TÖÖTUBA

Psychotherapy meets philosophy meets people

"Out of balance. Basic polarities and their derailments"

The world seems to becoming apart at the seams. The previously assumed certainties that have guided

us safely through life are losing their substance, and the sustainability of the respective "constructions of life" and the process of finding meaning seems fragile.

On the one hand, we could claim that as therapists we are always at the limits of “normality”, at the fault lines of a successful life, where doubt and suffering can (temporarily) gain the upper hand without really knowing where the path will ultimately lead.

On the other hand, we have the feeling that something has fundamentally changed in recent years. 

Gradually, from awareness of the ecological crisis to the pandemic and the economic escalation to the not-too-distant wars. One crisis seems to overshadow another, and each one is communicated in real time via digital media. What does this mean for us psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counselors and coaches?

Are the crises described above reflected in our practice? And if so, how? How does this change our work and our self-image as professional helpers, and what does this mean for the relationship between me and the client? And finally: How do I as a therapist deal with the uncertainties, ambiguities and contradictions described above? Can I also be insecure, anxious and helpless, and how can I deal with

this professionally in practice?

In order to discuss this and experience it through encounters, we are delighted to invite Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Fuchs for a one-day workshop.

Thomas Fuchs is a psychiatrist and philosopher, his scientific specialties include phenomenological anthropology, psychopathology and psychotherapy as well as the theory and ethics of psychiatry and neuroscience.

"Out of balance. Basic polarities and their derailments."

Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Fuchs:

In various developments of the present, we are dealing with disturbances of systemic equilibria, where unpredictable tipping and extreme phenomena occur.

This also corresponds to the Greek concept of crisis, as a situation in which a conflict intensifies and a decision is imminent, which can lead in opposing directions. An understanding of fundamental psychological and social polarities can help shed light on these situations of balance loss.

Starting from the polarity of living beings between differentiation and exchange with the environment, I examine the polarities of the psyche, where the regulation of proximity and distance, relationship and

autonomy, and other polarities are among the fundamental tasks. Balancing such opposites represents a central prerequisite for psychological health.

I then move on to psychological disorders in terms of the loss of balance, insofar as the integration of opposites no longer succeeds, leading to derailments and fixed extreme positions. Finally, I consider two phenomena of current societal loss of balance, namely with respect to the polarity of trust and distrust, and of cyclical and linear time.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Fuchs, psychiatrist and philosopher, is Karl Jaspers Professor of Philosophy and Psychiatry at Heidelberg University, Germany.

• His main areas of research include phenome­nological philosophy and psychopathology, embodied and enactive cognitive science, and interactive concepts of social cognition. His clinical work focuses on the psychopathology and psychotherapy of affective and schizophrenic disorders.

• Professor Fuchs has authored over 400 journal articles, book chapters and several books. He is editor-in-chief of “Psychopathology” and president of the German Society of Phenomenological Anthropology and Psychopathology (DGAP).

• In 2023, he was awarded the Erich-Fromm Price for humanistic psychology.

Kontakt:

thomas.fuchs@urz.uni-heidelberg.de / www.thomas-fuchs.uni-hd.de 

Recent publications:

• Ecology of the Brain. The Phenomenology and Biology of the Embodied Mind. Oxford University Press, 2018.
• In Defense of the Human Being. Foundational Questions of an Embodied Anthropology. Oxford University Press, 2021.
• Fuchs, T. (2023) Psychiatrie als Beziehungsmedizin. Ein ökologisches Paradigma. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart.
• Fuchs, T. (2024) Verkörperte Gefühle. Zur Phänomenologie von Affektivität und Interaffektivität. Suhrkamp, Berlin.