Research in Psychotherapy and Theory of Subjectivity: Care as its Foundation

Abstract

Abstract This theoretical essay, based on González Rey’s Theory of Subjectivity, discusses research on psychotherapy grounded in Theory of Subjectivity, embracing the view that the singularity of psychotherapy - in relation to other practices - is its devotion to care. This paper aims to debate the specificities care imposes on research in Theory of Subjectivity based psychotherapy. The considerations woven represent innovations in this field, whose current view on psychotherapy interpret it as similar to other spaces in which research is also undertake. This article is based on authorial reflections related to Theory of Subjectivity current state. Thus, research in psychotherapy based on Theory of Subjectivity demands of the psychotherapist that he or she develops it as a tool of care, therefore depriving it from the position of main objective that it generally holds in Theory of Subjectivity. Some ethical issues connected to this thesis are also presented.

Keywords

• psychotherapy
• caregivers
• qualitative research
• subjectivity
• clinical psychology