Issue 3:4 Winter 2004
The Dialogue with the Inner Critic: From a pluralistic self to a client-centered and experiential work with partial egos Susanne Vahrenkamp & Michael Behr Abstract The view of the person has shifted from a unitary to a pluralistic conceptualization of the self. Thus concepts for therapeutic work with partial egos, especially with self-devaluing cognitive-emotional schemata, have been elaborated in a variety of approaches. The Stuttgart Conception for Work with Partial Egos (SCOPE) integrates well-known process-experiential strategies with some further ideas for interventions. It thus offers an integrative model for work with difficult, unusual or inexperienced clients. It aims to facilitate constructive inner dialogues and therefore extends the application of basic client-centered counseling skills to work with more than two partial egos, and it conceptualizes an inner facilitator. A manual derived from supervision and therapeutic experience guides therapists through critical stages of the client’s process, including assessing pre-requisites, calming down, becoming aware, differentiating, moving out partial egos, clarifying borders, modifying the dialogue and balancing. We also discuss types of clients who will benefit most.
Differential Response, Diagnosis and the Philosophy of the Implicit Campbell PurtonAbstracts The question of whether person-centered therapists should respond in different ways to different kinds of client problems was a central theme of the PCE 2003 Conference on Client-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy. It can seem that classical client-centered therapy and the process-experiential approach should take opposite positions in this debate, but I suggest in this paper that both sides can agree on the need for differential response, so long as such response is grounded in the kind of implicit knowledge which is a central theme of Gendlin’s focusing-oriented psychotherapy. Past, Present and Future of the Person-Centered Approach in GreeceAndreas Brouzos & Grigoris MouladoudisAbstract This paper is about the history of the Person-Centred Approach (PCA) in Greece. Its focus is on individuals who made note-worthy contributions to the development of PCA in academic and professional settings. Reference is also made to Greek books, articles, and translations related to the PCA. Associations offering professional training on PCA are presented. Finally, the current situation and some proposals regarding the future of PCA in Greece are discussed. Maintain and Enhance: An integrative view of person-centered and process differentiated diagnosticsJeffrey H. D. Cornelius-WhiteAbstract The author reviews, compares, contrasts, and comments on various views of diagnosis in Person-Centered and Experiential therapies, especially as presented in the PCE 2003 keynote speeches of Greenberg (2004), Sachse (2004), and Schmid (2004). These views include the incorporation of traditional (DSM) diagnosis, reflexive models of the client, exercise of “therapeutic” expertise, process diagnosis, and therapy as diagnosis. The paper concludes with an integrative view that values the potentially enhancing qualities of diagnostic formulations while maintaining the core aspects of person-centeredness. While diagnosis is generally incompatible with the person-centered approach, some aspects may be helpful for skill development and interactions with systems. The dialectic of being and doing, which rests upon principled nondirectivity, is emphasized. Trauma, Imagery and FocusingTon CoffengAbstract This practice-oriented paper describes new work with three clients who had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from a recent trauma. The first client had been in a war, the second had a traumatic loss, and the third had developed the disorder after undergoing a Caesarean section. With each of these clients, I improvised on the spot, combining imagery with focusing. One client imagined returning to the place of the trauma and afterwards focused explicitly. This experience was different from having flashbacks. The other clients did the opposite: they moved away from the traumatic place through the first step of focusing, Clearing a Space. The clients were able to focus as if they had used the process before, and the change that each experienced was impressive. Three vignettes are given. The procedure chosen for each client is explained after the fact, along with the conditions that were needed with each. Non-Linear Dynamic Systems and the Non-Directive Attitude in Client-Centred Therapy Lisbeth Sommerbeck Abstract This paper assumes that (a) an important aspect of unconditional positive regard is respect for the uniqueness of each individual client and (b) the human organism’s continuous interaction with its environment is a non-linear dynamic system. From these two assumptions it derives the non-directive attitude of the client-centered therapist as a logical consequence. In doing this it converts the position that the client-centered therapist is not to be an expert on what is best for the client into the stronger position that the client-centered therapist cannot be an expert on what is best for the client. |