ABSTRACT
The philosopher Martin Buber is known worldwide for his classic work I and Thou. His “philosophy of dialogue” has had a tremendous impact on philosophy in general, and on the philosophy of religion, education, aesthetics, and social thought in particular. What is less known is that Buber’s philosophy of dialogue has also had a striking influence on the theory and practice of psychotherapy and even on psychoanalysis. This chapter has two objectives. The first is to show the clinical relevance of Buber’s philosophy of dialogue and to present the elements of dialogical psychotherapy as I have formulated them, based, for the most part, on Buber’s thought. I show that Buber’s philosophy of dialogue enables us to see the way in which relationships determine uniqueness in individuals, but also the way in which unique individuals determine the relationships they are in. As such, Buber’s philosophy, and my own “dialogue of touchstones,” falls between the essentialist approach of modernism and the social constructivist approach of postmodernism. I then provide a case example to demonstrate the clinical perspective of dialogical psychotherapy. The second objective of this chapter is to provide a historical and contemporary outline of the dialogical psychotherapy movement. I draw a contrast between “therapists of dialogue” who use some of the elements of dialogical psychotherapy in their theory and practice without making “healing through meeting” central, and the “dialogical psychotherapists” who, directly influenced by Buber’s philosophy of dialogue, make healing through meeting central to their theory and practice. Finally, I examine certain interpersonal and relational psychoanalysts who, under the direct or indirect influence of Buber, integrate the notion of healing through meeting into their clinical work.
