Being-in-between: the intersubjective condition of the therapeutic relation

Abstract

The objective of this theoretical study is to propose a model for understanding the therapeutic relation through the analysis of the ontological and ontic perspective of being-in-between. Eight elements are considered as constitutive of this relation: intersubjectivity, empathy, communication, technique, complaint, historicity, temporality and meaning. Through a critical analysis of these theoretical constructs, we propose to disrupt the conception that psychotherapy is based on a subjectivist, monologic and atemporal view. We demonstrate that the therapeutic relation is a dialogical and intersubjective encounter, inserted in historicity and temporality, in which the therapist and client, mediated by communication and guided by a specific psychotherapeutic model, build meaning about suffering and the therapeutic complaint. The proposed model of understanding reveals the epistemological and methodological potential of an investigation which may integrate different traditions in qualitative research, such as phenomenology, constructionism and linguistics. Finally, empirical and methodological proposal of data generation and analysis are indicated, highlighting that a psychotherapeutic practice based on the “in-between” is the necessary path for a clinic that claims to be phenomenologically grounded.