Page 170 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

The Work and Thinking of David Benner

Incarnation in Psychotherapy guide he identifies the Russian startsy as one of
Star Trek fans will remember the television epi- the earliest role models. The startsy were qua-
sode where Captain Kirk encountered an alien lified for service as spiritual guides by virtue of
woman, called an Empath, who was able to ab- three qualities: Insight, love, and the capacity to
sorb his physical afflictions and thereby provide make the sufferings of others their own. Dostoy-
him with healing. Furthermore, while her ab- evsky, who frequently visited the famous startsy
sorption of the sickness caused her real pain, Amvrosy (1812-1891), described the spiritual
she was eventually able to overcome it, and she director in The Brothers Karamazov as one who
avoided the permanent injury which should takes „your soul and your will into his soul and
have been associated with the affliction. his will“ (Leech, 1977. p. 49). Leech suggests
This woman did more than respond with em- that such vicarious participation of one in the
pathy, respect, and congruence; she also did life of another is the living symbol of the good
more than accept the suffering individual. She shepherd, this being the task of the soul friend.
entered into the life and experience of the suf- Leech also recognizes the importance of the
ferer, took the suffering upon herself, and then soul friend not allowing too much dependence
overcame it. The result was the healing of the to develop. This reflects the other side of the
suffering one. This is the metaphor for psycho- incarnation metaphor, the separateness of the
therapy which is seen also in the incarnation. helper. Just as God did not stop being God as he
Saretsky (1981) has described the psychothera- came into humanity, so too the therapist does
pist as a container for the sickness of the patient. not get lost in incarnation to the patient. The
He views the patient as dumping all his toxic in- therapist remains the therapist and does not
ternal garbage into the therapist. The therapist become the patient. Even in the presence of in-
absorbs these toxic materials but is not destroy- tense involvement and shared experience, there
ed by them: Some are absorbed, and others are must remain a separateness of identity.
temporarily contained, eventually detoxified,
then being available for reabsorption by the pa- An understanding of the difference between
tient. empathy and sympathy illustrates this point. In
In more concrete terms this is seen when the empathy, one enters into another‘s experience
therapist accepts the projections and transfe- and shares it without losing sight of the fact that
rences of the patient and bears them patiently. it is truly the other person‘s experience. If this
Sometimes the anger received in such encoun- distinction is lost the autonomy of the other is
ters causes pain. However, out of a position of likewise lost and the resulting relationship is
strength, the pain is absorbed without retaliati- more likely to be characterized by sympathy.
on or defensiveness and eventually the patient Sympathy, thus understood, is seen to be a way
stops projecting and can begin to own the pro- of responding to one‘s own pain by attempting
jected material. At other times what the thera- to cover it over with reassurance to the other.
pist accepts is more benign. However, through In English translations of Freud, his use of the
empathic involvement the therapist enters into German word teilnahmsvoll has usually been
the suffering, miserable, confused world of the rendered “sympathy.“ However, a more accura-
patient and offers strength. The suffering and te translation of this frequently used word is „to
confusion is absorbed by the therapist for the feel along with“ or „to suffer along with.“ Either
ultimate healing of the patient. of these expressions shows the richer meaning
of the original term and reflects the participati-
Kenneth Leech, in his book Soul Friend (1977), on in the experience of another which he inten-
describes the role of the spiritual director or gui- ded to communicate as an essential quality of
de (a “soul friend” in similar terms. Although the therapist.
Leech recognizes differences between one gi-
ving spiritual direction and the psychotherapist, How does the therapist’s entering into the suf-
he sees important similarities. In discussing the fering of the patient in such a way produce
origins of the contemporary concept of spiritual change? Answers have been varied and at pre-

169