Towards a negative understanding of psychotherapy

This book deals with the problem why it is so difficult to understand what happens in psychotherapeutic processes. The answer that I propose is that many psychotherapeutic events have a certain self-reference. Not only many of the therapeutic conversations pertain to the ways in which they are performed, but also many of the exploration processes are self-referential. It is this self-reference that impedes a straightforward empirical access and that compels us to use other techniques, some of which are in fact common practice in supervision. The book investigates how a detached attitude, common in regular scientific research, does not advance the desired clarity of understanding.