Class Relations in Psychotherapy

This work begins with the observation that social class significantly influences the distribution of psychosocial distress in society, yet the specific social situation and position of those involved in psychotherapy far too often represent a blind spot. The project therefore aims to reconstruct the significance of class relations in therapy and focuses on the perspective of the practitioners. The study centers on their symbolic boundary-drawing and classification practices when dealing with patients from diverse social backgrounds. The study specifically inquires into which norms of competent self-management are employed by the practitioners, how they use these to address the situation of their patients—who are marked by current employment crises, acute threats of downward mobility, and denied aspirations of upward mobility—and in what ways the therapy contributes to the renegotiation or reproduction of class-related inequalities. The analysis is based on ethnographic observations and interviews with practitioners in eight psychosomatic clinics.