Therapy and the challenge of evil

This paper expresses the author's personal view on the question of evil as considered by psychotherapeutic theories. It challenges the psychotherapeut ic tendency to avoid the moral and existential dimensions of evil via the t ransformative language of psychopathology which allows theorists and practi tioners either implicitly or explicitly to rely upon metaphors of disease o r immaturity-be it physical or psychic. The author argues that such views a re problematic not least because they mimic the separatist attitudes of tho se persons who have been labelled as evil since both rely upon notions of b eing 'less than fully human'. Further, taking a perspective that is informe d by existential-phenomenological theory, the author highlights the inconsi stencies and limitations that arise when the issues surrounding evil are co nsidered from an intrapsychic perspective. As an alternative to this domina nt tendency within psychotherapy and psychology, the author presents an int er-psychic viewpoint derived, in part, from the writings of Martin Heidegge r and seeks to demonstrate that while such a perspective illuminates furthe r complexities with regard to our understanding of evil, nonetheless, it al so provides a more adequate, if disturbing, interpersonally focused viewpoi nt.