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.
A therapy group will be formed from Conference participants, in order to demonstrate what can be accomplished in a single group session. Emphasis will be on establishing therapeutic contracts for change and using the past to effect this change. Discussion and whole-group experiences will follow the therapy demonstration.
Educational Objectives:
To list three viable contracts for change by the patient. Ballroom ABC
To describe the use of early child scenes in making changes in the present.
Memories may be treated as one-act dramas, dialogues or dreams, as volunteers use them, incorporate them in new ways and let them return to the past. Demonstration, with audience volunteers, of a single childhood memory to make changes in their current lives will illustrate Redecision Therapy.
This presentation will demonstrate the utilization of the Ericksonian position on change within the framework of Redecision Transactional Analysis. Permission, co-creating a unique response, develop-mental meaning of symptoms, and creating new responses to the environment will be illustrate using volunteers attending the program.
Mary Goulding (1995) demonstrates with three volunteer clients. The first is disturbed because his mother did not spend much time with him during childhood. Next Dave is concerned about his distant relationship with his son. The third, Diane describes problems with her mother who is now a widow and overly critical. Goulding explains her work.
Robert and Mary Goulding (1985), working as cotherapists, demonstrate using five volunteer clients. The concerns of each individual are addressed during the therapy session. The Gouldings help define each person’s goals and establish a contract for change. The session includes role-play, fantasy, confrontation and the use of humor.