Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy

5

ZEN AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

From neutrality, through relationship, to the

emptying place

Melvin E.Miller

I come to this topic humbly and reverently. Although no stranger to Zen, I confess
to being no expert on either Zen theory or Zen practice. These truths
notwithstanding, I am quite interested in Zen and other forms of Buddhist thought,
and I am deeply committed to exploring the interface between Buddhism and
psychotherapy. Thus, I approach these conceptual challenges not only with humility,
but with an eagerness, an excitement, and the wish to offer a fresh angle on the
ubiquitous and controversial notion of therapeutic neutrality and related concepts—
ones that, to my mind, comprise essential components of the bridge between
psychotherapy and Buddhist thought.
I have been a clinical psychologist for 28 years or more. Psychoanalysis and
psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy provide the theoretical foundation for
my work. I have been trained in the more contemporary traditions of psychoanalysis
(object relations theory, self-psychology, interpersonal-relational theory, etc.).
Despite my preference for the more contemporary approaches to psychoanalytic
theory, I readily acknowledge being influenced by Freud and others who operate from
the more classical theoretical perspectives.
In this light, I propose that therapeutic neutrality is one of the most fundamental
and essential principles of the psychotherapeutic work. Freud and others since (e.g.
Alonso 1996; Fosshage 1998; Gill 1979; Hoffer 1985) have described a way of sitting
with patients that not only helps redress psychopathology and attenuate symptoms,
but also often brings out the very best in patient potential. I present these thoughts
about therapeutic neutrality—not strictly in the Freudian sense, but with a twist or
two—with certain alterations and modifications. These modifications, I trust, will
find both sympathy and support among Buddhists and the general psychoanalytic
community.

Freud on neutrality

Let us begin with Freud and remind ourselves of his stance on neutrality (and the
analyst’s disposition or stance toward the patient) as it appears in this oft-quoted
passage from his ‘Recommendations to physicians practicing psycho-analysis’. Freud
describes the fundamental technique of psychoanalysis thusly: