Experiential - General Flashcards
What are some early models of Experiential therapy?
- Psychodrama
- Gestalt therapy
- Rogerian client-centered therapy
- Encounter group movement
When was Experiential therapy first developed?
In the 1950’s-1960’s, by Carl Whitaker (Symbolic-Experiential Therapy) and Virginia Satir (Human Growth Model).
What are some later models of Experiential therapy that are especially relevant to CFT?
- Symbolic Experiential Therapy
- Satir Human Validation Model
- Emotionally Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
Also…
- Animal-assisted therapy
- Play therapy
What do experiential models of therapy emphasize?
- A humanistic, existential view of humankind
- Emotions & experience > intellectual reasoning
- Psychological health is seen as individual growth, freedom of action, and open expression
- Important to experience a full range of affect
- the therapist is a real person
- priority on freedom of choice
- focus on the here-and-now
- people/families have an inherent ability to heal themselves
- general versus specific therapy goals
Where do problems come from, according to experiential therapy models?
Problems happen when there is…
- emotional expression that is blocked, such that people cannot authentically be themselves.
- A scapegoat provides anxiety relief for the family
- A family cannot tolerate interpersonal natural stress
- Role rigidity
- Lack of tolerance for difference
Symptoms are non-verbal messages in reaction to the dysfunctional communication working in the system
What are the goals of experiential therapy models?
- Promote growth, change, creativity, flexibility, spontaneity, playfulness. Disrupt rigidity.
- To unblock honest emotional expression in families (make the covert overt)
- Open individuals to their inner experience, helping them be more fully human. Unlock defenses.
- To develop a heightened sense of competence, well-being, and self-esteem, leading to greater individuation / differentiation
- Increase emotional closeness of family
What is the stance of the therapist in Experiential models of therapy?
An experiential family therapist play the role of a coach for the family. The therapist helps the family create a supportive and safe environment for each member that allows each member to be more flexible and to take risks together to grow and individuate.
- Fosters open communication; teaches effective skills to communicate feelings
- Empathetic, sensitive, modeling care & acceptance
- Fosters spontaneity, “craziness”
- Genuine: self-disclosure, and authenticity/personality is okay. Therapist is seen as accessible and a regular person
- Emphasizes here-and-now experiences
- Addresses unfinished business
- Willing to increase intensity
- Active & directive
Create existential encounters, with the therapist willing to receive and disclose reactions in session
- Model non-avoidance
- Provocatively increase stress and emotional intensity to push for breakthrough of affect
- Serves as model for here-and-now (alternately support & challenge family members)
What is the reasoning behind interventions in Experiential therapy models?
- Guided be belief that people are naturally creative, loving, and productive if freed from constraint
- Requires full participation from therapist:
– Focus on here-and-now
– Alternates challenge and support - Aimed at increasing ability to increase emotions and encourage more genuine interactions
What are some examples of interventions in Experiential therapy models?
- Family sculpting
- Family drawings
- Symbolic drawings of life space
- Role playing
What is Creativity in Experiential therapy?
In Experiential Therapy, creativity refers to techniques that are used to foster Creative Experiences.
What is *Family Reconstruction** in Experiential therapy?
Family Reconstruction is a technique of Experiential Therapy, utilizing psychodrama to help an individual experience the key triads in the their family of origin. The client gains Insight into their family and their own lives by watching family members act out key situations.
What is Spacialization in Experiential therapy?
Spacialization (Spacilization) is an Experiential technique of having a client system represent aspects of their family systems and relationships in physical space in the session.
What is **Unfinished Business* in Experiential Therapy?
Unfinished Business is from Experiential therapy, and originally a concept of Gestalt therapist, Fritz Perls. It refers to unresolved feelings or disowned parts of the self.
What is the therapist looking for in assessment, in Experiential therapy?
- The level of individual self-expression/individuation
- The level of individual defensiveness
- How family interactions promote/inhibit individuation & healthy interaction
- Level of openness in communication & metacommunication
When does termination happen in Experiential therapy?
- When defenses of family members are broken down
- When family is communicating openly & honestly, and more in touch w/their feelings
- When family is open to the individuation (differentiation) of family members
