ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the therapist and the therapist’s use of self. It explores the idea of the self in the big picture and sets the stage for a “systemic” understanding of an active intentional self in relationship. The chapter considers the qualities of the self as embodied and embedded within therapeutic relationships and begins to map a systemic way of understanding the therapist’s use of self. It also explores embeddedness and positioning in the therapeutic context and takes the ideas developed into the broader context of socio-political concerns, personal ethics, and therapeutic responsibility. Emotions or felt realities are cultural or social constructions in that the meanings, values, or reflections that participate in their creation are constructed and shaped in the social/cultural domain. Self-embodiment is in contrast to both unintentional expression of our felt reality and un-self-conscious embeddedness.
