This photograph was taken at the book launch of my book on AOD. Three therapists all sitting together. The woman on the left was a psychologist who worked for many years. She specialised in working with children. After I completed my psychology degree I was fortunate enough for her to take me on as an …
Consent and power in relationships.
In most relationships there is an asymmetry of power. Both parties do not perceive each other to be of equal power. This asymmetry is constantly changing. Some times there is just a little power difference and sometimes there is a big power difference. Some times the power difference can completely change direction. A man and …
Silence and the unconscious – Part 2
In silence between therapist and client we see how transactions (non silence) can drag the client’s psychological energy from the unconscious into the conscious This diagram shows of how Freud conceived of the conscious and unconscious. In the human psyche there is a little bit of conscious at the top but most of it is …
Silence and the unconscious
Peter Ehrenhaus is a professor of communication and writes very interesting things about silence and symbolic expression. He says that silence can be an object or an encounter. With an encounter meaning can arise in silence between the individual and the object experienced as silent. He is not a psychologist and presents his ideas in …
Silence in psychotherapy
Over the years there has been much written about silence in psychotherapy and most of the time in these articles and books silence means the absence of speech (Ehrenhaus 1988). A time when the client and therapist are not speaking to each other is defined as silence in psychotherapy. However to me this is not …
Permission and redecision
These are two different ways of achieving the same thing Permission is from the classical school Redecision is from the redecision school Both of them are designed to alter the injunctions in the life script. To change the injunctions Eric Berne proposed the permission transaction as shown below If the client accepts the permission then …
Mature love, immature love and the teenager
Research into adolescent development has described the process that the young teenager uses to develop a mature sense of love. When the teenager enters into early adolescence they begin to have romantic and love feelings for another person for the first time in their life. This has been described as learning how to develop a …
Embrace the homeless
In the city where I live there is a current electoral race going on for Lord Mayor and homelessness is a key election issue. All the various candidates are vowing to “solve the homeless problem” in the city. I fear this may be a bad time for the homeless as this means the homeless are …
Psychology of the court process
A friend recently asked me if I would support her in court, which I agreed to. A person hurt a loved one of hers and I am soon to attend the sentencing with her. She reports that she wants to be there, to see “him go down”. Revenge is an interesting emotion, so primal and …
Psychic organs to ego states
Eric Berne transitioned from psychoanalysis to transactional analysis in his theory of ego states. As Raymond Hostie tells us he began that journey in 1956. There are three psychic organs The Exteropsyche The Neopsyche The Archeopsyche One sees diagrams like this Psychic organs are all connected up with psychoanalysis and it is how Eric Berne …
Regression – defence mechanism & natural human process
The redecision therapy use of regression Regression is the return to an earlier childhood phase of a persons psychological development. It can be both a defence mechanism and a natural human process. As a defence mechanism when a person feels anxiety they cope with it by again feeling and thinking like they were a …
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Two types or levels of life script change
In psychotherapy clients can learn to improve their neurosis For Maria To change the life script theme, is what Willem Reich would call character change (see my book titled The Treatment of Character). This is not commonly done in therapy. I would give a rough estimate of 20% of clients or less top this type …
Identification – Post 2
Identification allows for humans to have their own vicarious experiences Definition of vicarious experience – 1. Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another 2. Experienced or realised through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another Both of these talk of imagination and thus we could say this process works …
Identification – Post 1
Human identity is a fragile thing. Who am I? is a question we all ask and how we get our answer can depend on a lot of things. Identification is a psychological process that we all engage in, some more than others. Probably all parents identity with their own children to some degree. In their …
Self control. Therapeutic implications
This picture shows a common thought which the eating disordered person can have. Self starvation can be about an attempt at self control and of course we also have binge eating which is out of control eating behaviour. As soon as you start to try and control the Child ego state you are eventually going …
Adult ego state strengthening – Post 4
The final part of this composition on strengthening the Adult ego state seeks a different path. The previous three parts are examining behavioural strategies to assist a person to increase their Adult ego state functioning when under stress. This section will look at some of the underlying causes that may lead to poor Adult ego …
Adult ego state strengthening – Post 3
As mentioned in the previous article on Adult ego state strengthening a most valuable skill for a child to learn is to think and feel at the same time. To do this the child learns how to be in two ego states at the one time. The individual maintains Adult ego state function and Child …
Adult ego state strengthening – post 2
As mentioned in the previous article the Adult ego state is in the here and now whereas the Parent and Child ego states are living in the past. This diagram shows how one can avoid the here and now (H&N). One way to strengthen the Adult ego state is to practice being in the H&N. …
Adult ego state strengthening – post 1
The Adult ego state is suggested in many psychological theories as the state of psychological health. In the Adult ego state the person sees the world as it is in the here and now and the person is not reacting to the world as they did when they were a child. (i.e. not in the …
Working with the homeless in 2020
My new years resolution for 2020? To keep working with the homeless. Why would I make such a resolution? I hope at least some of my reasons are altruistic. I like working with this group people. They are very similar population to the prison population where I worked for a number of years. Psychologically quite …
The politics of diagnosis.
The problem being is the entire Australian population gets pathologized.
Schizoid personality type
I would suggest there are two discrete sub groups in this personality type
Demon subpersonality in nightmares
I have suggested a different approach to those listed above to dealing with the demon and that is to engage with it in the relational.
The life of a PK
I immediately found this an interesting discussion because I am also a PK. I am a psychologist’s kid (or psychotherapists kid).
Contracting in psychotherapy
The problem with demand contracts is the client may just lie to you.
Client’s chair in the therapy room – Part 2
In addition as the client regresses more they become more open to hypnotic suggestions.
The client’s chair in the therapy room.
I have always said that a therapist’s room must be a bit beige, no high fashion and no dramatic statements.
Is it OK for a therapist to be proud of a client’s achievements?
Then I wondered if that is OK to say to a client. I wondered if it was a bit paternalistic
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Therapist self versus the real self
Also if the therapy and therapist is overly sensitive and gentle then the client will tend to hyper sensitise and become ‘worse’ in that sense
Fight, flight or freeze in therapy
The person who flees the scene of an accident or the hit and run driver has the flight response.