心理臨床における沈黙の概念および沈黙研究の概観と展望

Abstract

Silence has great significance in psychotherapy. However, there is no firm definition or systematic theory to understand the meaning of silence. In this paper, silence is defined as "client in silence" in terms of the trait of psychotherapy. Then, we discuss the meaning of silence with reference to psychothrapy theory and case studies. In psychoanalitical theory, silence is resistance to therapy, While Gendlin's theory, it is in itself therapuetic. The former considers that it is therapeutic to break the silence, while the latter considers that we should promote silence. Case studies exemplified that these two kinds of approach to silence are both therapeutic, and indicated that the meaning of silence is variable in the process of psychotherapy. In future studies, we should consider two types of silence and investigate how these traits fluctuate. In empirical studies about silence, it is also important to take this fluctuation into consideration.