Presentation on the Ninth International Conference on the Dialogical Self

1. Dialogical self as
a meta-positioning perspective
for psychotherapy
Elena Grebenyuk, Russia
9-th Dialogical Self conference 7-10/09 2016 Lublin, Poland

2. Postmodern conditions
• Plurality of the psychotherapeutic and personal
development theories and practices
•Plurality and changeability of the world we live in

3. In this situation therapists can follow…
‘Purism’: clear
commitment to one
psychotherapeutic
approach
How to choose it?
How to prevent rigidity
and blindness?
‘Eclecticism’:
combination of
different approaches
How to choose them?
How to combine them?
How to prevent
messiness?

4. What if we look at
psychotherapy from the
perspective of Dialogical Self
theory?
Psychotherapy as a process of
constructing / performing self-
positions and relationships between
them and with the ‘outer’ world

5. ‘Construction’? [is it an appropriate word?]
- “Agency” connotation - is not always suitable: it can be implicit
for a client and therapist
- “Stability” connotation (like we are making smth separate and
fixed) – so we can use the term ‘performing’ for the processual
aspect
- Alternative metaphors? Changing, creation, growing, playing,
dancing…

6. Two aspects of self-position
construction in therapy
Meta-level
What self-positions are
constructed by therapeutic
relationships, ways of
communication, implicit
and explicit assumptions
of the approach?
Working with self-
positions of the client
(or the close concepts)
What relationships does the
approach construct between
different self-positions of the
client between each other
and ‘outer’ world?

7. Some ideas about meta-level
Different therapeutical approaches
construct different types of self-
positions and relationships, so they
can be described in terms of
their characteristics.
Probably, every approach offers
missing, deficient hero for its time &
culture.

8. Some ideas about meta-level
There are some widely useful positions for our time & culture.
For example:
• Personal agency
• Inner witness
• Inner therapist
• Self-compassion
• Meta-position
• ‘Promoter’ positions
• etc.

9. Some ideas about meta-level
There are some widely useful communication qualities for our
time & culture. For example:
• Dialogue
• Joint action
• Polarities interaction / integration
• Development of repertoire, volume and diversity
• Development of flexibility, changeability, dynamic balance
• Body-mind integrity

10. Some of the differences between approaches
to self-positions work
Modern perspective Postmodern perspective
Subpersonalities etc Positions, voices
Located inside, more or less fixed Contextual, flexible and dispersed
Concrete & limited set of positions Can be anything
There are ‘right’/ ‘wrong’, ‘good’ / ‘bad’
positions and types of relationships
Can be differently valuated
Implicit principles, norms and values Ability to explicate principles, norms and
values, change the reflective point
Non - specific to the context Attention to the social & cultural context

11. Hazards of modern
perspective
On the meta-level it produces
power relations: therapist
refers to expert knowledge,
client takes some kind of non-
expert, subjugated,
pathologized position
(Foucault, narrative approach
critique)

12. So, some of the principles in my work:
Meta-level
• Postmodern perspective informed by narrative approach
way of asking questions (Client as expert in his own life, support
of agency)
• Possibility to reflect on narrative practice: agency as vital, but
not the only option

13. So, some of the principles in my work:
Working with positions
• Relationships are primary: attention to the ‘partner’ positions
(‘inner’ and ‘outer’), communication and dynamic qualities of
process
• All the positions and relationships can be embodied, lived and
changed through movement

14. References
• Handbook of Dialogical Self theory. Hermans H.J.M., Gieser T. (eds.) UK, Cambridge university
press, 2012.
• The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy. Hermans H.J.M., Dimaggio G. (eds.) Routledge, NY, 2005.
• Hermans H.J.M., Hermans-Konopka A. Dialogical self theory: positioning and counter-positioning
in a globalizing society. UK, Cambridge university press, 2010.
• Hermans H.J. Self as a Society of I-Positions: A Dialogical Approach to Counseling // Journal of
Humanistic Counseling, July 2014, vol. 53, pp. 134 – 159.
• Rowan J. Personification. Using dialogical self in psychotherapy and counselling. NY: Routledge,
2010
• White M., Epston D. Narrative means to therapeutic ends. NY: A Norton professional book, 1991

15. Thank you and you’re welcome to dialogue:
Elena.Grebenyuk@gmail.com
Images by Odilon Redon