ABSTRACT
The nature of the power relation between oneself and others is the unreflected-upon determinant of a whole range of feelings and attitudes one may have towards them. ‘Confidence’ starts out as confidence in those all-powerful others around the infant to protect it and meet its needs. The actual experience of people in the position is very rarely accompanied by any awareness of the ideological manipulations of power or illuminated by any critique of the social structure. The stances the child takes up towards the issues life presents it with are shaped and authorized by power. Perhaps the main advantage of the situation of the psychotherapist or counsellor is that it minimizes the operation of certain kinds of power-saturated dependency which make simply understanding another person difficult. The conceptual equipment she brings to the problem is no different from that of most people, and consists mainly of ideas about will power and control.
