Profile

Career Focus:

Systemic psychotherapy, clinical and health Psychology, feminist and critical psychotherapy, emancipatory and feminist concepts in total institutions, delinquency, penal system and addictive disorders in women

Biography

Corinna Obrist is a clinical and health psychologist and systemic therapist with a focus on feminist psychotherapy and emancipation possibilities in total institutions, especially in the context of penal facilities. She is also the co-founder of the former Institute for Feminist Psychotherapy Sciences, works in independent practice as a psychotherapist, and is a university and professional training lecturer. Throughout, Obrist's work is characterized by a keen observational gift, continuous inequality analyses, and an even finer sense for the bittersweet humor of life.

Born as an only child in Lower Austria, Obrist grew up, in her own words, very sheltered– a circumstance that has always had two sides for Obrist and that she at the same time relates to her "ogling with the other." Thus, Obrist was concerned with an early interest in injustice, which later translated into her grappling with gender inequalities. In this context, she also described her mother's willingness to "fight through all the battles [with her] and [to have] climbed into the ring again and again" as formative for her adolescence.

During her school years, Obrist also developed a strong interest in Psychology and initially wanted to become a school psychologist because "the condition in the schools was such an unsatisfactory one." As an "inconvenient student", she also experienced some unfair treatment in the school system, which spurred her interest in understanding deviant behavior, institutions and punishment. Guided by a keen curiosity to find out "Why are you the way you are?", Obrist therefore realized early on that she wanted to become a psychologist.

In addition to her Psychology studies at the University of Vienna, Obrist pursued freelance work in various psychosocial institutions and academic contexts and began to work, among other things, in the Penitentiary Wien-Favoriten. At the Psychological Institute, especially through the guest professorship of the feminist psychotherapist and "figurehead" Dr. Sabine Scheffler, as well as extensive engagement with critical literature, for Obrist "suddenly so many things began to have a name." Although the content of her studies was already completed, Obrist's thesis nevertheless "felt like it took decades" - because not only was there an "insane run by feminist women" on Scheffler's seminars, but the students also developed a special academic ambition under her supervision: "Many of my group who wrote their theses with her also developed such incredible ambition. Now that a feminist women's researcher is finally here, you can't just hand in a banal thesis, but the [theses] had to be at least as detailed, fundamental, and comprehensible as twelve dissertations!" Out of the research grant Obrist received for her thesis on the topic of "Female self-image of heroin-dependent women'' she in turn paid her interview partners as a form of "reimbursement”.

In 1995, even before completing her studies, Obrist took over the management of the women's release department at the Penitentiary Wien-Favoriten, and later the management of the entire women's correctional system at the prison. The special focus of her work was on the intertwining of deviant behavior and the localization of this in social inequality analyses, because "gender relations are reflected in all illnesses." However, according to Obrist most addiction treatment services and institutions start from the male perspective only, which is why Obrist's work was inspired by asking "What does it mean to be a woman in prison?" and "What do women need in prison?" For example, addicted women would use drugs for different reasons than men, and would turn to them earlier but enter prison later, but would live in exploitative conditions and covert homelessness longer than men. Women in addiction would also be confronted with gender-specific role expectations and attributions, such as the pressure to be socially compatible and adapted, to mime the perfect mother and not to be dependent, but also not to be too independent.

Obrist's work in prison was therefore characterized by the deep desire to make the effects of patriarchal power relations and life within a "total institution" visible and to include them in her psychological and psychotherapeutic work. Together with the actress and artist Beate Göbel, numerous artistic-emancipatory projects have therefore been realized, such as "RIP - Rappers in Prison", an initiative for male prisoners to write their own songs and release them on CD and perform them in the theater; her critical expert work in the EU art project "This babydoll will be a junkie" (by Ulrike Möntmann, 2018); the realization of theater projects in the women's department and the distribution of homemade bags and humorous T-shirts by incarcerated women. After more than 20 years of working at the Prison Favoriten and a change of leadership, it was time for Obrist to make a personal and professional change. Nevertheless, she maintains, "I experienced my professional imprint in prison."

In addition to her work in the penal system, Obrist completed training as a systemic psychotherapist in order to build up another livelihood, about which she critically reflected: "in order to be able to exist in the field, you simply need a lot of training [...] that is also something that the market demands." Obrist then began to work at the Kassandra Women's Counseling Center in Lower Austria. In doing so, it was also important to her to continuously ask and discuss within the women's counseling landscape what feminisms actually (should) mean. In this context, Obrist also talked about existing lines of conflict between different generations and notes that "sometimes you have the feeling that there are two blocks that are hostile to each other, which is very unfortunate, because solidarity is then simply difficult to develop."

In 2015, Obrist together with two colleagues and friends, Angelika Grubner and Sabine Kirschenhofer, founded the Institute for Feminist Psychotherapy Sciences in Austria. As guiding ideas for the founding and functioning of the institute, Obrist described the importance and necessity of positioning themselves in terms of occupational politics and power critique, due to the strong influence of neoliberalism on psychotherapy(science), and the ongoing question of how feminist psychotherapy can be thought of and realized. "I think three quarters of the psychotherapists are women and two thirds of the patients are female and if you think [therapy] is a place where health or healing and relief is supposed to happen, so to speak, and the performers, the practitioners, have no idea of injustice - that is, injustice makes sick whoever it affects, no? - And they have no idea of male hegemony, this is somehow outrageous and horrifying, and that has driven us to take a critical look at this relation, so to speak."

In the course of the Institute's work, they also pursued a diverse lecture and publication activity, which culminated in the organization of a conference on different positions on psychotherapy and feminism (2017) and the publication of an anthology on "Feminist Psychotherapy" (2018) in the journal "Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik." Today, the institute is dormant.

In 2020, Obrist left the women's counseling center and started working in the Social Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic of the City of Vienna (PSD 21) and the Gesundheitsgreisslerei, an outpatient therapy facility for addiction disorders which follows a "by women for women" principle. Obrist is convinced that the position of partiality is relieving: Simply acknowledging injustices would not change the circumstances of life, but it would help if someone acknowledged and spoke out that structural injustices exist and that women are treated differently from men in society.

Obrist was encouraged by her parents at an early age to fight against injustice, and she elaborated that after a very combative phase in her life, she has now found a new mixture of frustration and serenity. Thus Obrist believes it is important to become clear to oneself about the conditions under which it can be possible at all to discuss issues and fight out battles. Obrist advises to look for social niches, to forge alliances and to join forces – at university and in studies, as well as professionally and privately. At the same time, she also emphasizes the relevance of supportive structures, the ability to "stay sensitive instead of getting grumpy," and the importance of perseverance: "It doesn't matter if it's exhausting, if it's tedious, if it's full of conflict, then we'll just go 15 rounds, but that's what we do."

By Emelie Rack (2023)

To cite this article, see Credits

Selected Works

Selected Works

By Corinna Obrist

Grubner, A., Kirschenhofer, S., Obrist, C., & Ruck, N. (Eds.). (2018). Feministische Psychotherapie. Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik, 42(1).

Obrist, C. (2014). Kongressbericht „fremd.gehen“ – Vienna, May 2014. Systeme, 28(2), 201-203.

Obrist, C. (2010). Feministische Konzepte und systemische Modelle – Synergieeffekte in der psychotherapeutischen Arbeit mit drogenabhängigen Frauen in Haft. Systemische Notizen, 3 (10).

Obrist, C. & Trinkl, B. (2004). Fordern und Fördern – Überlegungen zur psychologischen Behandlung süchtiger Frauen im Gefängnis. In I. Kryspin-Exner, K. Treichl & W. Werdenich. (Eds.), Verhaltenstherapie & Verhaltensmedizin. Themenheft: Forensische Psychologie, 25(1). Pabst Science Publishers.

Obrist, C., Werdenich, W. (2004). Drogentäter. In: W. Pecher (Ed.), Justizvollzugspsychologie in Schlüsselbegriffen. Kohlhammer.

Obrist, C., Werdenich, W. (2003). Substanzabhängigkeit und Strafvollzug. In: E. Beubler, H. Haltmayer & A. Springer (Eds.), Opiatabhängigkeit. Interdisziplinäre Aspekte für die Praxis. Springer Verlag.

Obrist, C. (1996). Weibliches Selbstverständnis heroinabhängiger Frauen [Unpublished Thesis]. University of Vienna.

By and about Corinna Obrist

Obrist, C. (23, September 2022). Interview by Emelie Rack [Audio recording].