The Personal, the Political, And The Psychotherapeutic

It is unthinkable that the turbulence of recent global events will leave couple and family relationships unaffected. Yet the focus of therapists is unlikely to extend much beyond family relationships in understanding and working with the problems of those seeking their help. Is this limited focus justifiable? Can an understanding of psychological processes in couple relationships, especially those around oppression, inform an understanding of political conflict? What implications might there be for psychotherapists? These questions arise from considering intersections between private and public domains of life in four contexts: the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union; the global pandemic of Covid-19; the war in Ukraine; and the climate emergency.