Experiential - Symbolic-Experiential, Human Validation Process, and EFT Flashcards
Who are the theorists in Experiential?
- Satir
2. Whitaker
Major Concepts of Experiential:
- Battle for Initiative and Structure (Whitaker)
- Open communication (Satir)
- Use of client’s and therapist’s craziness (Whitaker)
- Creativity
- Emotional experience in the here-and-now
- Family reconstruction
- Individual and family growth/integration through immediate shared experience
- Intergenerational themes
- Self-worth (Satir)
Theory of Dysfunction in Experiential:
- Scapegoat provides anxiety relief for families.
- Family cannot tolerate interpersonal natural stress (ex., life cycle, FOO culture), avoidance of feelings (emotional suppression).
- Role rigidity, lack of tolerance for difference, seek safety instead of growth.
- Symptoms are nonverbal messages/false emotions in reaction to dysfunctional communication working in the system.
Theory of Change in Experiential:
- Family “desperation” sign of readiness for change and change must be voluntary. (Whitaker)
- Immediate shared experience produces new responses, allowing genuine emotions to emerge, and leading to individual growth and family cohesion.
- Increasing family’s creativity, spontaneity, and ability to play – break down rigid expectations and unblock awareness.
- Understanding the underlying premise of behavior to change the rules of the system. Requires honest communication and emotional expression. (Satir)
Common Stages of Therapy in Experiential:
- Information gathering
- Increase affective intensity and anxiety to uncover problem.
- Clarify communication and increase expressiveness.
- Therapist pushes for expansion of self.
- Therapy is terminated when the goal is reached.
Include as many family members and generations as possible to promote possibility for lasting change.
Whitaker (Symbolic Experiential) Stages of Experiential Therapy:
- Pre-treatment phase - more structured, therapist makes decisions
- Middle phase - therapist’s creativity and aliveness define therapy more than technique or structure, decisions made by consensus
- Late phase - therapy usually ends when people stop pushing each other
Satir (Human Validation Process Model) Stages of Experiential Therapy:
- Making contact - observations; assess clarity of communication, areas of blockage
- Chaos - serve as model for communication; separate self from others, it is okay to be different
- Integration - understanding parts of self and family system to change problematic patterns and embrace differences
Stance of Therapist in Experiential
- Involved, active participant
- Self-disclosing, existential encounters
- Warm/caring, responsive, positive (Satir)
- Consultant
- Alternate provocative/stress-activator with warm/supportive (Whitaker)
Methods/Techniques of Experiential:
- Metaphor
- In-session genuine interaction, directives, to encourage emotional expression
- Sculpting (Satir)
- Family reconstruction
- Parts party
- Temperature reading
Diagnosis/Assessment in Experiential:
- Degree of anxiety in family
- Battle for structure and initiative (Whitaker)
- Therapist’s feelings in relation to family
- Assessing degree of separateness, cross-generational triangles
- Ability to play/experiment with other roles
- Degree of role flexibility
- Measure of intact competencies and resources for change
- Test family’s desire to change (Whitaker)
- Verbal and non-verbal behavior
- Life cycle issues
Describe the battle for structure and the battle for initiative in experiential:
Whitaker: Symbolic-Experiential Therapy
Battle for Structure = Therapist must win. Therapist decides who should attend and assumes the position of leader to block the family members from their typical patterns of behavior.
Battle for Initiative = Family wins. Therapist communicates that the responsibility for the treatment belongs to the family and heightens anxiety (ex. silence) to encourage family interaction.
What are the styles of communication identified by Satir?
Experiential - Human Validation Process Model
Dishonest ways to communicate:
1. Blaming - judging, comparing, complaining
- Placating - pacifying, being nice/protective, defending others gently, covering up
- Avoiding - distracting, pretending not to understand, playing weak/helpless
- Computing - using logic, lecturing, using outside authority
Usually involve low self-esteem.
- Leveling - “real” responding, flowing, alive; appropriate to the situation, verbally and nonverbally consistent = CONGRUENT
How did Whitaker minimize countertransference?
Experiential - Symbolic-Experiential
Sharing feelings openly with families.
If feelings are openly expressed, they are less likely to be acted out.
What is family sculpting?
Experiential - Satir: Human Validation Process Model
Psychodrama technique to foster insight. Therapist asks one member of a family to arrange the others in a tableau. It is a graphic means of portraying each person’s perceptions of the family and his or her place in it.
Also used to illuminate past events.
Describe Whitaker’s use of Metaphor:
Experiential - Symbolic-Experiential
Whitaker avoided concrete diagnoses/goals, thinking they could make family problems too real. Instead, he used extended metaphors to replace diagnostic terms.
Metaphorical goals encourage growth and change rather than simply recognizing a goal.
