Published: March 2026

Keywords:
Dialogical Self Theory (DST), I – position, multivoiced self, systemic therapy, meta – position, promoter positions.

Hubert Hermans

Professor Hubert J. M. Hermans is a Dutch psychologist renowned for developing Dialogical Self Theory (DST), which bridges psychology with social and cultural influences. Earning his Ph. D. from Radboud University Nijmegen, he initially focused on motivation and self – concept, later pioneering DST in the 1990s. Inspired by William James and Mikhail Bakhtin, he proposed that the self is not singular but consists of multiple “I – positions” that engage in internal dialogues. His Self-Confrontation Method (SCM) has been widely used in psychotherapy and personal development. Hermans’ work has had a profound impact on counseling, intercultural studies, and narrative psychology, shaping modern understandings of identity in an increasingly globalized world. He has published numerous books and scientific articles, including “The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy and Handbook of Dialogical Self Theory”, which remain foundational texts in psychology. His work continues to influence modern discussions and research on identity, motivation, and personal development in an increasingly interconnected world.

Georgia Gkantona

Georgia Gkantona is Assist. Professor of Counseling Psychology at the Department of Psychology of the University of Ioannina. She has extensive professional experience in psychological counseling with different social groups (refugees, long-term unemployed, victims of gender - based violence), individual, family and group psychotherapy and clinical supervision of mental health professionals. She has been trained in Systemic Psychotherapy and is a member of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA). She is also a member of the International Society for Dialogical Science (ISDS), as in recent years her psychotherapeutic approach has been significantly informed by H. Hermans’ Dialogical Self Theory. Her research interests focus on the study of the individual’s internal dialogical activity and the development of dialogical techniques and methods of counseling and psychotherapy.

Christina Koukouriki

Christina Koukouriki is a Psychologist and Systemic Psychotherapist and maintains a private practice in the centre of Thessaloniki, offering individual, couple, and family psychotherapy and counselling services. She holds a degree in Psychology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Master’s degree from the University of the Aegean in Social Policy and Cultural Dimensions. She also holds a specialisation in Counselling and Guidance from ASPAITE.

She has received additional training in Career Counselling and Adult Education and is a certified Adult Educator. She has completed full training and further specialisation in Systemic Family Psychotherapy and Counselling. As a Psychotherapist, she is a member of the Systemic Society of Northern Greece and of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA - CIM).

For 12 years, she was an active member – and for a period, president – of the Observatory for Rights in the field of Mental Health. She has twenty years of professional experience in diverse settings. She works as a Psychologist in a Municipality, providing psychosocial support, counselling, and psychotherapy to individuals and families.

Her primary professional focus includes mental health difficulties such as depression, stress, psychosomatic symptoms, loss, psychosis, etc., as well as broader challenges arising from disabilities, illnesses, and other difficult life events.

For several years, she worked as a Career Counselor in Second Chance Schools and in counselling programs for the unemployed, and served as coordinator and trainer of Parent Schools. Since 2007, she has conducted seminars as an Adult Educator, mainly with groups of parents, employees, professionals, and other adult groups. She also coordinated a depression support group for ten years.

Finally, she gained valuable clinical experience through placements in public and non – public mental health services and non – governmental organizations, including the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Department of Hippokration Hospital of Thessaloniki, the Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, the Mental Health Centres of the central and western (Ampelokipoi) sectors of Thessaloniki, the State Therapeutic Hospital of Leros, the PRAKSIS Polyclinic, the Multicentre of the Municipality of Mytilene, the Spastics Society of Northern Greece, ARSIS, Volunteer Work initiatives, and others.

Abstract

In the interview “Dialogical View of the Self in a Systemic World”, Hubert Hermans proposes Dialogical Self Theory (DST) as a rigorous extension of systemic therapy by conceptualizing the “system” not only as an external network of relationships but also as an internalized, multivoiced configuration of I – positions. Family roles, intergenerational legacies, cultural norms, and societal discourses are incorporated into the self as distinct internal positions (e.g., “my father’s voice in me”), thereby sustaining internal relational patterns even in the absence of direct contact. From this standpoint, common clinical dilemmas – such as tensions between duty and desire or tradition and autonomy – are understood as structured dialogical conflicts among positions. DST thus offers a conceptual bridge linking subjective experience to family and cultural contexts, locating change in the reorganization of internal dialogues through mapping, negotiation, differentiation, and provisional integration of positions. Hermans further underscores the therapist’s own dialogical self, emphasizing reflexivity and positioning as determinants of alliance, intervention choices, and affect regulation in complex systemic work. Key mechanisms for therapeutic progression include the meta-position, which enables reflective distance and perspective-taking across voices, and promoter positions, which catalyze development by introducing future – oriented, growth-supportive narratives capable of reorganizing the internal system. The interview also highlights DST’s clinical utility through methods such as dialogical mapping, voice work, chair dialogues, and cross – position narrative re – authoring. Finally, DST is presented as particularly salient for multicultural and cross – cultural practice, as it legitimizes identity plurality and competing cultural voices in a non – pathologizing framework, aligning systemic therapy with contemporary conditions of social complexity and intercultural tension.