Sibling witnessing in the horizontal axis. Response to 46th Foulkes Lecture by Miriam Berger: May 2023

Abstract

Miriam Berger’s fascinating and poignant lecture (Berger, 2023) has drawn attention to a very important area of relating—the act of bearing witness. As she points out, witnessing belongs in the horizontal axis, and it begins in the sibling matrix.In my response I will consider the importance of sibling witnessing in the family and its function in both individual and group therapy, illustrating this with a powerful example of sibling witnessing in my weekly therapy group.