Treating with Respect

Treating with Respect was adopted as the motto of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability at its inception in May 2000, and continues to inform its ethos and philosophy. This collection of papers examines the meaning of this phrase and how it shapes the work of Disability Therapists. More importantly, it illustrates how the key tenets of Disability Therapy can be used in psychotherapeutic work with patients without disabilities. To treat with respect implies a relational approach that acknowledges the relative powerlessness and vulnerability of the disabled patient, placing upon the clinician a responsibility to work with anxiety-based defences in ways that actively empower the patient. Respecting the vulnerability of the patient does not imply an abandonment of the guiding principles of analytic neutrality, transference interpretation and the maintenance of boundary. It does, however, underpin the need for adaptation and modulation of all these principles to ensure that the patient is not further disabled by the therapeutic process itself. The intended readership of this volume is a wide one, as it is targeted at psychotherapists working with the non-disabled population, alongside the existing audience of Disability Therapists. It is the first concentrated attempt to integrate the ethos and philosophy of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability with the theory and practice of the wider psychotherapy world.