Notes on Schmid's “Psychotherapy is Political or it is not Psychotherapy: The Person‐Centred Approach as an Essentially Political Venture”

Abstract

This article makes – and strikes – four notes in response to Schmid's (2012/2014) paper. Taking Schmid's definition of politics as encompassing policy, politics, and polity, and adding a fourth element, that of the personal, the author discusses: (1) policy – by addressing Schmid's central question “Psychotherapy is political or it is not psychotherapy”; (2) politics – by asking “How should psychotherapists act politically?” (3) polity – in which the author discusses the estimation of the World Association of Person‐Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies and Counseling and its journal, Person‐Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies; and (4) (the) personal – in which the author reflects personally on the concept that “The most personal is the most political”.