ARTICLE
TOWARDS THE PATIENT - NEUTRALITY OR LOYALTY OF THE PSYCHOTHERAPIST?
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Psychoter 2013;166(3):5-12
ABSTRACT
The subject of the article is the therapeutic relation in the psychotherapeutic process, particularly the questions of neutrality, partiality and loyalty of the psychotherapist. The authors, in spite of the psychotherapist's neutrality being frequently emphasised as an indispensable condition of psychotherapy, raise the question - is the therapeutic relation possible at all without the psychotherapist's partiality? The patient entrusts what is intimate and frequently painful to the psychotherapist, expecting him or her to be a person who, both in spite of and thanks to, their individuality, and consequential partiality, will be ready to help the patient on the way towards sanity. Does, then, abandonment of partiality for neutrality - if at all possible - not deprive the psychotherapist of what is supposed to serve the patient? In discussion of the matter, the authors show their understanding of psychotherapist's loyalty, and reasons why, in their opinion, the psychotherapist's neutrality puts an obstacle to the patient's recovery.