ON POST-STRUCTURALİST THERAPY AND DE-LİMİTİNG GENDER FROM BİNARY

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 38 - 59, 03.11.2018

Filiz Celik

Abstract

Gender non-binary, gender variant or gender plural are the terms used to accommodate the population that associate their gender identity outside the male and female binaries of gender dichotomy. Current psychotherapy practices are evolving to accommodate nontraditional, non-determinist and non-oppressive new terminologies to work with a gender pluralistic worldview. The ontological and epistemological shift from positivist approach to therapeutic issues to post-structuralist shift brought language afore as the site of power and meaning. Family and systemic psychotherapy is a particular cohort in the world of psychotherapy that operates with a social constructivist, deconstructive and poststructuralist epistemology. Distanced from pre-determined notions of pathology and wellbeing family and systemic psychotherapists work with power and knowledge using the language as site that power and knowledge is both used and produced to introduce systemic changes. A cisgender therapist adopting a post-structuralist position can access local realities of the individuals and families yet remain too focused on gender
variance/pluralism and may lose their holistic approach. It is recommended that a poststructuralist therapist working with gender issues adopts an integrative approach as sees gender issues not central but integral to systems to create systemic changes. 

Keywords

psychotherapy, post-structuralism, gender non-binary, gender-variant, gender plural, minority stress, family and systemic psychotherapy, reflexivity, epistemology and ontology

On Post-Structuralist Therapy and De-limiting Gender from Binary

Abstract

Gender non-binary, gender variant or gender plural are the terms
used to accommodate the population that associate their gender identity outside
the male and female binaries of gender dichotomy. Current psychotherapy
practices are evolving to accommodate non-traditional, non-determinist and
non-oppressive new terminologies to work with a gender pluralistic worldview.
The ontological and epistemological shift from positivist approach to
therapeutic issues to post-structuralist shift brought language afore as the
site of power and meaning. Family and systemic psychotherapy is a particular
cohort in the world of psychotherapy that operates with a social
constructivist, deconstructive and post-structuralist epistemology. Distanced
from pre-determined notions of pathology and well-being family and systemic
psychotherapists work with power and knowledge using the language as site that
power and knowledge is both used and produced to introduce systemic changes. A
cisgender therapist adopting a post-structuralist position can access local
realities of the individuals and families yet remain too focused on gender
variance/pluralism and may lose their holistic approach. It is recommended that
a post-structuralist therapist working with gender issues adopts an integrative
approach as sees gender issues not central but integral to systems to create
systemic changes. 

Keywords

psychotherapy, post-structuralism, gender non-binary, gender-variant, gender plural, minority stress, family and systemic psychotherapy, reflexivity, epistemology and ontology

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