Use and Abuse of Relational Therapy: The Shadow of the Therapeutic Alliance, the Limits of Empathy – and Do Any of Us Really Work at the Client’s Own Speed? – Andrew Samuels

In this thought-provoking audio recording, leading psychoanalyst and influential relational thinker Andrew Samuels invites you to question some of the comfortable assumptions at the heart of contemporary relational practice.

The ‘relational turn’ in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis — a movement that has shaped much of how we practice today — emerged in the 1980s through the work of Mitchell, Greenberg, Benjamin, Aron, Davies, Ghent and others, building on the insights of Fairbairn, British Object Relations, Otto Gross, Sandor Ferenczi and even C.G. Jung. It marked a decisive challenge to rigid orthodoxies, and aligned itself with wider cultural shifts that opened therapy to voices and experiences long marginalised.

Yet, decades later, are we at risk of turning relationality itself into a new orthodoxy? Is our faith in the healing power of ‘proper relating’ obscuring its limitations — or even its shadows?

In this stimulating half-day session, Andrew Samuels explores:

• The hidden pitfalls and contradictions within the idea of working ‘at the client’s own speed’.
• The shadow side of the therapeutic alliance — where power, projection and enactment can complicate even our best relational intentions.
• The boundaries of empathy — and what happens when empathy becomes a defence or collusion rather than a bridge.

Drawing connections between the evolution of relational psychoanalysis and broader cultural currents, Andrew challenges you to rethink familiar ideas, examine blind spots, and keep your practice alive to complexity, ambivalence and real-world pressures.

Originally recorded live, this audio resource offers an unfiltered chance to hear one of the field’s most compelling critical voices in action — with all the nuance, warmth, and provocation that made this in-person event so engaging.

Listen anytime, anywhere — pause, replay, and reflect at your own pace.
✅ Earn CPD — let us know once you’ve completed the recording to receive your certificate.

If you’re ready to engage more deeply with the tensions and ethical edges of relational therapy — and to test the limits of your own assumptions — this recording is for you.

Please note this is an audio recording, rather than a video recording, and was recorded with a live audience on the 5^th July 2025

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Audio lecture  – 2hrs 33minutes 

Andrew Samuels is a Jungian relational psychoanalyst. He was Chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy from 2009-2012. He was a Founder Board Member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) and served from 2000-2015. Among many books such as ‘Jung and the Post-Jungians and The Political Psyche’, he co-edited with Del Loewenthal ‘Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling: Appraisals and Reappraisals’.