Like death, the defining human reality underlying our relationships and views of life's meaning, the experiences and activities of undertakers, remains an uncommon subject for psychological research. Existential anxiety roots a society-wide denial of the fundamental nature of death. which necessitates the development of institutions to take responsibility for the dying and dead. As the image and service of the stigmatised funeral industry improves, society's experience of death should become more meaningful. The overview of the research into these topics noted the need for further studies. Within a holistic, ecosystemic epistemology, this study adopted a qualitative approach and case study method, which provided descriptions of the ecology, contexts, and relationships characteristic .of the undertaker's vocation by focussing on patterned expressions of views and attitudes. The aim was to gain insight into the undertaker's experience of the many faces of death, with a genuine interest and deep respect for their world. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Die objek van studie in hierdie proefskrif is ietwat ongewoon. Die studie is outobiografies en is gegrond op die aanname dat daar tussen die psigoterapeut, sy geskiedenis, die wetenskap (etnografie en tweede-orde kubernetika) en die klient(e) 'n unieke patroonverband bestaan. Die psigoterapeut in die platteland het weens afstand of finansies nie altyd die voorreg om supervisie van 'n eksterne supervisor te ontvang nie. In so 'n situasie kan selfsupervisie, deurdat dit 'n proses van selfontdekking is, 'n belangrike rol in die psigoterapeut se selfontwikkeling speel. Selfsupervisie plaas die klem op die psigoterapeut as persoon en as terapeut; oor wie hy is, waar hy vandaan kom en waarheen hy binne die psigoterapeutiese proses op pad is. Vir enige psigoterapeut is dit belangrik om na 'n hoer vlak van psigoterapie te streef. Hierdie strewe impliseer 'n proses van selfondersoek, delwing, selfevaluasie en disseksie. Hierdie proses is aan die hand van dagboekinskrywings gedoen, waar die psigoterapeut sy daaglikse ervarings en gebeurtenisse vanuit die verlede interpreteer het. Dit plaas die psigoterapeut as hoofspeler, met sy familiegeskiedenis en huidige interpersoonlike opset as inherente deel van sy mondering, op die voorgrond. In hierdie proses word die psigoterapeut sentraal geplaas met die klem op eie verantwoordelikheid met betrekking tot die proses van selfsupervisie. Die probleme wat deur hierdie persoonlik gekleurde, wetenskaplike studie aangespreek word, is probleme wat die psigoterapeut deur middel van sy selfsupervisie ge1dentifiseer het. So 'n selfondersoek lei tot 'n diepere selfkennis wat die psigoterapeut tot voordeel van homself, sy gesinsisteem en klientsisteem kan gebruik. Hierdie studie is 'n poging om 'n nuwe wyse van navorsing te identifiseer. Dit is omvattend en lei tot persoonlike vervulling asook diepere selfkennis en is 'n man waardeur ander psigoterapeute ook hulself en hul werelde kan ontdek. Dit is 'n stadige en pynlike proses. Hoofstukke 1 tot 4 is die teoretiese, wetenskaplike beredenering van die studie en hoofstukke 5 tot 12 is 'n uitbeelding van die geskiedenis van die psigoterapeut. Hoofstuk 13 plaas selfsupervisie as selfevalueringsmetode binne die psigoterapeutiese beroep. / The object of this study somewhat unusual. The study is an autobiography based on the assumption that there exists an unique patterned connection between the psychotherapist, his history, science (ethnography and second-order cybernetics), and his clients. Due to distance or financial problems, a rural psychotherapist cannot experience the privilege of supervision with an external supervisor. In such a situation selfsupervision could play an important role in the self-development, because it includes a search of self that will lead to more effectiveness in psychotherapy. Self-supervision focuses on the psychotherapist as a person and therapist, who he is, where he comes from, and in what direction he, as a psychotherapist, is developing within the psychotherapeutic process. It is important to any psychotherapist to strive towards a higher level of psychotherapy. This implies a process of selfinvestigation, dissection and self-evaluation. This process was conducted by means of diary entries in which the psychotherapist interpreted his daily experiences and events in terms of his past. This places the psychotherapist, with his family history and current interpersonal situation, as intrinsic parts of himself, in the foreground. In this process the psychotherapist takes centre stage with emphasis on his responsibility concerning the process of self-supervision. The problems addressed by this personally coloured, scientific study, are problems that the psychotherapist identified through the process of self-supervision and introspection. Such introspection leads to a deeper personal knowledge which the psychotherapist can use to his own benefit but also to the benefit of his family and client system. This study is an attempt to identify a new way of research. It is comprehensive and leads to personal fulfilment and deeper self-knowledge and is also a method by which other psychotherapists could discover themselves and their worlds. It is a slow and painful process. Chapters 1 to 4 comprise of the theoretical rationale of the study and chapters 5 to 12 depict the history of the psychotherapist. Chapter 13 situates self-supervision as a method of self-evaluation in the profession of psychotherapy. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.

Text in English / This research explores the meaning of the first and second-order therapeutic stances with reference to the therapist's professional and personal development. The dominant positivist paradigm was reflected in the therapist's initial position of expert observer, outside of the observed. The observed phenomena were a group of children suffering from thalassemia major, a terminal genetic disease, and their mothers. The initial idea of short-term intervention and focus on the observed evolved into six-year journey where the observer and the observed became an interconnected unit of observation, understanding and change. A first-order stance led to therapeutic stuckness, where the therapist's confrontation with her therapeutic failure and the limitations of the dominant paradigm provoked a deconstruction of the expert position and promoted a self-reflexive therapeutic stance. The author's self-searching process took her back to her personal self, her family of origin and the ''wounded healer". The researcher moved from an initial disconnection between her professional and personal selves to an awareness of the interface between the two and, ultimately, to a unification of her professional and personal selves. Such development involved an individuation process moving from a narcissistic belief in her objective stance towards a therapeutic stance where she sees herself less as a powerful agent of change and moves to an increasingly higher order of integration of the professional and personal selves (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992). The process with the children and mothers shifted from a focus on compliance and medical issues to more personal and emotional stories. The therapist's participation and collaborative stance created a context for change, where greatly improved medical compliance was just one of the many transformations experienced by all the participants. The researcher speculates that development of a second-order stance requires second-order change, which comes "at the end of long, often frustrating mental and emotional labor" (Watzlawick et al., 1974, p. 23), promoting integration between the professional and personal selves of the therapist. The researcher therefore contends that this process has important implications for psychotherapy training, supervision and continuing education. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Es planteja la fonamentació d'un model integrat de formació humana, desenvolupament i intervenció organitzacional en un context pedagògic socioeducatiu. S'explicita un nucli d'intel·ligibilitat epistemològic, (Gergen, 1996) i es desenvolupen els seus continguts metateòrics, teòrics i metodològics Per a situar el model en una perspectiva metateòrica constructivista i construccionista social, s'examinen dos canvis considerats rellevants en les explicacions epistemològiques de la ciència que donen suport a aquesta perspectiva: el gir lingüístic i el que els biòlegs biocibernètics de la modernitat anomenen gir ontològic. Aquests fonaments científics del constructivisme, es recullen en el disseny del model que es fa càrrec de tres explicacions plantejades per aquests girs així com de les seves conseqüències. El disseny del model assumeix aquestes distincions i estableix un creuament amb els desenvolupaments post-analítics del gir lingüístic en la comprensió performativa del llenguatge, per a la concepció de l'organització com una xarxa de converses. Assumeix el caràcter emergent de la conducta lingüística en l'acoblament amb el medi. aquest acoblament estructural s'entén enactivament mitjançant l'ús recursiu del llenguatge, per a generar compromisos vers un aprenentatge que integri les persones al sistema. El disseny reencuadra la investigació-acció utilitzant eines de cibernètica de primer ordre en una cibernètica de segon ordre, mitjançant converses recurrents per articular les metes de l'organització amb l'espai relacional. Incorpora metodologies de primera persona performatives i comunicacionals com eines per integrar la dimensió dels valors d'un mateix amb les metes de l'organització amb l'objectiu de reproduir-la mitjançant la integració social. Opera mitjançant el treball en grup per tal que les converses es situïn en la segona persona, (jo-altres), per tal de possibilitar l'emergència de la primera persona.Assumeix la distinció de les dues dimensiones del ésser cognitiu (Varela 2000): una d'enllaç mitjançant el llenguatge per la coderiva del sistema amb el medi, i una dimensió d'excedent de significació, és a dir, d'interpretació per a la reformulació de la experiència en el llenguatge (narrativa), que conservi aquest acoblament amb el medi. Per tal de reduir les pertorbacions que provoca el trencament de l'acoblament emergeix la interpretació com l'alternativa per a generar possibilitats d'acció; passar d'un estat present amb trencaments per fer emergir un estat desitjat com a futur viable. En aquesta escletxa que s'obre en l'espai relacional entre l'estat present i l'estat desitjat pren sentit l'ús d'aquestes eines de conversa per a accedir a un rerefons amb mirada compartida. L'estat desitjat acoblat al llenguatge opera com un feed-forward positiu per a la construcció de sentit. S'ajuda a més d'una visió binocular del canvi, analitzant dos series categorials de pensament en la modernitat. Finalment es descriu l'aplicació i els resultats del Model en una organització de serveis de salut. / Se plantea la fundamentación de un modelo integrado de formación humana, capacitación e intervención organizacional en un contexto pedagógico socio educativo. Explicita un núcleo de inteligibilidad epistemológico, (Gergen, 1996) desarrollando sus contenidos metateoricos, teóricos y metodológico Para situar el modelo en una perspectiva metateórico constructivista y construccionista social, se examinan dos cambios considerados relevantes en las explicaciones epistemológicas de la ciencia que dan sustento a esta perspectiva: el giro lingüístico y el llamado por los biólogos biocibernéticos giro ontológico de la modernidad. Estos fundamentos científicos del constructivismo contenidos en este último, se recogen en el diseño del modelo, que se hace cargo de tres explicaciones que dejan planteadas este giro y de las consecuencias que de ellas surgen para su formalización.- El diseño del modelo asume estas distinciones y realiza un cruce con los desarrollos post analíticos del giro lingüístico en la comprensión performativa del lenguaje, para la concepción de la organización como una red de conversaciones. Asume el carácter emergente de la conducta lingüística en el acoplamiento con el medio. Este acoplamiento estructural se entiende enactivamente mediante el uso recursivo del lenguaje, para generar compromisos para un aprendizaje que integre las personas al sistema. El diseño es un Modelo autopoiético que metodológicamente reencuadra la investigación-acción usando herramientas de cibernética de primer orden en una cibernética de segundo orden, mediante conversaciones recurrentes para articular las metas de la organización con el espacio relacional. Incorpora metodologías de primera persona performativas comunicacionales como herramientas para integrar la dimensión valórica del si mismo con las metas de la organización, para reproducirla mediante integración social. Opera mediante trabajo grupal para que las conversaciones se sitúen en la segunda persona, (yo-otros), para posibilitar la emergencia de la primera persona.Asume la distinción de las dos dimensiones del ser cognitivo (Varela 2000), una de enlace mediante el lenguaje para la coderiva del sistema con el medio, y una dimensión de excedente de significación, esto es, de interpretación para la reformulación de la experiencia en el lenguaje (narrativa), que conserve ese acoplamiento con el medio. Para reducir las perturbaciones que provocan el quiebre del acoplamiento emerge la interpretación como la alternativa para generar posibilidades de acción, pasar de un estado presente con quiebres para hacer emerger un estado deseado como futuro viable. En esa brecha que se abre en el espacio relacional entre el estado presente y el estado deseado hace sentido el uso de estas herramientas conversacionales para acceder a un trasfondo con mirada compartida. El estado deseado acoplado al lenguaje opera como un feed forward positivo para la construcción de sentido. Se apoya para ello, además, en una visión binocular del cambio, analizando dos series categoriales de pensamiento en la modernidad. Finalmente se describe la aplicación y resultados del Modelo en una organización de servicios de salud. / The foundation for an integrated model of human formation, training and organizational intervention within a socio-educational pedagogic context is presented here. It explicits an epistemological intelligibility core (Gergen, 1996) developing its theoretical, metatheoretical and methodological contents. To place the model into a metatheoretical social constructivism and social constructionist perspective, two relevant considered shifts in epistemological explanations of science that supports this perspective are reviewed: the linguistic turn and the so called by biocybernetical biologists ontological turn of modernity. These scientific foundations of constructivism contained in this turn, are brought into the model design that takes charge of three explanations put forward by the turn and the consequences arising from them for its formalization.The design of the model assumes these distinctions and performs a crossing with the post analytical developments of the linguistic turn in the performative comprehension of language, for conceiving the organization as a network of conversations. It assumes the emerging character of linguistic behavior in coupling to the environment. This structural coupling is enactively understood through the recursive use of language, to generate commitments for a learning that integrates persons to the system.The design is an autopoietical model that methodologically reframes research-action using tools of first order cybernetics within a second order cybernetics, through recurrent conversations to articulate organization's goals with the relational space. It incorporates communicational first person performative methodologies as tools to integrate the valoric dimension of the self with the organization's goals, to reproduce it through social integration. It operates through group work placing conversations in second person (I - others), for making the emergence of the first person possible.It assumes the distinction of the two dimensions of the cognitive being (Varela, 2000), one as a link of language for the co-derive of the system with the environment and one as signification surplus, that is, of interpretation for the reformulation of the experience in language (narrative), that keep that coupling with the environment.Interpretation emerges as the alternative for generating action possibilities to reduce perturbations that provoke the breaking of coupling, to go through a present state with breakings to an emergent wished state as a viable future. In this breach opened in the relational space between the present state and the wished state the use of these conversational tools makes sense to access a background with shared vision. The wished state coupled to language operates as a positive feed forward for constructing meaning. It also supports itself on a binocular vision of change, analyzing two categorical series of thought in modernity.Finally, the application and results of the model are described within a health services organization.

Die in der Geschichte der Künste als Neoavantgarde der frühen 1960er Jahre bezeichneten Entwicklungen der Grenzüberschreitung und Prozessorientierung bilden in exemplarischen Analysen das Zentrum des Gegenstandsbereichs dieser Arbeit. Sie umfassen sowohl die grundlegenden Innovationen, die - von John Cages Ideen und Konzeptionen angestoßen – die Arbeit der Komponisten/Performer der Live Electronic Music prägten, wie die Erweiterung der künstlerischen Materialien und Veränderung der Verfahren der Bildenden Kunst seit Happening und Fluxus. Sie umfassen die minimalistischen Verschiebungen des Verständnisses von Körper-Bewegung und Objekten in der Tanz/Performance vor allem der New Yorker Judson Dance Group und die performative Erforschung der Grundlagen von Kino/Film-Wahrnehmung im Expanded Cinema. An diesen drei Bereichen wird eine doppelte historische Bewegung aufgezeigt: zum einen die des Durchstreichens, Verschiebens, Ersetzens konventionalisierter Parameter und Wert-Hierarchien; zum anderen eine durch den Entwicklungsschub technischer Medien und deren Auswirkungen auf Gesellschaft und Wahrnehmung angestoßenes Interesse an der Verbindung von Kunst und Medien. Eine wichtige Schnittstelle dieser Entwicklungen manifestiert sich in den Aufführungen der inzwischen legendären Nine Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, die 1966 in New York stattfanden. Die Analyse dieses Ereignisses, des Arbeitsprozesses, der ihm vorausging und an dem in gleicher Weise Künstler und Ingenieure beteiligt waren, wie der einzelnen Performances bildet einen Ausgangspunkt dieser Untersuchung. Dass Systemtheorie und Kybernetik als Denkmodelle für die Kunstproduktion erschlossen werden sollten, lässt sich nicht nur anhand der Manifestationen dieses Ereignisses zeigen, sondern auch anhand der Analyse zeitgenössischer Diskurse im Kunstfeld nachweisen. Live Electronic Arts heißt in diesem Zusammenhang: das unmittelbar (aktuell) vorgeführte Handeln mit technischen Medien in einer performativen Anordnung. Diese Verbindung wird von den Künstlern selbst als Mensch/Maschine-Kopplung verstanden – der Konstruktionsprozess wird zu einem wesentlichen Bestandteil künstlerischer Strategie. Der Einbezug zeitgenössischer Technologien wird so nicht als Frage nach der Neuartigkeit von Darstellungsmodi relevant, sondern als eine Frage nach Prozessen des Regelns, Steuerns und der Signalübertragung (control&communication) – also nach den Prozessen, die das Agieren mit ihnen strukturieren. Ausgehend von den Nine Evenings und der an ihnen beteiligten Künstler – Musiker, Tänzer und Choreographen sowie Bildende Künstler und Filmemacher – widmet sich die Arbeit in detaillierter Untersuchung den Versuchsreihen der einzelnen Künstler, denen die experimentellen Performances zugerechnet werden können. Sie zeigt für alle drei Bereiche – Live Electronic Music, die performativen Praktiken der Judson Dance Group und Expanded Cinema – unter welchen Bedingungen, ein Interesse und die Arbeit an der Kopplung von Körper-Bewegung und technischen Systemen entstand. / The developments of transgression and process-orientation, which in art history are designated as the Neo-Avantgarde of the early 1960s, form the central subject of this text with its exemplary analyses. They involve the fundamental innovations, which - initiated by John Cage's ideas and concepts - characterised the work of the composers/performers of Live Electronic Music, as well as the expansion of artistic materials and the modification of art's techniques since Happening and Fluxus. They also cover the minimalistic shifts in the understanding of bodily movement and objects above all in the dance/performance of the New York based Judson Dance Group and the performative investigation of the foundations of cinema/film perception in the Expanded Cinema. A twofold historical movement is illustrated in these three areas: on the one hand, the movement of cancellation, postponement, substitution of conventional parameters and value hierarchies; on the other, one of interest in the connection between art and the media triggered by the thrust of development in the technological media and their effects on society and perception. An important point of intersection of these developments manifests itself in the performances of the since legendary Nine Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, which took place in New York in 1966. The analysis of this event, of the process of work that preceded it and which involved artists and engineers in equal measure, as well as of the individual performances forms the basis of this investigation. That system theory and cybernetics should be developed as a working hypothesis for art production can be demonstrated not only through manifestations of this event, but also through contemporary discourses in the field of art. In this context, Live Electronic Arts means the immediately (currently) performed action in a perfomative configuration using technological media. The artists themselves understand this relation as an interconnection of human being and machine. The process of construction becomes an essential component of the artistic strategy. The inclusion of contemporary technologies becomes relevant not as a question about the novelty of the modes of representation, but as a question about the processes of structuring, regulating and the transmission of signals (control & communication), thus about processes that structure the performance with these technologies. Beginning with the Nine Evenings and the participating artists (musicians, dancers, choreographers, as well as visual artists and film makers), this text provides a detailed investigation into the series of experiments of the individual artists, to which the experimental performances can be attributed. It demonstrates for all three areas (Live Electronic Music, the perfomative practices of the Judson Dance Group, and Expanded Cinema) under what circumstances interest in and work on the interconnection of bodily movement and technological systems arose.

Thesis (M.S.)-- Air Force Institute of Technology. / The original document contains color images.

For many people music is an important aspect of their daily life. Music preference is a complex subject tied to social identity, personality, leisure activities, religion, family and friends, and so forth. Music is also a form of expression, which is communicated to the public over various mediums and formats. The themes depicted in music media (music in the form of television, radio, and internet sources, both auditory and visually presented) are vast owing to the array of different artists and their individual worldviews that they put on offer for the public. The lyrical content and/or imagery put forward by musicians depicts an array of different themes, which are contextualised by individuals in their personal conception of their favourite music. The meaning that listeners/viewers attach to their music is equally related to their own background and life experience, including their belief system (religion). There has been a controversial increase in the sexualisation and explicitness of music media; however, there is a gap in the intersection between music, sex, and religiosity as a field of study. Understanding the influence of music media requires an understanding of the people who are experiencing this content. Taking a cybernetic approach and the position of the listener who determines the meaning of an utterance, as put forward by cyberneticist Heinz von Foerster, this study is a reflexive contextual enquiry into how people are experiencing and interpreting their music media and whether this media challenges their view on religion (if they consider themselves aligned to a religion). To address this broad research question, a two-part study was conducted. The first part consisted of a quantitative study of 459 students from the University of Johannesburg to obtain a snapshot of a young adult demographic in terms of their music media, sexuality, and religiosity choices. Thereafter, using the results from this first part of the study, a qualitative interview-based study was conducted. Together the quantitative and qualitative studies provide a basis for answering the main research question. The results show that the young adults in the study are thinking beings, not just manipulated by mainstream music media; rather, they decide what is right for them often motivated by their views on religion. Methodologies used in religious studies have been subject to criticism. One specific aspect is the lack of acknowledgment of epistemology within research designs. In addressing this critique, a second- order cybernetic study was conducted. By introducing a cybernetic approach to qualitative religious study, a new approach is thus also presented which is called A Reflexive Recursive Learning Approach to Religious Studies. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Like death, the defining human reality underlying our relationships and views of life's meaning, the experiences and activities of undertakers, remains an uncommon subject for psychological research. Existential anxiety roots a society-wide denial of the fundamental nature of death. which necessitates the development of institutions to take responsibility for the dying and dead. As the image and service of the stigmatised funeral industry improves, society's experience of death should become more meaningful. The overview of the research into these topics noted the need for further studies. Within a holistic, ecosystemic epistemology, this study adopted a qualitative approach and case study method, which provided descriptions of the ecology, contexts, and relationships characteristic .of the undertaker's vocation by focussing on patterned expressions of views and attitudes. The aim was to gain insight into the undertaker's experience of the many faces of death, with a genuine interest and deep respect for their world. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Die objek van studie in hierdie proefskrif is ietwat ongewoon. Die studie is outobiografies en is gegrond op die aanname dat daar tussen die psigoterapeut, sy geskiedenis, die wetenskap (etnografie en tweede-orde kubernetika) en die klient(e) 'n unieke patroonverband bestaan. Die psigoterapeut in die platteland het weens afstand of finansies nie altyd die voorreg om supervisie van 'n eksterne supervisor te ontvang nie. In so 'n situasie kan selfsupervisie, deurdat dit 'n proses van selfontdekking is, 'n belangrike rol in die psigoterapeut se selfontwikkeling speel. Selfsupervisie plaas die klem op die psigoterapeut as persoon en as terapeut; oor wie hy is, waar hy vandaan kom en waarheen hy binne die psigoterapeutiese proses op pad is. Vir enige psigoterapeut is dit belangrik om na 'n hoer vlak van psigoterapie te streef. Hierdie strewe impliseer 'n proses van selfondersoek, delwing, selfevaluasie en disseksie. Hierdie proses is aan die hand van dagboekinskrywings gedoen, waar die psigoterapeut sy daaglikse ervarings en gebeurtenisse vanuit die verlede interpreteer het. Dit plaas die psigoterapeut as hoofspeler, met sy familiegeskiedenis en huidige interpersoonlike opset as inherente deel van sy mondering, op die voorgrond. In hierdie proses word die psigoterapeut sentraal geplaas met die klem op eie verantwoordelikheid met betrekking tot die proses van selfsupervisie. Die probleme wat deur hierdie persoonlik gekleurde, wetenskaplike studie aangespreek word, is probleme wat die psigoterapeut deur middel van sy selfsupervisie ge1dentifiseer het. So 'n selfondersoek lei tot 'n diepere selfkennis wat die psigoterapeut tot voordeel van homself, sy gesinsisteem en klientsisteem kan gebruik. Hierdie studie is 'n poging om 'n nuwe wyse van navorsing te identifiseer. Dit is omvattend en lei tot persoonlike vervulling asook diepere selfkennis en is 'n man waardeur ander psigoterapeute ook hulself en hul werelde kan ontdek. Dit is 'n stadige en pynlike proses. Hoofstukke 1 tot 4 is die teoretiese, wetenskaplike beredenering van die studie en hoofstukke 5 tot 12 is 'n uitbeelding van die geskiedenis van die psigoterapeut. Hoofstuk 13 plaas selfsupervisie as selfevalueringsmetode binne die psigoterapeutiese beroep. / The object of this study somewhat unusual. The study is an autobiography based on the assumption that there exists an unique patterned connection between the psychotherapist, his history, science (ethnography and second-order cybernetics), and his clients. Due to distance or financial problems, a rural psychotherapist cannot experience the privilege of supervision with an external supervisor. In such a situation selfsupervision could play an important role in the self-development, because it includes a search of self that will lead to more effectiveness in psychotherapy. Self-supervision focuses on the psychotherapist as a person and therapist, who he is, where he comes from, and in what direction he, as a psychotherapist, is developing within the psychotherapeutic process. It is important to any psychotherapist to strive towards a higher level of psychotherapy. This implies a process of selfinvestigation, dissection and self-evaluation. This process was conducted by means of diary entries in which the psychotherapist interpreted his daily experiences and events in terms of his past. This places the psychotherapist, with his family history and current interpersonal situation, as intrinsic parts of himself, in the foreground. In this process the psychotherapist takes centre stage with emphasis on his responsibility concerning the process of self-supervision. The problems addressed by this personally coloured, scientific study, are problems that the psychotherapist identified through the process of self-supervision and introspection. Such introspection leads to a deeper personal knowledge which the psychotherapist can use to his own benefit but also to the benefit of his family and client system. This study is an attempt to identify a new way of research. It is comprehensive and leads to personal fulfilment and deeper self-knowledge and is also a method by which other psychotherapists could discover themselves and their worlds. It is a slow and painful process. Chapters 1 to 4 comprise of the theoretical rationale of the study and chapters 5 to 12 depict the history of the psychotherapist. Chapter 13 situates self-supervision as a method of self-evaluation in the profession of psychotherapy. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.

Text in English / This research explores the meaning of the first and second-order therapeutic stances with reference to the therapist's professional and personal development. The dominant positivist paradigm was reflected in the therapist's initial position of expert observer, outside of the observed. The observed phenomena were a group of children suffering from thalassemia major, a terminal genetic disease, and their mothers. The initial idea of short-term intervention and focus on the observed evolved into six-year journey where the observer and the observed became an interconnected unit of observation, understanding and change. A first-order stance led to therapeutic stuckness, where the therapist's confrontation with her therapeutic failure and the limitations of the dominant paradigm provoked a deconstruction of the expert position and promoted a self-reflexive therapeutic stance. The author's self-searching process took her back to her personal self, her family of origin and the ''wounded healer". The researcher moved from an initial disconnection between her professional and personal selves to an awareness of the interface between the two and, ultimately, to a unification of her professional and personal selves. Such development involved an individuation process moving from a narcissistic belief in her objective stance towards a therapeutic stance where she sees herself less as a powerful agent of change and moves to an increasingly higher order of integration of the professional and personal selves (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992). The process with the children and mothers shifted from a focus on compliance and medical issues to more personal and emotional stories. The therapist's participation and collaborative stance created a context for change, where greatly improved medical compliance was just one of the many transformations experienced by all the participants. The researcher speculates that development of a second-order stance requires second-order change, which comes "at the end of long, often frustrating mental and emotional labor" (Watzlawick et al., 1974, p. 23), promoting integration between the professional and personal selves of the therapist. The researcher therefore contends that this process has important implications for psychotherapy training, supervision and continuing education. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)