Dialogue and Desire: Mikhail Bakhtin and the Linguistic Turn in Psychotherapy

Mikhail Bakhtin and the Linguistic Turn in Psychotherapy

Author: Rachel Pollard Series: The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy Series

ISBN / EAN: 9781855754492
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Summary

This book is an exploration of the relationship between the Russian philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin, and contemporary dialogical psychotherapy. This exploration lead the author to consider how two central and inseparable dimensions of human experience, language and desire, could be thought about differently by bringing the thinking of Bakhtin into a dialogical relationship with the thinking of the controversial French anthropologist and cultural critic, Ren Girard.The radical difference between these two original thinkers is illustrated in their differing interpretations of Dostoevsky 's novels; while Bakhtin finds in Dostoevsky an author who allows his characters the freedom to speak for themselves without passing judgement on them, Girard finds in Dostoevsky an author who is both sympathetic and critical towards his characters because they are consumed with passionate desires that often lead to violence.

Description

thinking of the controversial French anthropologist Rene Girard.

Critic Reviews

“Rachel Pollard's lucid exploration of the landscape of Bakhtinian-inspired psychotherapy opens up a dialogue with theoretical perspectives that enrich our understanding of Bakhtin and also of the role of desire in the practice and politics of psychotherapy."”

Rachel Pollard's lucid exploration of the landscape of Bakhtinian-inspired psychotherapy opens up a dialogue with theoretical perspectives that enrich our understanding of Bakhtin and also of the role of desire in the practice and politics of psychotherapy.Ian Parker, Professor of Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University and Lacanian Psychoanalyst

About the Author

Rachel Pollard currently works as a psychotherapist in private practice, specialising in cognitve analytic therapy and has previously worked in the NHS and in higher education. She graduated from the University of Wales and studied social and community work in Zimbabwe. She has an MA in couselling studies and a PhD in sociology from the University of Manchester.

More on this Book

Mikhail Bakhtin, the Russian philosopher and cultural critic, was one of the pioneers of the 'linguistic turn' in philosophy and is now widely associated with the concept of the dialogical self and dialogical psychotherapy. However, whilst dialogism is the concept for which Bakhtin is most well known in psychotherapy, it is, in isolation, open to a wide range of interpretations that can be claimed by diverse and conflicting ideological positions. The radical contribution that a more inclusive reading of Bakhtin could bring to psychotherapy only becomes apparent when dialogism is understood in the context of Bakhtin's philosophy as a whole, and when Bakhtin himself is brought into a dialogical relationship with other thinkers. By bringing Bakhtin into dialogue with the controversial French anthropologist, Rene Girard, the centrality of desire in language and human social life is woven into the concept of the dialogical self and the practice of dialogical psychotherapy. This book will be of keen interest to students interested in the contemporary relevance of Bakhtin's thinking as well as psychotherapists concerned with the complex relationship between language, consciousness and the art of psychotherapy.