Thor’s hammer and the unavailable

A reply to Kurt Greiner’s attempt at a general functional paradigm in psychotherapy (science)

Abstract

Kurt Greiner has invited responses to his article «Psychotherapie als Textmedizin» published in the last issue of Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft. In it, he endeavors to distinguish psychotherapy science from the scientific paradigm on a hermeneutic basis and to identify psychotherapy as a text-scientific process across modalities. My reply notes, firstly, that terms such as training of suffering text competence, text medicine or functionality can be understood as signals in the wrong direction. Secondly, it is noted that the reference to the hermeneutic tradition lacks important further developments. This is about alterity, difference or the unavailable, i. e. a dimension of psychotherapy and consequently of psychotherapy science that should not be neglected.