When Transgressing Standard Therapeutic Frames Leads to Progressive Change, Not Ethical Violations

Secret Garden Work

Dados Bibliográficos

ID20178643
AutoresEdward T Novak (Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume46
Fascículo4
Páginas288-298
Data de publicação2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTransactional Analysis Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0362-1537 • E-ISSN: 2329-5244
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1177/0362153716662267
OpenAlexW2489032908
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas11

The author uses Eric Berne’s metaphor of secret gardens to explore therapeutic relationships that allow for a fuller immersion in the client’s private internal world. Garden work requires a level of therapeutic intimacy that matches the depth of this private space and also, perhaps, adjustments to the therapeutic frame that are specific to the client’s unique issues and needs. This way of working and relating can create fears and vulnerabilities for both client and therapist, and, at times, the changes may feel transgressive. The author defines transgressive in therapy as work with a specific client that violates family protocols or traditional therapeutic frames but is not unethical. He describes how the transgressive functions as a bridge of exploration between regressive work and movement toward more progressive ways of relating and being. Throughout the article, the author reflects on his own personal garden work to help connect theory with practice

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Metaphor · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Therapeutic relationship · Transgressive · Working through · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Engineering · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy