being human and focusing not only on measurable results but on the person entrusted to him or her. Psychotherapist feels its own responsibility as burdensome because of the trust that was put in him or her, however, finds its uniqueness and freedom at the same time.
ethics; Levinas; psychotherapy; responsibility; therapeutic relationship
Copyright © 2021 Ján Hreško, Lucia Hrešková