Unsettling Care: Intersubjective Embodiment in MBCT
Anthropology and Humanism December 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1111/anhu.12297 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractCare in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy requires therapists to continuously 'be with' uncomfortable self-experience, challenging the anthropological view of caregiving as natural, good, or rewarding. The paper reveals that lived experience is unsettled and filled with difficult, changeable affective relations, making care a necessarily unsettled practice.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that care in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is an unsettled practice requiring therapists to endure uncomfortable self-experience, challenging anthropological valorizations of caregiving. |
Abstract
SummaryFocusing on the place of “embodiment” for therapists in mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy, this paper reveals that care often requires an on‐going commitment to “being with” forms of uncomfortable self‐experience. This work challenges the valorization of caregiving (as “natural,” “good,” or “rewarding”) in anthropology by revealing the unsettled nature of lived experience, replete with difficult and changeable affective relations. Care emerges as a necessarily unsettled practice.