Radical Aliveness in the Somatic Universe

Theory

Philosophy (what is believed therapy should be) & Contributions of Approach

Concepts - ideas that spawn more theory aspects
-theory birthing ideas

Intrinsic Problem / Client Assessment / Applications of Approaches

Goals

Relationship – Between Therapy & Client

Interventions - Technique

Contribution & Limitations Overall

Contribution & Limitations in Multicultural Counseling

Radical Aliveness

The focus is on both the past and the present from the here and now.

It involves an understanding that each of us sees through a narrow lens and must learn how we have been taught to see and make meaning of the world (the socialization process).

It involves humility; knowing that people we meet also have a world view; and are complex beyond what any theory could ever say about them. It involves centering the healing work in the authority of the people that we are working with.

It involves being open to an understanding that the people we work with have power and dignity and our work with them must allow us to navigate finding out what healing means to them.

We see all human beings as having equal value, that we all have gifts to share. Our diversity is valued as an essential part of nourishing and sustaining life.

We recognize the immense resilience in humans’ capacity to feel work through, and make meaning of their pain and life experience through expression and experiences of support with others.

It involves our willingness to learn, to constantly grow and open ourselves to receiving new information that our lens may not have allowed us to see

Theory and techniques are not taught or held on to as "the Way." They are looked at for the frame they come from and used with awareness of the assumptions and worldviews they represent

It is not easy work. It takes courage and humility and letting go of egos (and any ideas that we are right; that we have the answers; or that there is a path to follow that comes from the outside)

It is community based with a relational systems orientation and cultural sensitivity. It supports deep emotional process and self-awareness

We learn to bring curiosity and self-responsibility to the places where we’re prone to see others simplistically through our assumptions, and personal and cultural biases.

Client seeks wholeness, integration, and discovery for their empowerment

Radical Aliveness supports connection to the world, and knowing we are part of a whole

The Radical Aliveness model is a distinct approach to working with groups and individuals that addresses healing on the personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels.

Radical Aliveness (RA) is a movement, often practiced in groups and communities, and organizations.It is based on values and principles that are intended to support and sustain life. We value relationships as essential to that goal

The goal of the work is integration of all of life's experience to be able to navigate the world from a place of choice and empowerment

The person working is assisted in discovering what healing means to them. It supports human beings to know themselves fully - on all levels. Supports creating a safe space where we want participants to say 'yes to everything' that arises inside of them (including their 'No') with the intention towards awareness, consciousness, healing and transformation

There is a goal of integrating all of life’s experiences to mine them for the gold they hold

When we have an opportunity to feel everything all the way… everything (with an awareness that feeling and expression is contextual): our fear, our rage, our pain, our hate ... Whatever it is… in the presence of people who are holding us and not afraid of this energy…we can find parts of ourselves that we have cut off from; that we have forgotten about; that we maybe have never even known about (this includes understanding our worldview, how we have been socialized, and the values we were taught).

At this point what starts to happen in the process is we begin to fill what we call our ground, or root base, or territory. This is a place where we know who we are and therefore have choice in how we navigate the here and now. Our actions become constructive. We become able to express embrace all of who we are.

We support deep emotional process, self-expression and awareness (knowing that looks different culturally and cross culturally).

Radical Aliveness is a healing, awareness and transformational modality that leads people to move from within into action - towards their longings and in following their proactive impulses. The Intention in the work is to say yes to all of our energy without making it wrong or shaming it.

Practitioner takes a non-expert posture with client- we ‘know we don’t know’ and we walk together with the people we work with, not as experts but as fellow sojourners.

Present, centered, and ccollaborative practitioners act with flexibility and sensitivity in any environment – to bring their authentic and radical selves by embodying the principles of Radical Aliveness

Practitioners always connect the work to helping to nurture what is happening and needed in the here and now of your life.

Techniques are held lightly in implementation and are used collaboratively with the people we work with. We seek to be creative and flexible in working with people, finding the ways of supporting them to go to their deepest places

We seek to do research on peoples’ cultural history, not to ‘know” but to bring awareness to worldviews and values we may not know

Interventions draw on ideas from the long history of body psychotherapy. We may use techniques found in many modalities, but we may also use the concepts of supporting movement in creative and new ways that fit the person we work with. Our work may involve expression (movement, voice, expression practices and connection work with others) and attuning to body sensations and any programming associated with it and in relationship to others or one's history

Curiosity
The RA principles and group practices help bring people together across the lines that divide us. Radical Aliveness Principles Used In Sessions and In Support of Goals:
* Be Willing to be Changed
* Honor Multiple Perspectives
* Knowing that I don’t know
* Saying Yes to Everything (including our 'No')
* Cultivating a Non-Shaming Heart and Attitude

RA process help us learn to stay in connection when conflict is present—beyond our impulses to judge, attack, control or separate. We use body-based tools and practices along with awareness, with the understanding that our bodies hold our histories and contain wisdom. RA process teaches us to tolerate emotional and physical expression. It gives us space to feel our deepest pain and our greatest pleasure

From this place of greater awareness and self-responsibility, we strive to live in alignment with the principles or Radical Aliveness.

Radical Aliveness is a somatic and awareness process, which might include movement, deep feeling and awareness work — leading to more self-awareness, cultural sensitivity and skills to create effective change in all areas of one's life and world

RA uses conflict and differences as a doorway to knowing more about who we are and what we value.Our origins were Reichian and evolved profoundly to include awareness of worldview and cultural differences.

RA seeks to have a healing influence on individuals, relationships, communities and institutions

In incorporating the principles that continually challenge our assumptions and perceptual filter together in groups we create an opportunity to de-polarize interpersonal and societal dynamics

A new form of leadership emerges:
- helps in learning how to heal and STAY in relationship with others who are not the same as us
- strives to create the conditions under which people and groups (who are by their nature complex) will feel more skills to be together on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level.

Feminist Theory

Feminists criticize many traditional theories to the degree that they are based on gender-biased concepts, such as being androcentric, gender centric, ethnocentric, heterosexist, and intrapsychic. The constructs of feminist therapy include being gender fair, flexible, interactionist, and life-span-oriented. Gender and power are at the heart of feminist therapy. This is a systems approach that recognizes the cultural, social, and political factors that contribute to an individual's problems.

Core principles of feminist therapy are that the personal is political, therapists have a commitment to social change, women's voices and ways of knowing are valued and women's experiences are honored, the counseling relationship is egalitarian, therapy focuses on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress, and all types of oppression are recognized.

Principles and techniques can be applied to a range of therapeutic modalities such as individual therapy, relationship counseling, family therapy, group counseling, and community intervention. The approach can be applied to both women and men with the goal of bringing about empowerment.

To bring about transformation both in the individual client and in society. To assist clients in recognizing, claiming, and using their personal power to free themselves from the limitations of gender-role socialization. To confront all forms of institutional policies that discriminate or oppress on any basis.

The therapeutic relationship is based on empowerment and egalitarianism. Therapists actively break down the hierarchy of power and reduce artificial barriers by engaging in appropriate self-disclosure and teaching clients about the therapy process. Therapists strive to create a collaborative relationship in which clients can become their own expert.

Although techniques from traditional approaches are used, feminist practitioners tend to employ consciousness-raising techniques aimed at helping clients recognize the impact of gender-role socialization on their lives. Other techniques frequently used include gender-role analysis and intervention, power analysis and intervention, demystifying therapy, bibliotherapy, journal writing, therapist self-disclosure, assertiveness training, reframing and relabeling, cognitive restructuring, identifying and challenging untested beliefs, role playing, psychodramatic methods, group work, and social action.

Contributions
The feminist perspective is responsible for encouraging increasing numbers of women to question the way for gender-sensitive practice and bringing attention to the gendered uses of power in relationships. The unified feminist voice brought attention to the extent and implications of child abuse, incest, rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Feminist principles and interventions can be incorporated in other therapy approaches

Limitations
A possible de potential for therapies co impose a new set of values on clients--such as striving for equality, power in relationships, defining oneself, freedom to pursue a career outside the home, and the right to an education. Therapists need to keep in mind that clients are their own best experts, which mean is it is up to them to decide which values to live by.

Contributions
Focus is on both individual change and social transformation. A key contribution is that both the women's movement and the multicultural movement have called attention to the negative impact of discrimination and oppression for both women and men. Emphasizes the influence of expected cultural roles and explores client's satisfaction with and knowledge of these roles

Limitations
This model has been criticized for its bias toward the values of White, middle-class, heterosexual therapy women, which are not applicable to many other groups of women nor to men. Therapists need to assess with their clients the price of making significant personal change, which may result in isolation from extended family as clients assume new roles and make life changes

Post Modern

Based on the premise that there are multiple realities and multiple truths, postmodern therapies reject the idea that reality is external and can be grasped. People create meaning in their lives through conversations with others. The postmodern approaches avoid pathologizing clients, take a dim view of diagnosis, avoid searching for underlying causes of problems, and place a high value on discovering clients' strengths and resources. Rather than talking about problems, the focus of therapy is on creating solutions in the present and the future.

Therapy tends to be brief and addresses the present and the future. The person is not the problem. The emphasis is on externalizing the problem and looking for exceptions to the problem. Therapy consists of a collaborative dialogue in which the therapist and the client co-create solutions. By identifying instances when the problem did not exist, clients can create new meanings for themselves and fashion a new life story.

Solution-focused therapy is well suited for people with adjustment disorders and for problems of anxiety and depression. Narrative therapy is now being used for a broad range of human difficulties including eating disorders, family distress, depression, and relationship concerns. These approaches can be applied to working with children, adolescents, adults, couples, families, and the community in a wide variety of settings. Both solution-focused and narrative approaches lend themselves to group counseling and to school counseling.

To change the way clients view problems and what they can do about these concerns. To collaboratively establish specific, clear, concrete, realistic, and observable goals leading to increased positive change. To help clients create a self-identity grounded on competence and resourcefulness so they can resolve present and future concerns. To assist clients in viewing their lives in positive ways, rather than being problem saturated.

Post modern therapy is a collaborative partnership. Clients are viewed as experts on their own life. Therapist using questioning dialogue to help clients free themselves from their problems-saturated stories and create new life-affirming stories. Solutions-focused therapist assume an active role in guiding the client away from problem-talk and towards solution-talk. Clients are encouraged to explore their strengths and create solutions that will lead to a richer future. Narrative therapist assist clients in externalizing problems and guide them in examining self-limiting stories and creating new and more liberating stories.

In solution-focused therapy the main technique involves change-talk, with emphasis on times in a client's life when the problem was not a problem. Other techniques include creative use of questioning, the miracle question, and scaling questions, which assist clients in developing alternative stories. In narrative therapy, specific techniques include listening to a client's problem-saturated story without getting stuck, externalizing and naming the problem, externalizing conversations, and discovering clues to competence. Narrative therapists often write letters to clients and assist them in finding an audience that will support their changes and new stories.

Contributions
The brevity of these approaches fit well with the limitations imposed by a managed care structure. The emphasis on client strengths and competence appeals to clients who want to create solutions and revise their life stories in a positive direction. Clients are not blamed for their problems but are helped to understand how they might relate in more satisfying ways to such problems. A strength of these approaches is the question format that invites clients to view themselves in new and more

Limitations
There is little empirical validation of the effectiveness of therapy outcomes. Some critics contend that these approaches endorse cheerleading and an overly positive perspective. Some are critical of the stance taken by mоst postmodern therapists regarding assessment and diagnosis, and also react negatively to the "not knowing" stance of the therapist. Because some of the solution-focused and narrative therapy techniques are relatively easy to learn practitioners may use these interventions In a mechanical way or implement these techniques without a sound rationale.

Contributions
Focus is on the social and cultural context of behavior. Stories that are being authored in the therapy office need to be anchored in the social world in which the client lives. Therapists do not make assumptions about people and honor each client's unique story and cultural background. Therapists take an active role in challenging social and cultural injustices that lead to oppression of certain groups. Therapy becomes a process of liberation from oppressive cultural values and enables clients to become active agents of their destinies

Limitations
Some clients come to therapy wanting to talk about their problems and may be put off by the approaches insistence on talking about exceptions to their problems. Clients may view the therapist as an expert and be reluctant to view themselves as experts. Certain clients may doubt the helpfulness of a therapist who assumes a "not knowing" position.

Choice theory/ Reality therapy

The basic focus is on what clients are doing and how to get them to evaluate whether their present actions are working for them. People are mainly motivated to satisfy their needs, especially the need for significant relationships. The approach rejects the medical model, the notion of transference, the unconscious, and dwelling on one's past.

Geared to teaching people ways of using choice theory in everyday living to increase effective behaviors. It has been applied to individual counseling with a wide range of clients, group counseling, working with youthful law offenders, and couples and family therapy. In some instances it is well suited to brief therapy and crisis intervention.

To help people become more effective in meeting all of their psychological needs. To enable clients to get reconnected with the people they have chosen to put into their quality worlds and teach clients choice theory.

A fundamental task is for the therapist to create a good relationship with the client. Therapists are then able to engage clients in an evaluation of all of their relationships with respect to what they want and how effective they are in getting this. Therapists find out what clients want, ask what they are choosing to do, invite them to evaluate present behavior, help them make plans for change, and get them to make a commitment. The therapist is a client's advocate, as long as the client is willing to attempt to behave responsibly.

This is an active, directive, and didactic therapy. Skillful questioning is a central technique used for the duration of the therapy process. Various techniques may be used to get clients to evaluate what they are presently doing to see if they are willing to change. If clients decide that their present behavior is not effective, they develop a specific plan for change and make a commitment to follow through.

Contributions
This is a positive approach with an action orientation that relies on simple and clear concepts that are easily grasped in many helping professions. It can be used by teachers, nurses, ministers, educators, social workers, and counselors, Due to the direct methods, it appeals to many clients who are often seen as resistant to therapy. It is a short-term approach that can be applied to a diverse population, and it has been a significant force in challenging the medical model of therapy

Limitations
Discounts the therapeutic value of exploration of the client's past, dreams, the unconscious, early childhood experiences, and transference. The approach is limited to less complex problems. It is a problem-solving thay that tends to discourage exploration of deeper emotional issues.

Limitations
This approach stresses taking charge of one's own life, yet some clients are more interested in Reality therapy changing their external environment. Counselors need to appreciate the role of discrimination andracism and help clients deal with social and political realities.  

Contributions
Focus is on clients making their own evaluation of behavior (including how they respond to their culture). Through personal assessment clients can determine the degree to which their needs and wants are being satisfied. They can find a balance between retaining their own ethnic identity and integrating some of the values and practices of the dominant society.

Family Systems

The family is viewed from an interactive and systemic perspective. Clients are connected to a living system; a change in one part of the system will result in a change in other parts. The family provides the context for understanding how individuals function in relationship to others and how they behave. Treatment deals with the family unit. An individual's dysfunctional behavior grows out of the interactional unit of the family and out of larger systems as well.

Focus is on communication patterns within a family, both verbal and nonverbal. Problems in therapy relationships are likely to be passed on from generation to generation. Key concepts vary depending on specific orientation but include differentiation, triangles, power coalitions, family-of-origin dynamics, functional versus dysfunctional interaction patterns, and dealing with here-and-now interactions. The present is more important than exploring past experiences.

Useful for dealing with marital distress, problems of communicating among family members, power struggles, crisis situations in the family, helping individuals attain their potential, and enhancing the overall functioning of the family.

To help family members gain awareness of patterns of relationships that are not working well and to create new ways of interacting. To identify how a client's problematic behavior may serve a function or purpose for the family. To understand how dysfunctional patterns can be handed down across generations. To recognize how family rules can affect each family member. To understand how past family of origin experiences continue to have an impact on individuals.

The family therapist functions as a teacher, coach, model, and consultant. The family learns ways to detect install problems that are keeping members stuck and it learns about patterns that have been transmitted from generation to generation. Some approaches to focus on the role of therapist as expert; others concentrate on intensifying what is going on in the year now of the family session. All family therapists are concerned with the process of family interaction and teaching patterns of communication.

A variety of techniques may be used, depending on the particular theoretical orientation of the therapist. Some techniques include genograms, teaching, asking questions, joining the family, tracking sequences, family mapping, reframing, restructuring, enactments, and setting boundaries. Techniques may be experiential, cognitive, or behavioral in nature. Most are designed to bring about change in a short time.

Contributions
From a systemic perspective, neither the individual nor the family is blamed for a particular dysfunction. The family is empowered through the process of identifying and exploring interactional patterns. Working with an entire unit provides a new perspective on understanding and working through both individual problems and relationship concerns. By exploring one's family of origin, there are increased opportunities to resolve other conflicts in systems outside of the family

Contributions
Focus is on the family or community system. Many ethnic and cultural groups place value on the role of the extended family. Many family therapies deal with extended family members and with support systems. Networking is a part of the process, which is congruent with the values of many clients. There is a greater chance for individual change if other family members are supportive. This approach offers ways of working toward the health of the family unit and the welfare of each member

Limitations
Family therapy rests on value assumptions that are not congruent with the values of clients from some cultures. Western concepts such as individuation, self-actualization, self-determination, independence, and self-expression may be foreign to some clients. In some cultures, admitting problems within the family is shameful. The value of "keeping problems within the family" may make it difficult to explore conflicts openly.

Person-Centered

Motivational interviewing (more directive but respectful of client, and resistance is normal)

Emotionally Focused Therapy

Expressive Art Therapy

In the third force Humanistic Traditions

Here and now = Present time focused 

Positive view of people; we have an inclination toward becoming fully functioning. In the context of the therapeutic relationship, the client experiences feelings that were previously denied to awareness. The client moves toward increased awareness, spontaneity, trust in self, and inner-directedness

Contributions
Clients take an active stance and assume responsibility for the direction of therapy. This unique approach has been subjected to empirical testing, and as a result both theory and methods have been modified. It is an open system, People without advanced training can benefit by translating the therapeutic conditions to both their personal and professional lives. Basic concepts are straightforward and easy to grasp and apply. It is a foundation for building a trusting relationship, applicable to all therapies.  

The client has the potential to become aware of problems and the means to resolve them
-Faith is placed in the client's capacity for self-direction
-Mental health is a congruence of ideal self and real self
-Maladjustment is the result of a discrepancy between what one wants to be and what one is
-In therapy attention is given to the present moment and on experiencing and expressing feelings.

Incongruence, separation between self and ideal self, fragment (overlaps with gestalt)

Application
Has wide applicability to individual and group counseling. It is especially well suited for the initial therapy phases of crisis intervention work. Its principles have been applied to couples and family therapy, community programs, administration and management, and human relations training. It is a useful approach for teaching, parent-child relations, and for working with groups of people from diverse with groups of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Have a relationship with them, warmth, genuineness

Moving toward more congruence, self-acceptance, self-actualization

To provide a safe climate conducive to clients' self-exploration. To help clients recognize blocks to growth and experience aspects of self that were formerly denied or distorted. To enable them to move toward openness, greater trust in self, willingness to be a process (in expression), and increased spontaneity and aliveness. To find meaning in life (existential too) and to experience life fully. To become more self-directed.

The relationship is of primary importance

The qualities of the therapist, including genuineness, therapy warmth, accurate empathy, respect, and being nonjudgmental—and communication of these attitudes to clients-are stressed

Clients use this genuine relationship with the therapist to help them transfer what they learn to other relationships

Therapists Role
-Non expert
- Facilitator (equals, no hierarchy)
-collaborative
-Limited self-disclosure
-activity level low
Relatively nondirective (passive/quiet)

This approach uses few techniques but stresses the attitudes of the therapist and a "way of being."  Therapists strive for:
-active or reflective listening (supports Triad) -reflection of feelings,
-clarification, - “being there" for the client, and
- focusing on the moment-to-moment experiencing of the client.   This model does not include diagnostic testing, interpretation, taking a case history, or questioning or probing for information. Therapeutic triad1. UPR (warmth, non-judgemental),2, genuineness (congruence)3. authenticity, empathy (understanding/getting it) More active interventions found from EFT, etc. (therapist would say “how do you feel about that”, “ what’s your reaction to that…”, etc.).

Contributions
-Accepting, optimistic

Limitations
No "quick fix". Possible danger from the therapist who remains passive and inactive, limiting responses to reflection. Many clients feel a need for greater direction, more structure, and more techniques. Clients in crisis may need more directive measures. Applied to individual counseling, some cultural groups will expect more counselor activity.

Contributions
Focus is on breaking cultural barriers and facilitating open dialogue among diverse cultural populations, Main strengths are respect for clients' values, active listening, welcoming of differences, nonjudgmental attitude, understanding, willingness to allow clients to determine what will be explored in sessions, and prizing cultural pluralism

Limitations
Some of the core values of this approach may not be congruent with the client's culture. Lack of therapy counselor direction and structure are unacceptable for clients who are seeking help and immediate answers from a knowledgeable professional.

Psychoanalytic (classic)

Focused on Past

Note: Jung vs Freud
Jung did not believe in infantile sexuality (e.g. Oedipal complex). More emphasis on midlife and "Wholeness" (like Gestalt), not just what happens in early childhood. Emphasis on creativity and symbolism (symbolic communication & collective consciousness).

-Human beings determined by psychic energy & early experiences
-Unconscious motives and conflicts are central in present behavior
-(Emphasis is on) early development is of critical importance because later personality problems have their roots in repressed childhood conflicts

Contributions
More than any other system, This approach has generated controversy as well as exploration and has stimulated further thinking and development of therapy. It has provided a detailed and comprehensive description of personality structure and functioning. It has brought into prominence factors such as the Unconscious as a determinant of behavior and the role of trauma during the first six years of life. It has developed several techniques for tapping the Unconscious and shed light on the dynamics of transference and countertransference, resistance, anxiety, and the mechanisms of ego defense.

Early experience
-Normal personality development is based on successful resolution and integration of psychosexual stages of development
-Faulty personality development is the result of inadequate resolution of some specific stage
-Anxiety is a result of repression of basic conflicts
-Unconscious processes are centrally related to current behavior.

Language of assessment
Early childhood development and how that might play out in defense mechanisms. Know the developmental fixations (the notion of people getting stuck)

Application
Candidates for analytic therapy include professionals who want to become therapists, people who have had intensive therapy and want to go further, and those who are in psychological pain. Analytic therapy is not recommended for self-centered and impulsive individuals or for people with psychotic disorders. Techniques can be applied to individual and group therapy.

-Develop Insight
-To make unconscious, conscious
-Strengthen the Ego (“Where Id was there should ego be” ~ Freud)
-Increase awareness
-Achieve balance in personality structure
-Deal with anxiety in a realistic way
-(?)Developmental fixation (vs stages)

To reconstruct the basic personality. To assist clients in reliving earlier experiences and working through repressed conflicts. To achieve intellectual and emotional awareness.

The classical analyst remains anonymous, and clients develop projections toward him or her. The focus is on reducing the resistances that develop in working with transference and on establishing more rational control. Clients undergo long-term analysis, engage in free association to uncover conflicts, and gain insight by talking. The analyst makes interpretations to teach clients the meaning of current behavior as it relates to the past

Therapists Role
-Expert
-No self-disclosure -blank screen
-Relatively quiet, passive connectivity
-No collaboration

Techniques are designed to help clients gain access to their unconscious conflicts, which leads to insight and eventual assimilation of new material by the ego

The key techniques are interpretation (of free association), dream analysis, free association, analysis of resistance, analysis of transference (important one), and countertransference

On the couch

Jung- Symbolic communication collective unconscious

Limitations
- Expensive, takes a long time, no quick fix
- Requires lots of attention over time) in order to "go deep”.Requires lengthy training for therapists and much time and expense for clients. The model stresses biological and instinctual factors to the neglect of social, cultural, and interpersonal ones. Its methods are less applicable for solving specific daily life problems of clients and may not be appropriate for some ethnic and cultural groups. Many clients lack the degree of ego strength needed for regressive and reconstructive therapy. It may be inappropriate for certain counseling settings.

Contributions
Its focus on family dynamics is appropriate for working with many cultural groups. The therapist's understanding inner dynamics and dealing with environmental stresses

Limitations
Its focus on insight, intrapsychie dynamics, and long term treatment is often not valued by clients therapywho prefer to leam coping skills for dealing with pressing daily concerns. Internal focus is often inconflict with cultural values that stress an interpersonal and environmental focus.

ModernPsycho-dynamic Object relations theory, Self-psychology, Attachment Focued on Past (does come in to present too)

Early childhood, developmental fixations, defense mechanisms, attachment, early object relations

Insight
Make the unconscious conscious. Strengthen the ego

*“New Addition” Corrective emotional experience (feel something in the moment besides transference).

In contemporary relational psychoanalytic therapy, the relationship is central, and emphasis is given to here-and-now dimensions of this relationship
Therapists Role
-Some real relationship
-Minimal self-disclosure

Patient is face to face not on the couch

Free association, dream analysis, working through the transference, analysis of resistance, interpretation of free associations

Contributions
Can be relatively brief

Limitations
- Expensive, takes a long time, no quick fix

AdlerianTherapy

Part psychoanalysis / part CBT

Focus is both the past and the present, and carrying it into the here and now

-Humans are motivated by social interest, by striving toward goals, by inferiority and superiority, and by dealing with the tasks of life

-Emphasis is on the individual's positive capacities to live in society cooperatively
-People have the capacity to interpret, influence, and create events
-Each person at an early age creates a unique style of life, which tends to remain relatively constant throughout life

Contributions
A key contribution is the influence that Adlerian concepts have had on other systems and the integration of these concepts into various contemporary therapies. This is one of the first approaches to therapy that was humanistic, unified, holistic, and goal-oriented and that put an emphasis on social and psychological factors.

Key concepts include the unity of personality, the need to view people from their subjective perspective, and the importance of life goals that give direction to behavior

-People are motivated by social interest and by finding goals to give life meaning
-Other key concepts are striving for significance and superiority, developing a unique lifestyle, and understanding the family constellation
-Therapy is a matter of providing encouragement and assisting clients in changing their cognitive perspective and behavior.

-Discouraged
-Life style
-Mistaken beliefs
-Family constellation

Application
Because the approach is based on a growth model, it is applicable to such varied spheres of life as therapy child guidance, parent-child counseling, marital and family therapy, individual counseling with all age groups, correctional and rehabilitation counseling, group counseling, substance abuse programs, and brief counseling. It is ideally suited to preventive care and alleviating a broad range of conditions that interfere with growth.

Social Interest

To challenge clients' basic premises and life goals

To offer encouragement so individuals can develop socially useful goals and increase social interest.

To develop the client's sense of belonging.

The emphasis is on joint responsibility, on mutually determining goals, on mutual trust and respect, therapy and on equality. The focus is on identifying, exploring, and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the person's lifestyle

Therapists Role
Somewhat more directive-less hierarchical than psychoanalysis -Teacher -minimal self-disclosure

Adlerians pay more attention to the subjective experiences of clients than to using techniques

Some techniques include:
-Gathering life-history data (family constellation, early recollections, personal priorities)
-Sharing interpretations with clients

-Offering encouragement
-Assisting clients in searching for new possibilities

-Homework
-Identifying strengths
-Challenge mistaken beliefs
-Act as if…
-Use of humor

Contributions
-Some focus on symptoms
-Optimistic (and strength-based)
-Flexible
-More integration with other models

Limitations
Weak in terms of precision, testability, and empirical validity. Few attempts have been made to validate the basic concepts by scientific methods. Tends to oversimplify some complex human problems and is based heavily on common sense.

Contributions
Its focus on social interest, helping others, collectivism, pursuing meaning in life, importance of family, goal orientation, and belonging is congruent with the values of many cultures. Focus on person-in-the-environment allows for cultural factors to be explored

Limitations
This approach is detailed interview about ones family background can conflict with cultures that therapy have injunctions against disclosing family matters. Some clients may view the counselor as an authority who will provide answers to problems, which conflicts with the egalitarian, person-to-person spirit to reduce social distance.

Existential Humanistic existential models

–Third force

One brand of therapy from it is logotherapy (not testing on it)

Present focused – here and now

The central focus is on the nature of the human condition, which includes a capacity for self-awareness, freedom of choice to decide one's fate, responsibility, anxiety, the search for meaning being alone and being in relation with others, striving for authenticity, and facing living and dying

Contributions
Its major contribution is recognition of the need for a subjective approach based on a complete view of the human condition. It calls attention to the need for a philosophical statement on what it means to be a person. Stress on the I/Thou relationship lessens the chances of dehumanizing therapy. It provides a perspective for understanding anxiety, guilt, freedom, death, isolation, and commitment.

Essentially an experiential approach to counseling rather than a firm theoretical model, it stresses core human conditions
-Interest is on the present and on what one is becoming. The approach has a future orientation and stresses self-awareness before action.

-Unaware you have freedom and choice
-Lacking meaning or purpose
-Living, inauthenticity
-Existential anxiety = normal
(Note: In this theory it is normal/to be aware of, not to be seen as a problem to solve but to recognized as normal)

Application
This approach is especially suited to people facing a developmental crisis or a transition in life therapy and for those with existential concerns (making choices, dealing with freedom and responsibility, coping with guilt and anxiety, making sense of life, and finding values) or those seeking personal enhancement. The approach can be applied to both individual and group counseling, and to couples and family therapy, crisis intervention, and community mental health work.

To help people see that they are free and to become aware of their (with) possibilities. To challenge them to recognize that they are (to see their part) responsible for events that they formerly thought were happening to them. 
To identify factors that block freedom

-More awareness
-Taking responsibility for choices
-Able to make meaning
-Finding purpose

The therapist's main tasks are to accurately grasp clients' being in the world and to establish a personal and authentic encounter with them. The immediacy of the client-therapist relationship and the authenticity of the here-and-now encounter are stressed. Both client and therapist can be changed by the encounter

Therapists Role
-Non-Expert Self-Disclosure (can be a lot)

Few techniques flow from this approach because it stresses understanding first and technique second. The therapist can borrow techniques from other approaches and incorporate them in an existential framework. Diagnosis, testing, and external measurements are not deemed important. Issues addressed are freedom and responsibility, isolation and relationships, meaning and meaninglessness, living and dying

Emphasis on the I/Thou relationship

Similar to person centered

Contributions
-No quick fix
-No zooming in on symptom
-Finding purpose, accepting death anxiety leads to feeling better

Limitations
Many basic concepts are fuzzy and ill-defined, making its general framework abstract at times. Lacks a systematic statement of principles and practices of therapy. Has limited applicability to lower functioning and nonverbal clients and to clients in extreme crisis who need direction.

Contributions:Focus is on understanding client's phenomenological world, including cultural background. This approach leads to empowerment in an oppressive society. Existential therapy can help clients examine their options for change within the context of their cultural realities. The existential approach is particularly suited to counseling diverse clients because of the philosophical foundation that emphasizes the human condition

Limititations
Values of individuality, freedom, autonomy, and self-realization often conflict with cultural values of therapycollectivism, respect for tradition, deference to authority, and interdependence. Some may be deterredby the absence of specific techniques. Others will expect more focus on surviving in their world.

GestaltHumanistic existential tradition – Third force Gestalt = wholenessPresent Time - Here and nowPerson centered

The person strives for wholeness and integration of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Some key concepts include contact with self and others, contact boundaries, and awareness. The view is nondeterministic in that the person is viewed as having the capacity to recognize how earlier influences are related to present difficulties. -As an experiential approach, it is grounded in the here and now and emphasizes awareness, personal choice, and responsibility

Contributions
The emphasis on direct experiencing and doing rather than on merely talking about feelings provides a perspective on growth and enhancement, not merely a treatment of disorders. It uses clients' behavior as the basis for making them aware of their inner creative potential. The approach to dreams is a unique, creative tool to help clients discover basic conflicts. Therapy is viewed as an existential encounter; it is process-oriented, not technique-oriented. It recognizes nonverbal behavior as a key to understanding.

Emphasis is on the "what" and "how" of experiencing in the here and now to help clients accept all aspects of themselves
- Key concepts include holism, figure-formation process, awareness, unfinished business and avoidance, contact, and energy

Problem Notes
Individuals have the capacity to self-regulate when they are aware of what is happening in and around them

People change and grow when they experience who they really are in the world (Yontef & Schulz, 2013)

Our perception of a “whole” may have qualities that do not exist in any of the parts

-Lack of awareness
- “Fragmentation” (parts not connected or together with each other to make wholeness);
-People are out of touch with their present time awareness)
-People have unfinished business/issues (note: we don’t go back to the past to deal with this. We deal with it/work with it as it presents in present time)

Application
Addresses a wide range of problems and populations: crisis intervention, treatment of a range of psychosomatic disorders, couples and family therapy, awareness training of mental health professionals, behavior problems in children, and teaching and learning. It is well suited to both individual and group counseling. The methods are powerful catalysts for opening feelings and getting clients into contact with their present-centered experience.

To assist clients in gaining awareness of moment-to-moment experiencing and to expand the capacity to make choices

To foster integration of the self
-Greater Awareness, great choice
-Move toward increased awareness of themselves
-Enriched awareness
-Assume ownership of their experience
-Develop skills and acquire values
-Become more aware of all of their senses. ( and integrate parts)
-Learn to accept responsibility for what they do
-Be able to ask for and get help from others and be able to give to others
-Personality change

Be more aware
Take more responsibility

Move toward growth and wholeness and integration

Central importance is given to the l/Thou relationship and the quality of the therapist's Presence (Person Centered)

The therapist's attitudes and behavior count more than the techniques used. The therapist does not interpret for clients but assists them in developing the meansto make their own interpretations. Clients identify and work on unfinished business from the past that interferes with current functionality

How it works
Stay with what comes up in the here and now (set up experiment – empty chair- to have client bring up and declare what is going in them so there is sense of coherence and integration) as opposed to digging in to the past or beliefs

Therapists Role
-“expert experimenter Directive
-Respectful of client (like person centered and existential therapists are)

How it is done
Have clients invest themselves fully in their current condition rather than striving to become who they should be

Gestalt therapists believe people change and grow when they experience who they really are in the world (Yonef & Shulz, 2013).

A wide range of experiments are designed to intensify experiencing and to integrate conflicting feelings. Experiments are co-created by therapist and client through an l/Thou dialogue
-Therapists have latitude to creatively invent their own experiments.Formal diagnosis and testing are not a required part of therapy

Active dialogic inquiry and exploration

Experiments (instead of calling it strategies, Techniques or intervention)
-The Internal Dialogue Exercise
-The Empty-Chair Technique
-Making the Rounds Only works in group
-The Reversal Exercise
-The Rehearsal Exercise
-The Exaggeration Exercise
-Staying With the Feeling
-The Gestalt Approach to Dream Work

Defenses
-Introjection
-Projection
-Retroflection
-Deflection
–Confluence
-Blocked energy

“What “and the “How” Role Play

Contributions
-Tailored to client
Integrates polarities of self–culture
-Addresses nonverbal behaviors
-No focus on specific symptoms

Limitations
Techniques lead to intense emotional expression; if these feelings are not explored and if cognitive work is not done, clients are likely to be left unfinished and will not have a sense of integration of their learning. Clients who have difficulty using imagination may not profit from certain experiments
-Very emotionally intense
-Emotional work is off-putting
-Premature intense emotional work leads to termination

Contributions
Its focus on expressing oneself nonverbally is congruent with those cultures that look beyond words for messages. Provides many experiments in working with clients who have cultural injunctions against freely expressing feelings. Can help to overcome language barrier with bilingual clients. Focus on bodily expressions is a subtle way to help clients recognize their conflicts

+I13Clients who have been culturally conditioned to be emotionally reserved may not embrace Gestalt therapy experiments Some may not see how "being aware of present experiencing" will lead to solving their problems.   

Behavior Therapy

Exposure therapy

Present oriented 

Behavior is the product of learning; we are both the product and the producer of the environment

Traditional behavior therapy is based on classical and operant principles

Contemporary behavior therapy has branched out in many directions, including mindfulness and acceptance approaches

Contributions
Emphasis is on assessment and evaluation techniques, thus providing a basis for accountable practice. Specific problems are identified, and clients are kept informed about progress toward their goals. The approach has demonstrated effectiveness in many areas of human functioning. The roles of the therapist as reinforcer, model, teacher, and consultant are explicit. The approach has undergone extensive expansion, and research literature abounds. No longer is it a mechanistic approach, for it now makes room for cognitive factors and encourages self-directed programs for behavioral change.

Focus is on overt behavior, precision in specifying goals of treatment, development of specific treatment plans, and objective evaluation of therapy outcomes. -Present behavior is given attention. Therapy is based on the principles of learning theory. Normal behavior is learned through reinforcement and imitation. Abnormal behavior is the result of faulty learning.

Dysfunctional behaviors are what triggers/reinforces behaviors
-If it is out of the past then not behavioral

Observation, measuring, data collections

Application
A pragmatic approach based on empirical validation of results. Enjoys wide applicability to individual, group, couples, and family counseling. Some problems to which the approach is well suited are phobic disorders, depression, trauma, sexual disorders, children's behavioral disorders, stuttering, and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Beyond clinical practice, its principles are applied in fields such as pediatrics, stress management, behavioral medicine, education, and geriatrics.

To eliminate maladaptive behaviors and learn more effective behaviors. To identify factors that influence behavior and find out what can be done about problematic behavior. To encourage clients to take an active and collaborative role in clearly setting treatment goals and evaluating how well these goals are being met.

Fix those behaviors
-Assume if you change behavior it will lead to changes in thought, feeling 

The therapist is active and directive and functions as a teacher or mentor in helping clients learn more effective behavior. Clients must be active in the process and experiment with new behaviors

Although a quality client-therapist relationship is not viewed as sufficient to bring about change, it is considered essential for implementing behavioral procedures

Therapists Role
Expert, directive, active, teacher, not very collaberative

The main techniques are reinforcement, shaping, modeling, systematic desensitization, relaxation methods, flooding, eye movement and desensitization reprocessing, cognitive restructuring, social skills training, self-management programs, mindfulness and acceptance methods, behavioral rehearsal, and coaching. Contracts and homework assignments are also typically used

Diagnosis or assessment is done at the outset to determine a treatment plan

Questions concentrate on "what," "how," and "when" (but not "why"). token economy, contingency, role play

Contributions
-Symptom focused
-Quick
-Evidence based

Limitations
-Not much attention to feeling
-Manipulative (in a cage with treats)

Major criticisms
-it may change behavior but not feelings
-It ignores the relational factors in therapy
-It does not provide insight
-It ignores historical causes of present behavior
-It involves control by the therapist
-It is limited in its capacity to address certain aspects of the human condition.

Contributions
Focus on behavior, rather than on feelings, is compatible with many cultures. Strengths include a collaborative relationship between counselor and client in working toward mutually agreed-upon goals, continual assessment to determine if the techniques are suited to clients' unique situations, assisting clients in learning practical skills, an educational focus, and stress on self-management strategies

Limitations
Family members may not value clients' newly acquired assertive style, so clients must be taught how therapy to cope with resistance by others. Counselors need to help clients assess the possible consequences of making behavioral changes.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Symptoms focused 

Individuals tend to incorporate faulty thinking, which leads to emotional and behavioral disturbances

Cognitions are the major determinants of how we feel and act. Therapy is primarily oriented toward cognition and behavior, and it stresses the role of thinking, deciding, questioning, doing, and redeciding. This is a psychoeducational model, which emphasizes therapy as a learning process, including acquiring and practicing new skills, learning new ways of thinking, and acquiring more effective ways of coping with problems

Contributions
-Emphasis on a comprehensive therapeutic practice
-Numerous cognitive, emotive, and behavioral techniques
-An openness to incorporating techniques from other approaches
-A methodology for challenging and changing faulty or negative thinking

Most forms can be integrated into other mainstream therapies. REBT makes full use of action oriented homework, various psychoeducational methods, and keeping records of progress. CBT is a structured therapy that has a good track record for treating depression and anxiety in a short time. Strengths-based CBT is a form of positive psychology that addresses the resources within the client for change.

Although psychological problems may be rooted in childhood, they are reinforced by present ways of thinking
-A person's belief system and thinking is the primary cause of disorders
-Internal dialogue plays a central role in one's behavior
-Clients focus on examining faulty assumptions and misconceptions and on replacing these with effective beliefs.

-Dysfunctional thoughts
-Distorted schemas
-Irrational beliefs
-Observation, measuring
-Data collection

Application
Has been widely applied to treatment of depression, anxiety, relationship problems, stress management, skill training, substance abuse, assertion training, eating disorders, panic attacks, performance anxiety, and social phobias. CBT is especially useful for assisting people in modifying their cognitions. Many self-help approaches utilize its principles. CBT can be applied to a wide range of client populations with a variety of specific problems.

To teach clients to confront faulty beliefs with contradictory evidence that they gather and evaluate
To help clients seek out their faulty beliefs and minimize them
To become aware of automatic thoughts and to change them
To assist clients in identifying their inner strengths, and to explore the kind of life they would like to have

Modify thoughts
-Better feelings, more functional behavior

In REBT the therapist functions as a teacher and the client as a student. The therapist is highly directive and teaches clients an A-B-C model of changing their cognitions.   In CT the focus is on a collaborative relationship. Using a Socratic dialogue, the therapist assists clients in identifying dysfunctional beliefs and discovering alternative rules for living. The therapist promotes corrective experiences that lead to learning new skills. Clients gain insight into their problems and then must actively practice changing self-defeating thinking and acting.In strengths-based CBT, active incorporation of client strengths encourages full engagement in therapy and often provides avenues for change that otherwise would be missed.Therapists ROLE: Expert Directive, active, teacher, Not very collaberative

Therapists use a variety of cognitive, emotive, and behavioral techniques; diverse methods are tailored to suit individual clients

This is an active, directive, time-limited, present-centered, psychoeducational, structured therapy

Some techniques include engaging in Socratic dialogue, collaborative empiricism, debating irrational beliefs, carrying out homework assignments, gathering data on assumptions one has made, keeping a record of activities, forming alternative interpretations, learning new coping skills, changing one's language and thinking patterns, role playing, imagery, confronting faulty beliefs, self-instructional training, and stress inoculation training

Reinforcement (of thoughts), journaling, looking for evidence that contradicts (your behavior, your thoughts) homework

Affirmations (saying thoughts that trigger feelings)

Contributions
Symptom focused

Limitations
Tends to play down emotions, does not focus on exploring the unconscious or underlying conflicts, de-emphasizes the value of insight, and sometimes does not give enough weight to the client's past.  CBT might be too structured for some clients

Major criticisms are
-it may change behavior but not feelings
-it ignores the relational factors in therapy
-it does not provide insight
-it ignores historical causes of present behavior
-it involves control by the therapist
-it is limited in its capacity to address certain aspects of the human condition.

Contributions
Focus is on a collaborative approach that offers clients opportunities to express their areas of concern. The psychoeducational dimensions are often useful in exploring cultural conflicts and teaching new behavior. The emphasis on thinking (as opposed to identifying and expressing feelings) is likely to be acceptable to many clients. The focus on teaching and learning tends to avoid the stigma of mental illness. Clients are likely to value the active and directive stance of the therapist

Limitations
Before too quickly attempting to change the beliefs and actions of clients, it is essential for the therapy therapist to understand and respect their world. Some clients may have serious reservations about questioning their basic cultural values and beliefs. Clients could become dependent on the therapist choosing appropriate ways to solve problems (choice theory/relational therapy)

This approach stresses taking charge of one's own life, yet some clients are more interested in Reality therapy changing their external environment. Counselors need to appreciate the role of discrimination and racism and help clients deal with social and political realities.

Solutions Focused Behavior Therapy

Developed in the 1980s, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a relatively new therapeutic approach that changes how the client looks at their situation. (Corey, 2012)

SFBT is considered an optimistic-based therapeutic approach.   

SFBT is goal-oriented and future-focused that concentrates on solutions to the problems the individual is facing rather than the problem itself. (Corey, 2012) This positive approach assumes each individual is competent and possesses an ingenuity necessary for solving their problems with the resources they already have. (Corey, 2012)  

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) focuses on solutions instead of problems, as well as future hopes and goals of the client. (Corey, 2012) This focus directs the conversation toward successes the client has had in their life rather than failures. (Corey, 2012) This positive, optimistic way of thinking can lead to a sense of empowerment for the client

Through discussion and assistance from the therapist, the client can identify what behaviors have worked for them in the past to solve problems. (Corey, 2012)

Therapists that utilize this approach assist their clients in identifying and utilizing strengths and resources that they already possess, instead of trying reinvent the wheel, so to speak. (Corey, 2012)

These therapists dialog with their clients about future accomplishments they would like to make happen. Iveson admits that the hardest part of utilizing the SFBT therapeutic approach is switching one’s viewpoint from concentrating on their problems in life to focusing on their strengths and goals for their future. (2002)

In the simplest way, the therapist encourages clients to continue to do what is working and to stop doing what is not working.