The real as illusion: deconstructing power in family therapy

Abstract

This paper examines the current issue of power and intervention in family therapy from the perspective of Jacques Derrida's philosophy. In a deconstructive reading which presents power as both real and socially constructed, it negotiates the border between such dualities as knowing/ not-knowing, interventionlnon-intervention, and power/non-power. The paper tracks Goolishian and Anderson's approach to therapy as deconstructive in practice, but not in theory, and discusses a double view ofpower in relation to both Bateson and Foucault. It suggests that power is both endemic to the context of family therapy and an illusion of epistemology. The paper concludes with a discussion of the wider question of ethics in relation to technology.

Science and Family Therapy

“…Even when family therapists use techniques like deconstruction (Epston and White, 1992;White, 1993) that appear to be exempt from the knowledge/power equation, they are still exercising the power conferred on them by their knowledge of deconstructive techniques (Larner, 1995). Foucault (1984) is at pains to emphasize that he is concerned with exploring the workings of discourse in general, rather than science in particular, and he did not argue that the 'knowledge = power' equation only operates within science.…”

“…Avoid it, no; but they will modify it. It is unlikely that we will ever lose our belief in knowledge but we are starting to take a much less reverential attitude to it and to recognize how provisional it is (Cecchin et al, 1993;Larner, 1995). Although this may appear 'paramodern' (Larner, 1995), irreverence to knowledge claims is actually the hallmark of Popper's (1963) epistemology.…”

Part Special Issue Editorial: The process of OR

“…Therefore, by looking for what is suppressed in discourses, new understandings of problem situations (and how to address them) may emerge. Interestingly, deconstruction is having an impact in a variety of disciplines concerned with intervention, including family therapy 5 and systems thinking, 6 so Ann's introduction of these ideas to an OR audience is most timely.…”

Towards a common ground in psychoanalysis and family therapy: on knowing not to know

“…The not-knowing therapist is a therapist who still thinks and knows and intervenes, but this knowledge is not imposed on the client in an abuse of the therapist's power and influence (Larner, 1995). That is, a not-knowing stance in therapy suggests not the erasure of expertise and knowledge but an ethical prescription for how it is used, namely as a basis for dialogue, collaboration and open enquiry in the mutual exploration of constructed meaning.…”

“…The analyst's/therapist's power, authority, knowledge and expertise is expressed in a way which encourages the client's agency and knowledge to emerge. In therapy, knowing and not knowing co-exist as an exchange of knowledge and meaning between therapist and client (Larner, 1995).…”