The centre of the human being is to be found in conversation

Abstract

The Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin considered the novelist Feodor Dostoevsky to have created a completely new type of artistic thinking which Bakhtin called polyphonic thinking. In his book, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, he analyses the author’s relation to his characters and their stories. It is fascinating to explore the similarities between the role of the therapist in a professional conversation with the creative role of the author. Moreover, Bakhtin’s theories on dialogue and the dialectic nature of utterances can be of inspiration to the therapist in the difficult task of leading a conversation which allows the participants the freedom to fully develop their own inner logic and independence. Den ryska språkvetaren Michael Bachtin menade att författaren Fjodor Dostojevsky skapade ett helt nytt tänkande, som Bachtin benämnde polyfont tänkande. I sin bok Dostojevskys poetik analyserar han författarens förhållande till sina romanfigurer och deras berättelser. Det är fascinerande att upptäcka likheterna mellan terapeutens uppgifter i det professionella samtalet och författarens i det litterära skapandet. Även Bachtins teorier om dialogen och yttrandets dialektik skänker inspiration i den svåra uppgiften att som samtalsledare delta i ett samtal, som fullt ut möjliggör för deltagarna att utveckla sin inre logik och självständighet. Introduction Within systemic therapy it has become increasingly popular to find inspiration in philosophy, literary criticism and linguistics. The focus is now on conversation. What is it that takes place in a conversation? How can we therapists help to create a situation whereby people can make their own narratives more profound, enrich them, discover new approaches and new dimensions? The underlying idea is that the more ways in which we can tell our story, the more alternative ways of acting will be open to us. As therapists we have to get away from the assumption that problems and symptoms are indications of something th