There are a large number of different psychotherapeutic methods, and, if necessary, it can be very difficult to choose the right option. One of the modern methods is Frank Farelli's provocative therapy, which is gaining more and more popularity in Russia. What is the essence of this method, what are its postulates, who will it suit?
Who is the author of the method?
Frank Farelli is one of the most talented and eminent psychotherapists of our time. He became famous as the creator of the original direction in psychology - provocative therapy, he is also considered the founder of such a direction as coaching. Farelli was born in Ireland in a large Catholic family, he began his career as a simple psychiatrist in one of the hospitals in Wisconsin. Today, his main occupation is writing scientific psychological books, holding seminars and master classes around the world.
The essence of the method
Provocative therapy was born at the moment when its author realized that there was no point in listeningendless complaints from patients and to no avail to motivate them to succeed. In one of his books, Frank Farelli describes a situation when, tired of dealing with his patient's low self-esteem, he simply told him: "I agree, you are hopeless."
This statement of fact suddenly "woke up" the patient, and he began to contradict his doctor in a rather sharp manner. This incident gave Farelli confidence in the correctness of his chosen approach.
So, the essence of the method is that the doctor deliberately agrees with the pessimistic mood of the patient, makes him continue his defeatist logic, simply teases him. The purpose of such a provocative intervention is to transfer the problem to another plane, to motivate the client to talk about the most hidden fears, to evoke his emotionality and vivid experience.
Basic patterns of psychotherapy by Frank Farelli
In this technique, there are several main strategies that help achieve the desired result:
- Decrease the importance of the problem.
- Shared responsibility.
- Important values.
- Perceptibility of values.
Many people perceive their failures as something globally significant. It is this serious attitude to their mistakes that turns them into problems and complexes. Growing, the problem becomes very important, and it is simply a pity for a person to part with it. The task of the psychotherapist is to convey to the patient the comicality of such a serious attitude towards oneself and one's problems.
Separationaccountability is another important Farelli strategy. Patients like to hold therapists responsible for their mental he alth. And if the doctor agrees with this, then the patient's motivation to do something himself disappears. According to the author of the method, the specialist should make it clear to the patient that he is not going to be fully responsible for him.
The next strategy is to expose the patient's important values. The therapist starts a conversation about everyday things, talks about life and death, status, money, sex. Finding a minor problem of the patient, he takes it out of the plane into global contexts, such as family, self-realization, self-respect. If the client says they don't want to discuss a topic, Farelli recommends pushing even harder. In this way, the patient can be helped to overcome their fears.
Human values are sometimes an abstraction. Everyone knows such words as "death", "illness", "he alth", but sometimes people do not realize what is really behind these concepts. Frank Farelli, with the help of humor and language tricks, brings the client's negative situation to the point of absurdity, thereby making the person feel the reality of inevitable things (illness, helplessness) that can happen to him if he does not want to change his life.
Tactical Techniques
These include:
- Comic encouragement of the wrong behavior of the patient. In addition to the main strategic approaches, the psychotherapist has also developed tactical techniques for conducting a conversation. The therapist jokingly encourages the patient's problematic behavior and negative attitudes by listing the absurd benefits of such behavior. You can also, on the contrary, describe in a grotesque style the absurd losses that await the patient if he suddenly decides to change for the better.
- Surreal solutions. The doctor offers the client absurd, devoid of logic solutions to his problems. Absurdity can be taken to extremes. For example, to a person who was completely immersed in self-pity, Frank Farelli offered to buy a wheelchair in advance.
- Absurd explanations. When a patient claims a problem, give it a comical, absurd explanation.
- Reducing the problem in relation to the overall condition. In this case, the doctor relies on some strength of the patient, some advantage over others (for example, the level of intelligence). Suppose a patient complains that no one loves him. He can be provoked by telling him that at his intellectual level, no one's love is needed at all. This causes the unconscious protest of the patient and the desire to change the situation.
- Shifting the blame. The bottom line is to always have the opposite point of view in a dispute with a client. For example, if he blames the world around him for his failures, then the doctor should blame the patient. If the patient blames himself, then the opposite is done.
- Dramatization of your notions. During grotesque descriptions of the problem, you need to dramatize the action, that is, play a small performance: not just tell, but show indetails.
Who is this psychotherapy suitable for?
This type of psychotherapy is suitable for people with a good sense of humor, those who love directness, dynamism and strong sensations. There are patients who are even offended when they are not de alt with harshly enough. It is believed that this method is good for the treatment of addictions, as well as for people experiencing the meaninglessness of their existence. And, on the contrary, for too vulnerable, sentimental people prone to suicidal attempts, such a method may be contraindicated. The decision in this case is made by both the therapist and the patient himself.
So, the technique of psychiatrist and psychologist Frank Farelli is a very effective and effective method, containing many strategies and tactical moves, it is built on the basis of comical and grotesque exaggerations and is suitable primarily for people who appreciate the healing power of laughter.
