[The "Power of Being Powerless" -communication theory comments on the "Emancipative" therapy (author's transl)]

Every patient is in a state of dependence in relation to his therapist, since the therapist's position is institutionally predetermined in his capacity as a person who assesses, evaluates, classifies and causes a kind of judgment on the patient's doings. If a therapist aims at encouraging his patient to become emancipated, he runs the risk of placing himself and his patient in a paradoxical position by demanding that his patient should be independent of him. This command could be obeyed by the patient only by not obeying it - and vice versa. This dilemma can be solved only if the therapist renounces part of his power and thus gives that patient enough free play for self-determination. Hence, the power of the therapist to achieve his original goal, namely, the emancipation of his patient, lies in his powerlessness.