Book Review: Psychotherapy for the Other: Levinas and the Face-to-Face Relationship

The basic premise for the book is to find an answer to a question asked of one of the authors, George Kunz, by Emmanuel Levinas himself:

'Why would a psychologist be interested in my philosophy?'. My own experience of Levinas is limited to a couple of chapters, and a talk at the 2017 SEA conference which, given my lack of experience, went slightly over my head. I felt that I had grasped the headlines of Levinas' thinking but had no idea on what he based his belief in the face of the other as a calling. I approached the book with some interest and trepidation, especially since a friend, who is a keen Levinas fan, encouraged me.

The first four chapters of the book look specifically at theory before moving towards an application focus in the remaining ten chapters. In the theory section, the first chapter is a reprint of a paper by Halling and considers Levinas in relation to psychotherapy. It is followed by the book's most philosophically challenging chapter, 'Levinas, Psychology, and Language', which examines talking as the most relevant focus for therapy. 'Asymmetry in Psychotherapy', written by the lead author, describes the preference for symmetry found in so many aspects of life, before we get to chapter four which compares authenticity and community in 'Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas'.

Part two of the book looks at applications and, within that, some specific applications. Chapters Five and Six look at physical violence in 'The Aftermath of Murder' and 'The Tragedy of Domestic Violence'. The seventh chapter, 'Levinas in the Hood', applies Levinas to race and inter-cultural tensions, a wide view linked in some ways to the eighth chapter, 'Levinas and Psychoanalysis', which positions Levinas in relation to psychopathology, psychology, psychotherapy and a 'meaningful life' (p 141) as distinct considerations. 'Trauma as Violent Awakening', the ninth chapter, inspects Levinas' notion of trauma, and how the face of the other may be experienced and seen as disturbing. 'Toward a Therapy for the Other' focuses on the possible encouraging of the client to behave ethically towards the other, potentially recognizing that the de-centering offered by the therapist can be both the means and end of therapy.

The final four chapters offer a greater predominance of their respective case studies. The realization of the therapist that he or she may have missed something is explored in 'Therapeutic Impasse and the Call to Keep Looking'. Levinas' words are offered as a life raft in moments of struggle and helplessness. 'The Face of the Other in Motherhood' gives a first-hand account of how the face of the Other, an infant, speaks of the nature of responses in a developmental relationship, and how these can have wider applications in relation to the author's work as a therapist. Chapter Thirteen, 'When Therapy Wounds', views therapy as located within its cultural context. The author, Trevor Slocum, uses Levinas to maintain a 'responsible' approach to the continued practice of therapy to help make homosexuals normal. Finally, 'Weak Enough' looks at the paradox in therapy and considers that, for therapy to be useful, it requires an openness somewhat counter to the power embedded in the role of the therapist.

There are two appendices, both worthy of attention. The first is a poem presented without introduction, and as such gives an unusual insight and the potential to experience the chapter differently from any other in the book. This is followed by a brief biographical look at Levinas. I am unsure as to why these are set apart; they are indeed unlike the chapters that precede them, but locating them outside of the main body simply raises the chances of them being missed. I believe this would be an error on the part of the reader.

I was particularly drawn to 'Levinas in the Hood', a chapter that looks specifically at Heather MacDonald's experience as a white psychologist going to the home of a seventeen-year-old pregnant black woman, Dedra, to make an assessment. Although only nine pages long, detailing a short, three-meeting relationship, it is packed with details and encouragement. Macdonald reports how she struggled to write formally, to put her clinical judgment into clinical language and ended up deferring to music, something she had spoken about at length with Dedra to try to bridge the undisputed gap. She was at pains to minimize 'the violence of the words and of the Said'. This follows not only her apprehension at the stereotyped white woman who tells a black woman what is wrong with her but also her accidentally arriving for her first meeting with a face covered in blood. Macdonald relates Levinas and Dedra in showing her how good intentions are not ethical, rather that it is dangerous to blunder into situations and provoke the other. Instead, we must 'listened into the world' (p 130). The idea of social justice feels pertinent in the world I find myself but I would disagree to some extent with the idea that 'social justice is not discovered in an abstract manner, rather, it is made in the relation between two people' (p 130). The chapter allows me to discover social justice, without the relation between two people, but through the experiencing of a lived concept in a way that so many therapy readings lack.

At times, the phrasing in the book is unrelatable in terms of its texture, but this is likely due to the fact that the authors are based and trained in North American. That the majority of the authors are psychologists is also a factor, such as Claire Steele LeBeau's assertion that 'understandably, most research focuses on what we can scientifically observe, predict, and control in the application of the therapeutic tools or techniques for specific diagnostic areas' (p 177). However, neither of this really impinges on the experience of reading their thoughts. Indeed, there is a real level of honesty as conveyed by the same author when she relates how she feels so moved by a client that she hugged him (before being rebuked by her supervisor).

I find myself wanting to write about practically every chapter; the least memorable, is perhaps, 'Face of the Other in Motherhood', and yet it was still thought-provoking, just less applicable to anything I have experienced in the therapy room. The focus is on motherhood and its related issues, with a move away from trying to experience the baby as unique in preference to being a 'good mother' and the notion that 'it seems not enough to assume that humans in pain and suffering would benefit from a gentle presence – the tenderness and care that meets their unique needs' (p 194), speaks in a way that can benefit a new mother. My apathy towards the title's focus on motherhood speaks more about my own life stage and feelings, and my view of it as the weakest chapter illustrates the strength of the combined.

I cannot recommend this book enough to any psychotherapist, at any stage of their development. The balance between theory and application throughout is incisive, thought-provoking and well knitted together by the editors who have managed to avoid excessive repetition of Levinas' key concepts despite the fifteen separate authors. To end my review, I draft back to the introduction that states that 'therapists often tell us they remember their academic preparation with disappointment, sometimes with regret. A genuinely therapeutic attitude, they discover later, is developed by sitting receptively with clients more than sitting in class on theory and technique' (p 6). This book provides enough theory to allow for traditional learning while deepening our understanding, and challenging us, with specific and human case studies. I am glad I have read this book and experienced it in my therapeutic youth. Go on, treat yourself and buy it.

Ben Scanlan