Four ideas are used to conceptually link local therapeutic practices with macro sociocultural arrangements, and to question the feasibility of therapeutically derived resistances against them: power as a productive force; the power–knowledge integration; the power–resistance relationship; and power in context. Narrative therapy is presented as an example of a ‘therapy of resistance’, which at a micro level challenges the therapist–client power relation and privileges clients’ local knowledges, and hence, at a macro level, promotes resistance against dominant discourses and practices. However, at least two fundamental problems face therapies advocating resistance. At a macro level, they are vulnerable to neutralization when they engage in broader power relations. And at a micro level, they cannot escape the institutionalized therapist–client power imbalance, which renders ethically problematic the use of the therapeutic encounter to promote resistance. Strategies for addressing these problems are discussed.
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