Language and relationship with the others: contributions from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology to child psychotherapy

Abstract

Our article aims at discussing the notion of language and the relationship with others in Merleau- Ponty’s phenomenology as a possible foundation for humanistic-phenomenological psychotherapy with children. For Merleau-Ponty, language presents itself as a living and intersubjective experience and the recognition of oneself and others by the child would not occur in intellection, but through the experiential dimension. The psychotherapists listen to the child and their participation occurs as recognition and affectation in the face of children’s language. The relationship constitutes a double reversibility: recognition of the other by the child in his own experience of the body and of the manifest feelings about others; affectation of the encounter, experienced by both the psychotherapist and the child. We conclude that this proposal represents a fruitful contribution to humanistic-phenomenological psychotherapy with children by privileging the child’s understanding beyond stereotypes and crystallized notions of childhood.