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Presents a discussion with three therapists on therapeutic failure. Details on the therapists personal experiences with therapeutic failure; Discussions on the ways in which failure is embedded in both theory and practice of psychotherapy.

Presents a six-year period experiential therapy for women in an HMO setting. Program for groups of women consisting of yoga, a dance therapy session, an initiatives course in the woods and a four-day climbing experience; Design of the group; Long-term follow-up of group members.

Deals with experientialism. Information on the humanistic value system; Benefits of experientialism to individuals; Contribution of Fritz Perls in experientialism.

Tests the efficacy of experiential therapy using empty-chair dialogue intervention (ECH) for resolving unfinished business. Comparison of ECH with an attention-placebo minimal treatment condition; Information from a psychoeducational group; Treatment outcomes.

The article discusses the concept of support groups instead of individual therapy as an effective therapeutic resource in working with children in out-of-home care. It is more economical as compared to individual therapy and also provides a child an opportunity to share his experience and feelings with other children facing similar problems. This leads to the natural process of developing a peer support network. The article also offers information on a pilot therapeutic group program which revealed that children in out-of-home care will respond readily to the opportunity to share their feelings about separations. The program also allowed participants to become their own therapists up to a point, under the guidance of the group leaders.

The article discusses resolution scrapbook, a therapeutic technique to help in the treatment of traumatized children. It consists of encouraging children write about their experiences as a means of positively channelizing the impact of trauma on their lives. Childhood trauma can be defined as the mental result of some sudden events or developments which cause the young person to become temporarily helpless and affect ordinary coping and defensive mechanisms. Once an assessment has been completed and a treatment plan has been formulated, the resolution scrapbook can be used as an instrument to fulfill treatment goals. In some cases, the scrapbook can be incorporated into the assessment phase, because scrapbook activities can provide valuable diagnostic information.

Discusses a case using individual and group therapies as constructive continuous experiences. Enlargement of the intrapsychic and extrapsychic world of patients; Space and extensive tolerance in group psychotherapy.

The randomized controlled trial (RCT), despite its well-known limitations, continues to be regarded as a gold standard in determining whether an intervention does more harm than good. Some recent evidence suggests that it tends to overvalue the modalities it tests. Moreover, the accuracy with which the disorder under consideration is diagnosed can be critical to the performance of a new intervention designed for it. When technological progress allows us to diagnose milder instances, some therapies, possibly useful in dire circumstances, will appear ineffective if most of a trial population is at low risk. Human individuality makes it impossible to duplicate a RCT. As a result, Popper's criterion of falsifiability may not be met and so the carrying out of a large-scale therapeutic experiment may not be a scientific activity. Finally, it is doubtful whether group probabilities derived from RCTs can be safely applied to individuals. These and other reservations concerning the applicability of the RCT to clinical practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our previous reports we have specified the empirical structure of patients' and therapists' experiences in psychotherapeutic sessions. The present report explores the structure of experience within the therapeutic dyad -- conjoint experience. Seven factors were derived from the reports of 28 patient-therapist pairs. One factor reflected the therapist's approach to his role as a help-giver, and another reflected the patient's approach to her role. Other patterns showed convergent perceptions, while still others showed conjoint experiential processes -- inter-experience. Determinants of these experiences were sought among the personal and social characteristics of the participants. Several clinically suggestive patterns of determinants emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A context for understanding, selecting, and creating experiential techniques in family therapy is offered. Following a brief discussion of the definition and scope of experiential techniques, the theory behind family therapy goals and strategies and the functioning of experiential techniques in family therapy are explored. Illustrated guidelines for the selection and creation of techniques appropriate for specific goals in the treatment of families are then presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnam combat veteran inpatients were evaluated after being treated in a PTSD special treatment unit. Selected pretreatment measures that included mental and physical problems, combat variables, PTSD symptoms, and the standard MMPI scales found no clinically meaningful differences between a group that was found to be ‘successes’ and another group found to be ‘failures,’ based on predetermined cutoff scores on the VETS scale, a reliable outcome measure for veteran patients. At 3 months post-therapy, a significantly greater number of subjects treated with Direct Therapeutic Exposure (DTE) (flooding therapy) as compared to another group treated with a more conventional individual therapy, were identified as ‘successes’ as opposed to ‘failures,’ based on the VETs scale. Also, the number of ‘failures’ was greater for those treated with the more conventional therapy and the number of ‘successess’ was greater for those treated with DTE, when compared to all other subjects in the sample. These preliminary results were interpreted as indicating that DTE, when offered as part of an inpatient milieu, shows promise as an effective treatment for chronic/severe combat veteran PTSD sufferers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to examine the working assumptions that guide us as therapists engaged in the attempt to facilitate change in families. It summarizes a piece of preliminary research based on the responses of a group of therapists working in different agencies. A questionnaire on change was developed and given to the therapists followed by a group discussion. The results suggest that therapy teams, and families, have common sense ideas about: (i) the beginning, and end of a period of change; (ii) types of change-those falling into four categories; of behavioural, structural, communication and experiential. Our results suggest that difficulties in therapy may be associated with a failure amongst the therapists in a team to negotiate their mutual assumptions about change. In addition the process of therapeutic change is seen as involving a negotiation between the family and the therapists about what will count as change. The data were gathered from a group of therapists attending a local meeting of the Association for Family Therapy in Plymouth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the mechanics of planning an experiential weekend workshop for lesbians and gay men in relation to the benefits of experiential process and Stage II recovery. Experiential therapy incorporates group dynamic techniques through sharing, touch/sensitivity exercises and others that allows participants to bring the discoveries and insights from self-help groups and talk therapy to an experiential and spiritual level. Moreover, individuals are in Stage II when emotional damage and limitations preceded their addictive behavior. Discussions about elements of experiential therapy and internalized homophobia are included.

This paper describes a technique of in-therapy consultation used in symbolic-experiential psychotherapy. The rationale behind the technique is presented followed by a description of the stages used in the intervention: history taking, structuring, trial of labor, and termination. Finally, the need for research to validate empirically the utility of the intervention is indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In psychotherapy the moments when negative connotations of diagnostic remarks become apparent are also the moments for change. To be able to use those moments for positive outcome calls for, according to this case study: 1) An inquiring approach and attitude to therapeutic work which translates to the challenging of basic hypotheses and the unambiguous meaning of diagnostic signs starting from the referral and continuing through the treatment process. 2) The integration of the nonverbal experiential technique with the verbal reflective approach, which can be conceptualized as a double description of the problem situation, and which allows reframing, or recontextualization. 3) A diagnostic conversation that is carried out during the whole treatment process, and is predisposed to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores issues in teaching symbolic-experiential family therapy to psychiatric residents. Six controversial contextual issues that arise in teaching any school of family therapy in this setting are presented. Then, the author distinguishes between content and process dimensions in teaching symbolic-experiential family therapy. This distinction helps to clarify the muddle often attendant to attempts to teach this particular area. A major point, to paraphrase Whitaker's famous dictum, is that ‘Teaching symbolic experiential family therapy resides in the personhood of the teacher.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes four interventions frequently used by experiential therapists during the trial of labor to foster greater intimacy in the therapy relationship. A brief overview of the trial of labor stage of the therapy process is given, followed by a description of the four interventions. Case examples are included for clarification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the effects of a Cognitive Experiential Therapy (GET)--in the past referred to as Rational Stage Directed Hypnotherapy (RSDH)--Cognitive Restructuring (CR), Hypnosis Only (HO), and a no-treatment control condition on the duodenal ulcer syndrome. CET or RSDH is a systematic, stage-directed therapy that employs hypnosis and the cognitive restructuring of self-defeating cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral tendencies. Seven criterion variables were assessed using two standardized instruments and ques-tionnaire data. The standardized instruments included the Millon Behavioral Health Inventory (MBHI) and the Common Beliefs Survey IH (CBS III). Twenty-five volunteer duodenal ulcer patients served as subjects for the study. The research design, a 4 X 3 factorial design with repeated measures, consisted of four treatment levels (Control, CR, HO, and RSDH) and three time periods (pretest, posttest, and follow-up) over which the subjects were observed. MANOVA on residualized change scores revealed a significant treatment effect. Univariate effects were observed on the MBHI personality coping styles, CBS III evaluation and locus of control scales, and gastrointestinal disturbance. GET appeared to have an ameliorative effect on psychological factors associated with duodenal ulcer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author describes his difficulties with an experiential group of trainee counsellors. He discusses Edna O'Shaughnessy 's notion of a 'defensive organization' in relation to the group and distinguishes it from the notion of the 'anti-group'. It is argued that whilst a defensive organization tries to stifle any movement in the group, a toleration of the anti-group can be creative and therapeutic; it is suggested that the therapist's fear of the anti-group process can encourage the appearance of a defensive organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discussion on the article of Elizabeth Engels is presented. The author reflects that Engels presented an experiential perspective in the way of communicating in an intercultural group of individuals having different languages. She argues that the challenged of speaking in a foreign language presents not only linguistic challenge, but emotional challenge as well. She concludes that Engel's paper provides a starter for many papers about intercultural group experiences and intercultural enrichment for cross-cultural language understanding.

This research paper presents a case history of a man in his late twenties, and analyzes the case psychologically. The man, from his late teens had a difficulty in relating to women. He was a bright scholar and on leaving the university started a career in the diplomatic sphere, furthered this with considerable success during his war service, and found himself returned to civil life with good prospects and considerable status at the age of twenty-five. He talked of his fear of returning to his work and his shame at having had a breakdown. By analyzing the dreams of this patient, this paper focuses upon the significance of the latent homosexual orientation of symptom-formation, its influence upon the transference, and in particular on the part it plays in the therapeutic process.

This article reports on a longitudinal study of eight outdoor behavioral healthcare programs that utilizes wilderness therapy. In addition, this study examined the motivation levels of youths who enter treatment and the quality of the working alliance between the youths in each working group and the treatment team. Significant predictors of treatment outcomes has been shown to include the working alliance between youths and their peer group, and the treatment team. A time series research design is proposed with four specific objectives. A six-month follow-up study will be completed in the spring of 2005.

Introduces a series of articles on humanistic and experiential psychotherapy.

The article focuses on existential psychotherapy. The author explains the essence of the psychoanalytical process which remained central to psychotherapeutic endeavor. He cites Sigmund Freud's efforts to present psychoanalysis as a science. Freud, according to the author, regretted that his theories lacked predictability and thus fell short of the classical scientific model. The philosophical foundation of existential psychotherapy includes phenomenology and existentialism. The article outlines certain assumptions which most existential therapists are likely to see as the foundation of their therapeutic practice.