Come live with me: Decision making in the therapeutic process from an intersubjective and synergetic perspective

Abstract

In this article, decision making in the therapeutic process is analyzed from the perspective of Daniel N. Stern’s elaboration of the intersubjectivity theory in the frame of The Boston Change Process Study Group, and from the point of view of synergetic generic principles. According to Stern the moment of decision can be an auspicious present moment or kairos in the Greek sense of the word, when established patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving and relating change. The kairotic principle is also one of the eight synergetic generic principles, which together with other principles makes it easier to understand discontinuous transitions or leaps that are typical of chaotic, self-organizing and self-organized processes in complex systems, such as psychotherapy. To concretely illustrate the decision making process in terms of present moments and synergetic generic principles a detailed description of a psychotherapeutic session is presented.