The Interactive Phenomenal Field and the Life Space: A Sketch of an Ecological Concept of Psychotherapy

Abstract

Based on the phenomenology of the body and ecological psychology, this paper introduces a series of concepts that enable us to overcome the still prevailing idea of an inner psyche and a corresponding individualistic view of psychopathology. These concepts are the phenomenal field, lived space, intercorporeality, and body memory; they correspond to an embodied, enactive, and ecological view of the mind. On their basis, psychiatric illnesses may be conceived as relational disorders resulting in various restrictions and impairments of the patient’s lived space. The main tasks of psychotherapy, then, are to use the interactive phenomenal field as a means of restructuring the patient’s relational patterns and to support his or her capacity to engage in more beneficial interactions with others. In this way, phenomenology can valuably contribute to a deeper understanding of the intricate processes of the psychotherapeutic encounter.