Sintesi
“Nell’era attuale, la rivoluzione digitale e l’ascesa dei social media hanno accelerato questo processo. L’autorità non è più monopolizzata da esperti qualificati o istituzioni consolidate, ma è continuamente messa in discussione in un ambiente informativo aperto e decentralizzato. “Fatti alternativi”, cultura degli influencer e camere di risonanza algoritmiche rendono sempre più difficile per i terapeuti – o per qualsiasi professionista – rivendicare quel tipo di autorità un tempo conferita dalla formazione e dall’affiliazione istituzionale. Questo cambiamento culturale porta gli psicoterapeuti a lavorare con pazienti che potrebbero essere profondamente diffidenti nei confronti della loro competenza, più inclini a fidarsi delle reti di pari o delle comunità online e meno ricettivi nei confronti del professionista terapeutico come fonte legittima di guida. Anche all’interno della mia stessa professione, il concetto di autorità legittima è stato oggetto di continue critiche. I terapeuti umanistici ed esistenziali, ad esempio, hanno esplicitamente rifiutato l’immagine del clinico come esperto, riposizionando invece il terapeuta come collaboratore o “compagno di viaggio“…
Citazioni in lingua originale
“In the present era, the digital revolution and the rise of social media have accelerated this process. Authority is no longer monopolized by credentialed experts or established institutions but is continually contested in an open, decentralized information environment. “Alternative facts,” influencer culture, and algorithmic echo chambers make it increasingly difficult for therapists—or any professionals—to claim the kind of authority once conferred by training and institutional affiliation. This cultural shift leaves psychotherapists working with clients who may be deeply suspicious of their expertise, more inclined to trust peer networks or online communities, and less receptive to the therapeutic professional as a legitimate source of guidance.Even within my own profession, the notion of legitimate authority has been subjected to sustained critique. Humanistic and existential therapists, for example, explicitly rejected the image of the clinician as an expert, repositioning the therapist instead as a collaborator or “fellow traveler”… Many times, I’ve heard therapists describe mothers as overly controlling, unable to allow their child to separate and discover an independent identity; becoming trans, these therapists will argue, may have been the only way that child could separate from the mother and develop an identity of her own. The fact that Mom micro-manages access to the Internet and friend groups, clothing choices, pronouns, haircuts, and college funds, unwilling to make even the smallest concession to her child’s new identity and belief system, just proves the point. So they say. Maybe those moms and dads wouldn’t be so controlling if they weren’t terrified of their child doing irreversible damage to their bodies with hormones and surgery. Maybe the control isn’t the cause but the result of their child’s trans-identification. Maybe the parents would have more easily tolerated a son or daughter’s efforts to individuate if the path chosen didn’t involve sterility, amputation of body parts, and diminished life expectancy. They might have behaved quite differently many decades ago, in an entirely different social milieu.”.