CHAPTER 6: Searching for Trust in Psychotherapy: The Developmental Dynamics of Trust Within a Dialogical Perspective

Trust is a fundamental part of the psychological and social fabric. As Linell has recently claimed (2009):

Trust is basic. It is basic for meaning-making and communication, and therefore, to human life. Linell is not alone in his claims—there is a great choir of great voices claiming that trust is a cornerstone of human life and meaning. In sociology, Giddens (1991), for instance, stated that trust is the basic element in the constitution of “ontological security,” which provides the necessary interpersonal confidence and reliability and creates the sense of our social reality. In psychology, trust has been considered a basic element for the ontogenetic development of our ego (Erikson, 1968), but also for the development of our social relations (Rotter, 1967, 1971). Without trust a human being collapses in a totally unrecognizable, unpredictable, unreadable world of extreme anxiety. Through trust we get attached to other human beings (and vice versa) and therefore to our own selves. Thus, trust is basic to everyday decisions, so basic that most of the times we are not aware how much trust is needed—it only seems to come to the foreground in situations of mistrust.