And the moral of the story …: linguistic-ethical considerations in psychotherapeutic narratives

Authors

  • Luna Gertrud Steiner

Abstract

In this essay I will discuss the technique and ethical aspects of writing about clients, as compared to the portrayal of psychotherapeutic situations in the mass media. Questions of the scientific method of casuistry and its boundaries are addressed. The role of case reports in the socio-political mission of psychotherapy will be demonstrated, as well as the intellectual tradition of which those reports are part, and, above all, their relationship to literature. From these considerations, other questions arise: which genre, what kind of language, and what linguistic structures are appropriate to do justice to the psychotherapeutic object, the homo patiens, and which psychotherapeutic approaches manifest themselves and present themselves for discussion? These questions will be addressed through a case study from the author herself.

Key words:
Casuistry; Mass media; Scholarliness of psychotherapy; Narrative; Language as carrier of attitudes

Author Biography

Luna Gertrud Steiner

Luna Gertrud Steiner, Mag.a phil., Jg. 1954, geboren und aufgewachsen im nördlichen Waldviertel (NÖ). Studium der Anglistik, der klassischen Philologie und der Psychologie an der Universität Wien. Eingetragene Psychotherapeutin in freier Praxis (Gestalt, System. FT). Übersetzt Fachtexte und Literatur aus dem Englischen und aus dem Neugriechischen (mehrf. Auszeichnungen). Lebt als freie Autorin in Baden, Wien und unterwegs.

Korrespondenz: Mag. Luna Gertrud Steiner,
Rathausstraße 21/16, 1010 Wien, Österreich

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Published

2005-07-01

How to Cite

Steiner, L. G. (2005). And the moral of the story …: linguistic-ethical considerations in psychotherapeutic narratives. Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft, (3), 113–119. Retrieved from https://psychotherapie-wissenschaft.info/article/view/359

Issue

No. 3 (2005): Psychotherapie Forum 13/3 (veröffentlicht bei Springer Wien New York)

Section

Special Issue

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