Anomalous Healers: Being a therapist or a patient? About counselling with two alternative therapists

Abstract

Psychotherapy is a complex activity that requires a comprehensive training. Because of the emotional specificities of this job, supervision ensures the quality of the practice and psychological health for both the patient and the therapist. Alternative therapists can sometimes have difficulties with the transference that can occur in the therapeutic relationship with their clients. The supervision that can be offered by a clinical psychologist may be helpful in such cases, but presents particular stakes inherent to the fact of dealing with exceptional experiences. Two clinical situations from the CIRCEE, a French center dedicated to exceptional experiences, are presented below to illustrate the challenges of such a work. The psychodynamic analysis of these situations leads to a discussion about the interests and limitations of supervision and therapy. These two situations show that the profession of alternative therapist can sometimes find its origins in a process of traumatic progression. Exceptional experiences are attempts to symbolise traumatic events. Accompanying these therapists between supervision and psychotherapy opens the way to treat traumas. The therapist’s personal development, whether through supervision or psychotherapy, seems important to avoid secondary trauma due to the transferential processes.