Levinas, psychotherapy, and the ethics of suffering

This article argues that by adopting a medical approach to the conceptualiz ation, diagnosis, and treatment of emotional and psychological distress, co ntemporary psychotherapy has robbed itself of the possibility of genuinely understanding the radically ethical nature and significance of human suffer ing. This article discusses both some of the original sources and assumptio ns that provided the impetus for the adoption of the medical model in psych otherapy and also some contemporary restatements of these original position s. In opposition to both the dualism and reductionism inherent in medical a pproaches to psychotherapy, this article aims at providing a more hermeneut ic-phenomenological understanding of human suffering, particularly as detai led in the work. of the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Such an altern ative approach will seek to explicate the radically ethical nature of human suffering by recognizing therapists' fundamental responsibility to "suffer -with" and "suffer-for" their clients.