Honesty and Dishonesty: The Things We Never Say
Truth-telling conundrums, great and small, frequently confront psychotherapists, but are rarely framed in terms of value-laden language like “honesty.” Because many of us today live in a milieu of “alternative truths,” honesty can be even harder to determine: cloudier, or more distorted.
Therapists hear from patients about ways that patients themselves, or significant people in their lives, are dishonest. Therapists wonder how honest patients are in their sessions. Patients wonder if therapists are being honest with them about everything from diagnosis, to prognosis, to their social desirability, or about the therapist’s own political affiliations. Therapists also make choices about how honest to be with supervisors, insurers, or licensing authorities. Sometimes therapists remind themselves and their patients that two opposing truths, especially emotional truths, can both be true. Yet many believe that the more unfathomable truth and honesty, the more important for therapists’ discernment, because
“emotional access to the truth is the indispensable precondition of healing.” (Alice Miller, 1991).
Therapists often witness profound moments of truth in their clients, and are open to and have experienced profound moments of truth in themselves. Such epiphanies are often turning points in life, sometimes joyful and celebratory and other times grief and pain filled. To arrive at such a truth may require the safety of the therapeutic relationship, persistence with a life problem, or the courage to face something difficult, or even the courage to simply yield and allow some softer truth to displace adamancy.
For this 62nd volume of Voices, we are looking for papers up to 4000 words on the theme of honesty and dishonesty in psychotherapy and social relations. As always, in Voices, we are especially interested in the subjective or experiential, and in the person of the psychotherapist, and in book and movie reviews related to the theme, as well as poetry and visual art. We also consider strong articles on other subjects related to psychotherapy. Please see our guidelines for submissions:
www.aapweb.com/voices-journal/contributor-guidelines
— The Voices Editorial Committee
