Published: March 2026

Keywords:
Algophobia, Gianfranco Cecchin, Systemic irreverence, Byung-Chul Han, Nora Bateson, Aphanipoiesis, Ilias Gotsis, Ethical stance in therapy, Harlene Anderson, Collaborative Practice, Psychologisation, Dialogical practice, Social media, Relational responsibility, Rober.

Katerina Katratzi

I am Katerina Katratzi, a psychologist and trainee systemic psychotherapist at Synixiseis. I graduated from the Department of Psychology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed my clinical internship at the Family Support Department of KETHEA Thessaloniki. I have been a volunteer for several years at the Association of Families for Mental Health (SOPSY) in Thessaloniki and at the NGO Thessaloniki Pride. In addition, I have completed the introductory theoretical training course in the field of addiction from the Self - Help Promotion Program. Furthermore, I graduated from the Postgraduate Program "Clinical Interventions in Addictions" at the University of Crete, having completed 10 months of practical training at the Intensive Psychosocial Support and Social Reintegration Unit and at the OKANA streetwork facility in Thessaloniki. I have worked for 2 years at the Alcohol and Legal Addictions Rehabilitation Unit – Multifunctional Treatment Centre (Contra Club of the METHEXIS Unit) of the Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki. The last few years, I've been working as a psychologist with the Synixiseis team.

Natassa Papadopoulou

Natassa Papadopoulou is a psychologist and a trainee systemic and group psychotherapist at the Centre for Experiential and Appreciative Education and Psychotherapy – SYNICHISEIS (Athens, Greece).

She began her studies in Psychology at the University of Ioannina in 2015. A formative experience in her professional development was her clinical internship at ARSIS NGO, where she conducted sessions with unaccompanied adolescent refugees and adult refugees. Her collaboration with the organisation continued on a voluntary basis, offering her valuable clinical and intercultural experience.

She has been licensed to practice psychology since March 2022 (License No. 92555). Alongside her formal training, she consistently participates in seminars and continuing professional development activities, with a particular interest in contemporary social and clinical issues.

She currently collaborates with SYNICHISEIS, providing individual psychotherapy to adolescents and adults, and co-facilitating an adult psychotherapy group. In addition, she coordinates the centre’s translation team, editing texts and translating scientific articles on systemic, narrative, family, and dialogical therapy. Her professional interests include feminism, inclusion, trauma, grief, boundaries, and dialogical perspectives in psychotherapy.

Abstract

Living in an era dominated by the narrative of self-optimisation, we observe that pain has gradually lost its right to be expressed. Our algophobic culture, as described by Byung – Chul Han, appears to expel anything that “disrupts” the surface – even when that surface is saturated with tragic news (femicides, Palestine, etc.). While we are flooded with dystopian images on social media, we are simultaneously taught to pose above the ruins with a wide smile.

The dominant professional culture’s tendency to promote standardised responses highlights the difficulty of remaining in the uncertainty and ambiguity that emotional distress brings, as we search for a universal solution presumed to fit all contexts.

As therapists, we find ourselves troubled by the intolerance toward emotional pain that we encounter. The suffering of clients is often framed as an indication of failure – something to be “overcome” quickly so that functionality can resume. We ask: where else can pain be met with respect, if not within the therapeutic relationship? And what does respect mean in a culture that demands well - being at any cost?

Nora Bateson’s concept of Aphanipoiesis – acknowledging the existence of complex processes by giving space to the unseen – may offer a space of care and complexity, where pain and beauty coexist. Perhaps it is there that the possibility emerges to hold the complexity of human experience.

How might we enact a form of ethical irreverence toward the dominant winds of psychologization and speed? Creating space for the truth of pain – without diagnosis, without repair – may itself constitute an act of ethical resistance, and perhaps an act of tenderness.

What does it mean to position ourselves as professionals in a way that “hosts” (Anderson, 2016) the person in therapy, accompanying them in their psychic pain, while remaining aware that we may implicitly transmit our own interpretations and meanings?

Is it possible to recognize – and potentially limit – the extensions of colonial influences that we carry from our culture (Rober & Seltzer, 2010; Larner, 2015)? As therapists, how can we contribute to the co - construction of dialogical landscapes of safety, where exclusion gives way to inclusion (Rober, 2002)?