ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to present a theoretical and conceptual lens through which to view the many and varied contributions which follow in the rest of this book. Not every reader may find themselves in agreement with this, nor is it necessary to accept this perspective in its entirety in order to derive benefit from what follows. However, it is meant to provide a complete contribution in and of itself – a review of five different kinds of psychotherapeutic relationship which may be potentially available for constructive use in psychotherapy. It is also an invitation to engage in, reflect on and view the contributions which follow. Most of the approaches discussed in the previous chapter can be considered in terms of which, or how many, of the five relationships I have identified, are foregrounded or emphasised in the work of the practitioners from that discipline or from that approach. As you read the following chapters, you may be aware of how implicitly or explicitly the relationship is dealt with, and how aspects of it are treated more fully. It is nevertheless my contention that all of these five relationships are available in every psychotherapeutic encounter, available for attention or not, according to the nature of the people involved, the context, the approach and the setting. For example, it may be more difficult to acknowledge transpersonal influences on the psychotherapeutic endeavour in a highly rationalist, experimentally orientated, cognitive-behavioural clinic. Similarly, the ideologies and cultural constraints of some forms of psychoanalysis may impede and inhibit the therapeutic use of, say, the provision of an educationally needed, enacted rehearsal for a job interview, or a longed-for touch on the shoulder when in deep distress. It is my belief that these five modalities of relationship exist in every psychotherapeutic relationship (whether it be with individuals, groups, families or larger systems). Like the keys on a piano, some of them may be played more frequently or more loudly than others, depending on the nature of the music. But they are always potentially there in every therapeutic encounter whether or not the pianist uses them, whether or not the composer acknowledges their existence in the written score.
