Location of Self: More Than A Decade Later

Area of Science:

• Family Therapy
• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The concept of Location of Self (LOS) was introduced in 2010.
• LOS serves as both a clinical dialogic tool and a conceptual framework.
• This article reflects on the evolution of LOS since its inception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the use and development of LOS in family therapy since 2010.
• To review the literature on LOS and its emergent ideas and practices.
• To illustrate the clinical application of LOS through case examples.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of LOS from 2010 onwards.
• Presentation of clinical work by four family therapists using LOS.
• Analysis of dialogue concerning social locations, use of self, and therapist awareness.

Main Results:

• LOS is utilized to examine the interplay of social locations in therapy.
• It provides a framework for recognizing supremacy as an internal phenomenon embedded in social locations.
• LOS highlights supremacy as a clinical issue, applicable to both privileged and subjugated individuals.

Conclusions:

• LOS dialogue is often more generative in therapy with shared subjugated locations but can occur in multi-privileged relationships.
• Literature suggests LOS is more frequently used with multi-subjugated clients.
• The article questions whether power dynamics influence the application of LOS with multi-privileged clients.