Tradition in Transition: Approaching the Psychotherapeutic Process

Abstract

The article introduces a new perspective on psychotherapy/analysis starting with the differentiation of the two terms mediat and medium. Whereas a mediat stands for a phenomenon, a symptom, or something objectively given, a medium is considered to be a self-difference that mediates other self-differences thereby getting mediated itself. Mediates are seen as something self-identical that can be archeologically detected or hermeneutically revealed, e.g. in the analytic process. This classical approach deals with common terms like subject, object, nature, culture, intersubjectivity, self, etc.; its underlying ontology is more or less essentialistic and derives from a history that  favours terms like ousia, essence, res, representation, etc. neglecting the categories of relation and alterity. In contrast, what is called subject, self, etc. can be understood as an interreference being generated within the medial field in the process of mediamorphosis. On its ontological basis we can assume an absolute fragility that can be understood as an ethical demand. After the discussion of the advantages of this medial approach some examples from the analytical work are given.