Balintarbeit – Begründungen und Erfahrungen. Mit Lesefrüchten aus Philosophie, Psychologie und Biologie

In part 1 of my article published in the previous edition of the Balint Journal, I have proceeded from conceiving Balint-Work as a training of empathy. I have presented empirical studies that show the mirror-neuron system as a biological foundation of empathy. These studies let understand an embodied simulation as the foundation of a theory of mind and of empathy. I have applied these views on Balint-Work and have contrasted this conception of Balint-Work to a conception that belongs more to a theory theory of mind that stresses the intellectual effort. I have referred there to W. Konig . My conception followed the phenomenological analysis of Depraz, Varela and Vermersch in their work: “On becoming aware” . In this second part of the article, I apply the ideas from “On becoming aware” on my own experiences. I show that the processes especially in longer Balint-conferences are so intense that they carry us away, and that a foremost intellectual effort to understand does not suffice. I describe how a constructivist thinking as presented in “Die Gewissheit der Ungewissheit” by B. Porksen can help us to get more distance in such intense processes and to better esteem divergent standpoints.