Intimacy, Encounter, Tenderness . . .

ABSTRACT I do not like using the concept of relationship. Too wide, too vague. Of course, I know that a relationship can be healing, and I also know that every psychopathology has been created by relationship. So, step by step, I try to explore some components of the therapeutic relationship, which could narrow our focus and contribute to unfolding and understanding what happens in this specific face to face encounter. Intimate is an interesting concept because it belongs to both the innermost and a special kind of close way of being together. Perhaps, encounter might be considered as an extension of our paradigm of contact, when contact rises and grows between two people. Love is often referred to, in our therapeutic context. Is it an appropriate reference? What about tenderness, which seems to designate better a therapeutic attitude that does not exclude confrontation or distance. A few tracks that need to be pursued.