ABSTRACT

The dangers attached to working in this personally committed way leads me to consider a greater danger concerning the whole therapeutic enterprise. Psychotherapy intervenes in the conflict that lies at the core of the human condition. I refer to the fact that our need for others and our need to be separate constitute two primary tendencies in human nature that cannot be readily reconciled. We are inescapably part of the human species; each of us was conceived in, born from, nurtured and reared by others, and only in the company of others can we grow to full human stature. But there exists an equally powerful need not to be solely a member of a family, community, nation, profession or group of any kind, but to be simply oneself. The failure of others to see, acknowledge, respect one’s real self is felt to be the most destructive of deprivations. The search for the self is one of the rallying cries of modern society and a major reason for seeking psychotherapy. Hence it is hardly surprising that a successful analysis can result, for example, in a broken marriage.