Abstract
How is it possible to help children with parents suffering from mental disorders and/or drug abuse issues so serious that they have difficulty providing good enough care? Currently, conversation groups with a psychoeducational approach are a popular initiative. In this chapter, the authors question the relevance of this initiative when it comes to meeting children’s basic human need for care and their desire to be taken seriously as meaning-making subjects. The authors argue for a change of approach from psychoeducation to an ethics-based practice inspired by the ideas of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the hermeneutics of German philosophers Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger. The empirical basis of the argument is the second author’s narratives about different interactive situations in seven conversation groups for children with parents suffering from mental disorders and/or drug abuse issues (mostly alcoholism) over a period of 2 years. The data material for the narratives consists of about 200 h of observation and dialogues with group leaders and children.
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Notes
- 1.
It is also conceivable that the manuals may prevent burnout since they invite the group leaders to take a general position in the conversations with the children, which does not presuppose emotional involvement. But we need more empirical data to conclude anything about whether the manuals contribute to or prevent burnout or do both.
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Nordtug, B., Grimsgaard, C. (2021). On the Care of Children Entrusted in our Hands: Reflections on the Position of Knowledge in Ethics-Based Practices. In: Knizek, B.L., Klempe, S.H. (eds) Foundation of Ethics-Based Practices. Annals of Theoretical Psychology, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83666-5_8
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