Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy in Turkey: Navigating Equity and Sociocultural Change

Abstract

ABSTRACT Third order thinking takes a metaview that links micro-level relationship processes with larger societal contexts. In Turkey, traditional and collectivist values originating generations ago and egalitarian and individualistic goals that emerged with the effects of modernization create tensions in family structures and intimate relationship dynamics. The familialist and conservative perspective that has dominated the political context in recent years and the discourse of equality, interpreted as sameness, exacerbate this tension. In this article, we discuss how to apply Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) in Turkey, a critical-social constructionist approach that enables practitioners to address how power imbalances and inequalities in larger societal contexts are manifested in the therapy room. Beginning with sociocultural attunement, SERT aims to transform social processes that prevent couples from developing mutually supportive relationships. It uses third order thinking to make power dynamics and sociocultural contexts visible, which enables partners to create alternatives to inequitable power processes by making sense of their experiences with a broader lens. Drawing on a heterosexual couple case example, we introduce the principles of SERT, the Circle of Care, and the clinical sequence and illustrate application in the Turkish sociocultural context.