The > Uncommon < Factor in Psychotherapy and the Role of Negative Skills: Why and How Psychoanalysis Offers an Important Contribution for Mental Health Practice Today

Abstract

Psychoanalysis brings some specific aspects of treatment technique to the field of mental health practice today, such as highlighting the dynamics within therapeutic relationship (especially regarding emotional and unconscious elements), the role of defense mechanisms etc. Moreover, by means of taking a particular therapeutic stance, psychoanalysis offers some shared mental space for patients. The present paper argues that this stance is characterized by the capacity to “not act”, that is: by passive receptivity. To view this as some specific “negative skill” in psychotherapy in general means to align common elements of effective psychotherapy with the capacity to explore the uncommon, unfamiliar or unforeseen in particular psychotherapeutic processes. The paper sketches how this can be employed in psychotherapy training as well as in psychotherapy integration.