The infrastructure of the family as an organism can be altered. A symbolic experience is a difference that makes a difference. This lecture describes how to precipitate a symbolic experience.
This revision of the original ABCs of RET and cognitive-behavior therapy shows that people's Belief System (B) about their Activating Events (A) of their lives largely contribute to their emotional and behavioral Consequences (C) but that A, B, and C importantly influence and include each other and that all three include interacting cognitive, emotive, and behavioral elements.
The criterion of reality adaptation as a measure of mental health or pathology is a totally fictitious one, since what reality "really" is remains an arbitrary definition which, in turn, leads to a reification. However, out of these reifications can grow very important practical consequences - both positive and negative ones.
This address includes a brief history of Reality Therapy, and explains that it is based on control theory and that it is applied to both counseling and managing clients. Case examples are used to show that it is composed of two major components: Creating the counseling environment and the procedures that lead to change.
Recognition of body-mind unity requires acceptance of the fact that the body in its form and motility expresses the individual's personality as much as behavior and thinking. If there is to be a change in personality, the body must reflect that change. To change bodily attitude, one should work directly with the energy dynamics of the body. By mobilizing a person's energy, one opens up deep feelings that are otherwise inaccessible. This is critical in the treatment of depression which is directly connected to an energetic collapse in the body. The address will describe how one increases an individual's energy to promote his pleasure in life.
This workshop will demonstrate the clinical application of developmental, self and object relations theory to psychotherapy with borderline and narcissistic patients- both shorter and longer term. After brief orienting remarks by Dr. Masterson, the participants will present their clinical material for discussion. This material can vary from single interactions to vignettes to longer presentations. Particular attention will be paid to the role of therapeutic neutrality and countertransference.
The field of psychotherapy is moving toward an integrative approach, both in terms of theory and practice. Meichenbaum will discuss how Cognitive-Behavior Modification attempts to integrate, on the one hand, the clinical concerns of psychodynamic and interpersonal/systems approaches with the technology of behavior therapy on the other hand. He will trace the history of Cognitive-Behavior Modification and examine its future directions. Common clinical treatment issues, such as client resistance, patient noncompliance, and treatment nonadherence that all psychotherapists face will also be considered.
Today and in the immediate future, short-term therapy is a major available treatment for most clients. In this paper, I will discuss the use of Short-Term Redecision Therapy in the resolution of major childhood traumas, such as physical, sexual, and mental abuse. In Redecision Therapy, the client remembers, re-enacts, uses therapeutically, and then discards these early traumatic scenes.
The theoretical concepts of family therapy have evolved since their beginnings in the 1950s. If we look at the political landscape of the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s, we see that family therapy parallels the political ethos of the time.