TY - JOUR
T1 - Intimacy and distance in staff-group relationships
AU - Kron, T.
AU - Yungman, R.
PY - 1984
Y1 - 1984
N2 - The authors interpret the dynamics of transitions between two states in staff-group relations, intimacy and distance, in the conceptual framework of Martin Buber's dialogue philosophy. The first part of the article deals with the nature of I-You and I-It relations, pointing to the different views of human existence held by the dialogue philosophy and by psychoanalytic theory. A basic concept in Jewish Kabbalistic philosophy, that of contraction, is used to describe the process that enables the I-You relationship to occur. In the second part of the article, the dynamics of I-You and I-It relations in the therapeutic community are described and illustrated by clinical material. It is shown how the staff and/or the group can attain I-You relationships by contracting themselves and, thereby, making room for the other. Although, as Buber himself noted, every I-You relation must, of necessity, change into an I-It relation - a change which entails the pain of loss - the readiness to enter again into an I-You relationship is what makes life possible, even for those most isolated and alienated.
AB - The authors interpret the dynamics of transitions between two states in staff-group relations, intimacy and distance, in the conceptual framework of Martin Buber's dialogue philosophy. The first part of the article deals with the nature of I-You and I-It relations, pointing to the different views of human existence held by the dialogue philosophy and by psychoanalytic theory. A basic concept in Jewish Kabbalistic philosophy, that of contraction, is used to describe the process that enables the I-You relationship to occur. In the second part of the article, the dynamics of I-You and I-It relations in the therapeutic community are described and illustrated by clinical material. It is shown how the staff and/or the group can attain I-You relationships by contracting themselves and, thereby, making room for the other. Although, as Buber himself noted, every I-You relation must, of necessity, change into an I-It relation - a change which entails the pain of loss - the readiness to enter again into an I-You relationship is what makes life possible, even for those most isolated and alienated.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0021707615&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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AN - SCOPUS:0021707615
SN - 0196-1365
VL - 5
SP - 99
EP - 109
JO - International Journal of Therapeutic Communities
JF - International Journal of Therapeutic Communities
IS - 2
ER -