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From Therapeutic Power to Resistance?

Therapy and Cultural Hegemony

Trinity College Dublin

Four ideas are used to conceptually link local therapeutic practices with macro sociocultural arrangements, and to question the feasibility of therapeutically derived resistances against them: power as a productive force; the power–knowledge integration; the power–resistance relationship; and power in context. Narrative therapy is presented as an example of a ‘therapy of resistance’, which at a micro level challenges the therapist–client power relation and privileges clients’ local knowledges, and hence, at a macro level, promotes resistance against dominant discourses and practices. However, at least two fundamental problems face therapies advocating resistance. At a macro level, they are vulnerable to neutralization when they engage in broader power relations. And at a micro level, they cannot escape the institutionalized therapist–client power imbalance, which renders ethically problematic the use of the therapeutic encounter to promote resistance. Strategies for addressing these problems are discussed.

Key Words: Foucault • narrative therapy • power • resistance • therapy

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 15, No. 1, 101-124 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354305049748


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