The Performance Therapist and Authentic Therapeutic Identity: Coming into Being

Description

Exploring what it means to be an authentic therapist in the present day, Sara London playfully melds together the tenets of performance art and psychoanalytic theory to advance the hopeful new notion of the performance therapist. In an era where the therapist is now more of a public-facing entity than ever before, developing a sense of who one is both inside and outside of the consulting room is a complex undertaking. In response, London reconceptualises the therapist’s identity in a contemporary way, transcending preconceived labels, by bringing an understanding of performance art into an analysis of psychotherapeutic practice. Through this interdisciplinary approach, London attends to the complex questions faced by psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in training and in practice: can a therapist perform and be authentic? Can a therapist perform and have true intimate relationships within the confines of that performance? And can a therapist perform as themselves? This provocative and highly original work will provide both new and experienced psychotherapists with an understanding of the clinical and philosophical significance of performance art to cultivating therapeutic identity. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Foreword Introduction The guest list Notes Part I: Performance art Chapter 1: History of performance art References Chapter 2: Performance art in practice Note References Chapter 3: Performance art in psychoanalysis What is performance art to psychoanalysis? How is it written about? References Part II: Identity Psychoanalysis and the self References Chapter 4: The tripartite structure References Chapter 5: The persona References Chapter 6: The False Self and the idealized image The False Self The idealized image References Part III: Performance (of the therapist) "Performance" - A dirty word? Bon appetite! Reference Chapter 7: The structural performance How does a structurally psychoanalytic performance look? How theory becomes personal: Performance to technique Note References Chapter 8: The emotional performance What is the emotional performance? How does the emotional performance look? How emotion becomes skill: From performance into technique Note References Chapter 9: The intersection of structure and emotion: How a therapeutic performance looks Another place setting is in order Note References Chapter 10: The therapeutic table set for two The act of "acting out" The acting of enactments Someone call the waiter Note References Part IV: Authenticity Where does authenticity come from? References Chapter 11: Performing a "real relationship" It's "real" complicated Keeping it "real" Note References Chapter 12: Self-disclosure and authenticity What is self-disclosure? When to self-disclose Self-disclosure gone awry The perfect coleslaw References Chapter 13: Authenticity and the environment Authenticity outside the dyad The solution to the authenticity problem? Note References Part V: Application Dessert is served The secret sauce of the "good enough" performance therapist Viola! Magnifique! Note References Chapter 14: Coming into being (or, the magic of relating) References Index