Dear Norman
I thought that I'd already tried to respond seriously to your points, but
here's another go.
<< 1) Will the effects of this attack be so profound that we as therapists
will
eventually have to reconsider our personal values and the base of the
modelling that underpins our services to our clients?>>
I fond it very hard to grasp your point here. You seem to be suggesting that
these attacks display some sort of extreme evil beyond anything experienced
before, and that this means we have to reconcieve our understanding of human
nature. I have to say this strikes me as absurd. Horrific as these acts are,
they scarcely compare with the concentration camps, for example, or the
Rwandan massacres. We have spent the last half century trying to come to
terms with the human capacity for violence and hatred. There is a massive
amount of theory about it. the theories may well not be good enough, but
these events do not challenge our therapeutic models any more than many other
pasdt and present events. One of the most alarming things about the response
to the events has been that many Americans apparently see them as without
precedent in their violenece and horror - simply because nothing parallel has
happened within the continental United States. The rest of the world doesn't
seem to really count.
<<2) Why is it, that in this case, the apparent majority opinion amongst
therapists seems so much at odds with the prevalent views in the nations
within which most of us live? ... Another way of putting this question is to
ask if therapeutic values can prosper if they are in conflict with their host
societies?>>
Firstly, I don't accept that the opinion of therapists (which I am gratified
to find seems on this issue to be both intelligent and sensitive) is so much
at odds with prevailing views - or anyway, no more than the views of the
intelligentsia are usually at odds with those of the majority (for example
about capital punishment). In this country (the UK) at least, I have a very
strong sense that people in general are developing second thoughts, seeing
more clearly the inadequacy of the revenge approach. Whether or not this is
true, though, it seems entirely appropriate that therapists should be one of
the groups which tries to give a moral lead, to enunciate core values and how
the apply in particular situations. And, after all, the idea of therapy
itself is at odds with the prevalent culture: most people (again, in the UK
at least) still mock and avoid anything 'therapeutic'. Does that mean we
should shut up shop?
Regards
Nick
Nick Totton
Erthworks
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http://www.erthworks.co.uk
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