Against the Celebration of Diversity

The paper enquires into the pertinence of the ‘diversity’ agenda for psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. It critically tracks how multiculturalism, anti‐racism and ‘diversity’ emerge from the philosophy of liberalism. Some of the contradictions and difficulties in each of these discourses are highlighted. The paper then argues that the various schools of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis tend to be intolerant of each other's world‐views and forms of practice. And finally, the paper takes up how three different strands within the profession might view, and so respond to the theme of diversity in the clinic.