Discussion of Various Brief Therapy Approaches - Assignment Example

Discussion of Various Brief Therapy Approaches Budman, Hoyt & Friedman’s (1992) book gave a variety of ideas on how therapists can handle initial therapy or counseling sessions with their clients. No matter what approach therapists use, the following items should be part of the therapist’s agenda on their first encounter with clients: Rapport-building with the client Identifying the purpose of the meeting and orienting and instructing client on how therapy will run Allowing client to express thoughts, feelings and behaviors Assessing client’s problems, strengths, motivations, expectations and goals Evaluation of possible psychiatric complaints when indicated Mutually formulating a treatment focus Making initial treatment interventions and assessing their effects. Suggesting “homework” or other tasks Defining treatment parameters Scheduling future appointments A host of highly credible brief therapists wrote chapters on how they implement their approaches. Susan M. Johnson Leslie S. Greenberg discussed their Emotionally Focused Therapy; Donald H. Baucom, Norman Epstein and Robert Carels shared their Cognitive-Behavioral Model of Marital Dysfunction and Marital Therapy; Judy Davidson and William D. Lax gave their inputs on the significance of Reflection in therapy, Steven Friedman illustrated how constructing solutions or stories in Brief Family Therapy can be effective; John H. Weakland and Richard Fisch shares how the MRI or the Mental Research Institute conducts Brief Therapy and Harry J. Aponte shows a Structural Approach to Brief Therapy. The case illustrations vividly showed the readers how the therapists elicit information from the clients in order to build a case and get to the bottom of the problem. Questioning was an art form perfected by the therapists, as each question was well-thought of. How each member of the family participated in the build-up of the problem was investigated in great detail. In the Emotionally-Focused therapy, therapists focus on the emotional responses of the clients to certain situations. The emotions of fear and vulnerability, sadness and pain, and anger and resentment are usually rooted in the attachment of the clients to each other, and most of the time, the problem lies in how their security is threatened. A person’s defensiveness, or the desire to protect oneself from vulnerability usually motivates him to do things that cause problems in the relationship. The clients’ past experiences are usually delved into to help them get a clearer understanding of how each other react to situations. What usually happens is the therapist asks one party to share her experience and processes her feelings along the way. Then he focuses on the other party to ask questions about how he would react and the feelings that go on inside him while the experience is happening. The therapist identifies the feelings and brings it to surface and then lets the couple recognize the cycle they go through. “Cognitive-behavioral marital therapy gives equal weight to spouses behaviors and the subjective ways in which spouses perceive and interpret each others behavior” (Baucom & Epstein, 1990; Epstein & Baucom, 1989 as mentioned in Budman, Hoyt & Friedman,1992). It is important for the therapist to have a grasp of each client’s personal history which is relevant to the problem at hand, their acknowledged strengths and concerns, and their communication styles to determine the intervention design suited to them. The therapist maximizes things he learns about the couple in devising a treatment plan. He focuses on the things they are interested in in coming up with various interventions. An example is using the couple’s playfulness in the case discussed, in helping them express their feelings through kissing, which is an act they are both uncomfortable with. A goal in this approach in therapy is clarifying subjective perceptions and modifying behaviors to build harmony in the relationship. The chapter on Reflection discusses how significant the collaboration between therapists and clients is on finding the right solutions to problems. This ensues in the initial session. The therapist helps the clients reflect on various possibilities on how their situations may change given a set of options. The clients see these possibilities as avenues of hope that they can indeed rise from the pit they feel perceive they are in. These are presented as “stories” that they may adapt in their own lives. Steven Friedman adds an inspirational touch to his brand of therapy. Letter-writing is a feature which validates clients’ positive strides as observed by the therapist, and gives much encouragement to progress towards healing. It is indeed time-consuming for a therapist to invest in such additional task, however, it seems to be worth it, as it brings a feeling of true caring for the clients, and utter dedication on the part of the therapist. The MRI-style is a solution-based approach that cuts to the core of the problem. It does away with needless preliminaries, and investigates factors specific to the problem itself to find appropriate solutions. Such feature obviously stresses brevity in the therapy process, and focuses on getting a person “unstuck” so he can move on with his life free from psychological baggages. The MRI-style of brief therapy can be liked to the Structural Approach. “Structural family therapy (SFT) is not, per se, either a long-term or a brief approach to therapy. However, it does lend itself to short-term work because the model works (1) in the "here and now," (2) through direct, positive action, and (3) for palpable outcomes. The therapeutic process is inherently organized around achieving specific goals (Aponte, 1974 as mentioned in Budman, Hoyt & Friedman,1992), whether short or long term.” The therapist gets to see the family dynamics and the individual and group processes they undergo in relating to each other. In doing so, a clearer picture of how and why problems surface is painted. In order for this to happen, the family members need to feel safe in confiding their strengths and struggles in the family with the therapist. Working on specific issues together as a family is presumed to form stronger family bonds. It was revealed that different therapists have different approaches, and on top of that, different personal styles in their therapy. It takes an experienced and credible therapist to be able to bring to fore a client’s deepest concern out in the open to be scrutinized, evaluated and studied for an effective intervention. More important than that, it takes sensitivity and consideration to handle fragile emotions entrusted to someone in full confidentiality. Such responsibility should be taken seriously, as the therapist is in the business of human development. After reading the assigned text, I have developed an elevated respect and appreciation for therapists. Their job entails them to possess wisdom, a caring and easy personality that encourages clients to just open up and be open to the therapist’s opinions, suggestions and even criticisms. They also need to be able to inject humor and a sense of novelty and “shock” factor to shake some clients into realizing their flaws and strengths. Of course, this is done with the right timing. Dealing with relationship problems is a challenge to anyone. Imagine a therapist, who is expected to be wizened enough to be able to help solve relationship problems!- and a Brief Therapist at that! Being successful in such endeavor is quite a feat! Indeed, it takes a special kind of person to be one. Reference Budman, Hoyt & Friedman (1992) First Session in Brief Therapy Guilford ISBN: 0898621380 Read More