A palimpsest narrative of becoming a therapist

Abstract

Written by an experienced psychodynamic therapist, this paper likens one’s narrative of becoming a therapist to an ancient palimpsest manuscript, where layer is built upon layer, yet traces of earlier texts keep coming through. Dipping into his personal archive of writings on this theme, the author revisits earlier constructions of his narrative, appraising them from his current perspective. Moving between past and present, personal experience and theory, clinical practice and research, this paper builds a rich, densely woven narrative account of becoming a therapist, while interrogating the process through which such a narrative is constructed and the purposes it serves. It concludes with reflections on the insights gained through the process of this inquiry, acknowledging the significant ontological and epistemological shifts that have occurred in the author’s approach to both asking and answering the question ‘What brings me here?’