Psychotherapy setting

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What is the history behind the setting on psychotherapy ( time, place and prices ) ?

-- Yedda Macdonald (yedda@netcomp.com.br), June 06, 2001

Answers

A tough question! I suspect a thorough history would make a good doctoral dissertation. The standard clinical histories don't index these topics. There are several books about fees that might have some history in the literature reviews:

Herron, W. G., & Welt, S. R. (1992). Money matters: The fee in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. New York: Guilford Press. Krueger, D. W. (1986) The last taboo: Money as symbol and reality in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Hill, M., & Kaschak, E. (1999). For love or money: The fee in feminist therapy. New York: Haworth Press.

I think the rest of the setting is wrapped up in the historic debates of psychoanalysis. For example, you might find something useful in Izette de Forest's book, The leaven of love: A development of the psychoanalytic theory and technique of Sandor Ferenczi (Hamden, CT; Anchon Books, 1985; previous edition 1965). Ferenczi objected to Freud's understanding of transference and emphasized the importance of genuine love between analyst and patient. Various 'boundaries' related to the setting will be intrinsically related to understandings of transference and countertransference. Fees also may grow out of the 'medical model' in which the practice of psychoanalysis in a medical setting began--the same fees would not have applied to mental healing as practiced in the Emmanuel Movement, for example, or to pastoral care. So ... your question is a very complex one.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@fuller.edu), June 12, 2001.


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