Overcoming the Schism: Following a Dialog with F.Ye. Vasilyuk that Never Occurred

Abstract

The method of Understanding Psychotherapy developed by Fyodor Ye. Vasilyuk is the flesh of the flesh of its creator who was an individual of the pervasive active empathy. Vasilyuk’s system of views is ‘sensitive’ to other systems; it is empathically attuned to them, and it carefully re-endows them with understanding. Vasilyuk, who described the schism between two– research and practical – psychologies, did not limit himself to the statement. In developing his psychology, he goes beyond the boundaries of his own ‘understanding psychotherapy’ by denoting and visualizing the diverse connections that unite science and practice. But researchers, venturing beyond the limits of a particular psychological theory, are required to seek the most common supports to construct integral models. From this perspective we consider here the category of sensation that possesses a deceptive simplicity, and note the role it plays in order to comprehend the essence of experience, the central concept in Vasilyuk’s theory, as well as in order to solve the problem of integration. While pointing out the existence of impersonal sensations that are not related to the I, we define experience as a sensation that is present in the I. Therefore, experience as an activity is bidirectional: it can ‘introduce’ sensations into the composition of the I, and ‘bring’ them beyond the limits of the I. Different forms of the I are described as ‘dwelling places’ of sensations with the status of experiences.

Keywords

• understanding psychotherapy
• post-non-classical personology
• schism
• empathy
• sensation
• experience