Politics in therapy.
Should I even be bringing this up?
Yes.
End of blog.
Well, this sincere question probably deserves more than a glib answer, so I’ll try to approach the question with a few general thoughts.
There seems to be a general rule in polite, day-to-day, Britain. Don’t discuss money, religion, and politics, and we’ll get by just fine. These feel like important topics to be purposefully omitted from our personal existences, not to mention our collective ones. The problem comes where you realise politics influences something small, or big, that is affecting your life. If politics is a part of life in society, and therapy is (to be short about it) exploring ways of being in life, then it makes sense that politics comes into the therapy room, no?
Returning to the ever-present mantra: Therapy is about relationship. Politics is something that the client and therapist, in some way, share in a broad sense. Therapy is a space for the client to untangle, express, and even fight with, things that are important to them; the support and safety of therapy allows for discomfort, uncertainty, and messiness without the risk of rejection. A therapist by virtue of being a person in the world has foundation for empathy and understanding when political grievances are brought into the space. Therapy is a space that these grievances can be aired in a full, personal, and complicated way where polite, day-to-day, socialising may not allow.
It is important to be able to express grief, rage, disdain, bitterness about the lives that we face, normally expressing something deeper about ourselves that the specific focus has brought to light. Climate catastrophe is something that can instil total existential terror in a person, is so overwhelmingly large that one cannot reconcile their existence against it and is (sadly) a deeply political issue. It can be difficult to express these complex feelings in normal conversation, inevitability, inability, grief, self-doubt, fury… They speak to our capability to see the world be changed for the better, shaped how we wish to shape it, an omnipotent fantasy that is disillusioned by our overwhelming powerlessness in comparison to political systems and actors that seek other ends and goals. Fertile ground for self-exploration and understanding, of engaging with and testing ways to be in the world.
In the same way that politics is in all life, therapists are alive too. Therapists have their own political views and aspirations, but are unlikely to be the subject of a client’s therapy session (although they may creep in through the form of a gentle speculative challenge or observation, we’re only human after all). Therapists do have the right to boundaries, and this may involve boundaries of expression or work. It is natural for therapists to refer a client onwards to a colleague or institution if they do not think that they are able to facilitate meaningful therapy and is not an inditement of the humanity of the client.
“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable” – Leonard Bernstein
When we try to talk about topics and ideas that are larger than ourselves in their complexity and our emotional response to them, it is difficult to find language that can hold the enormity of what we are trying to express. In finding this language we may have to rationalise or cut away some of the capacity of the issue out so that it fits into the neat containers of the words that we do have. Sometimes, the words can never hope to contain or communicate the unnameable and unknowable capacity of our experiences and emotions. As well as the catharsis of the action, I feel as if I can know more of a person, more of their inner world, when they go hell for leather on a drum or piano in response to the latest political action that affects their world (whether it be directly or just on principle, and it’s fine to be emotional on principle).
Music enjoys a long and rich history as a political art form, from adhoc instruments and chants at political rallies, all the way back to protest songs such as 1939’s Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday). The rise of Punk in the mid 70’s is one of the most famous examples of political counter culture finding a voice through music. Hiphop and rap have been political genres and forms of expression since their inception. Even classical music as far back as Beethoven was politically motivated, with his 3rd symphony initially being named ‘Bonaparte’ (a title that was changed after Napoleon crowned himself emperor). National anthems are political by nature, when one sings to save the king one condones the existence of monarchic power. Music has been, and continues to be, present and powerful during political protests, marches and civil unrest. Art reflects the artist, the audience, and the world in which we live; a world that has progressively become more political and complex as the years have passed.
“All art is political. In tense, fractious times—like our current moment—all art is political. But even during those times when politics and the future of our country itself are not the source of constant worry and anxiety, art is still political.” - Lin-Manuel Miranda
Is there anything more political than a group with a grievence, a drum, and voices to sing? Maybe, but the image becomes more and more striking as voices are added to the chorus. A shared set of emotions and ideals, the relationship of the group with the world, the relationships between the group members, a members’ relationship with themself. In the book Active Hope, there are many examples of groups being formed in the face of the climate crisis. Whilst these groups are, to varying degrees, politically active in terms of their output the format is an excellent one for therapeutic work. Whether there is a therapy group that focusses on climate grief and political issues or whether there’s a group that is open to clients bringing subjects into, therapy groups can be, when mediated, an interesting places for politics. Whether there is unanimous support and shared experience or whether there are conflicting views and ideals, politics is, as already discussed, something that we all inevitably share. Our relationships within the group grow in complexity and highlight interesting and unconcious things about ourselves and others. In the context of looking back on group work, we look to the quote from Yalom’s client. “For the longest time I believed the group was a natural place for unnatural experiences. It was only later that I realized the opposite—it is an unnatural place for natural experiences.”
So, to generally wrap up… Should I bring up politics in therapy? Yes. Therapy is a wonderful place to bring politics into. Our emotions as individuals when faced with the size and scope of issues that are political in nature, or are impeded by political powers disagreeing, need somewhere to be fully and messily explored. Sometimes through a medium that bypasses rationalisation or minimisation, a service that music readily provides. You, as a client, may discover more of yourself, both politically and personally, through bringing politics into therapy. You might even end up writing a protest song.
Garrick Wareham
References
Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy - Chris Johnstone and Joanna Macy