The seven deadly sins of psychotherapists in their dealing with the public

Authors

  • Markus Fäh

Abstract

Psychotherapists have an ambivalent relationship with public relations. I discuss seven individual and collective harmful attitudes:

(1) a confusion of attitudes towards the own life style with therapeutic attitudes,
(2) the tendency either to deny or dramatize internal institutional conflicts,
(3) inhibitions to make an aggressive policy,
(4) prejudices and hostile feelings towards mass media,
(5) exclusion and disqualification of colleagues who appear in the public,
(6) being afraid of one's own creativity, and
(7) the tendency to communicate arrogantly and in a one-way manner.

These attitudes have to be recognized and overcome in order to present the professional interests and messages of psychotherapists more effectively to the public. I illustrate these phenomena with examples and propose further inquiry into the subject.

Keywords Policy; Public relation; Creativity; Communication; Attitude

Author Biography

Markus Fäh

Dr. phil. Markus Fäh, Jg. 1958, Psychoanalytiker und Psychotherapeut in eigener Praxis in Zürich. Mitglied der Internationalen Psychoanalytischen Vereinigung, Lehrbeauftragter an der Sigmund-Freud Universität in Wien, Verfasser zahlreicher Artikel und Bücher („Gesundheit kommt von innen“, „Der perfekte Mann“, „Das Triviale der Liebe“).

Korrespondenz: Bolleystrasse 29,
8006 Zürich, Schweiz

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Published

2007-10-01

How to Cite

Fäh, M. (2007). The seven deadly sins of psychotherapists in their dealing with the public. Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft, (4), 166–172. Retrieved from https://psychotherapie-wissenschaft.info/article/view/109

Issue

No. 4 (2007): Psychotherapie Forum 15/4 (veröffentlicht bei Springer Wien New York)

Section

Special Issue

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