INCLUSIVE THERAPY

Bill O'Hanlon (2003). A Guide to Inclusive Therapy: 

                                    26 Methods of Respectful 

                                    Resistance-Disolving Therapy

O'Hanlon has a Master's of Science in Counseling and Psychology from Arizona State University--a clinical hypnotherapist and author of over 30 books at the time of this writing...founded "possibility therapy" and "inclusive therapy."

one key issue in therapy is balancing validating a person's experience while also inviting them to change (as most people will resist suggestions to change).

some of the PRINCIPLES of inclusive therapy:

give permission for ALL experiences (not necessarily behavior, but feelings, thoughts, fantasies...if appropriate, try to normalize the experience, e.g., many people have this kind of experience).

INCLUDE contradictory experiences with the word AND,

e.g., you can feel sexual AND not sexual, you can be depressed AND not be depressed...

another way to do this is by using a tag question, e.g., you really want to change, don't you?

INCLUDE/allow for the opposite possibility...

e.g., you may find another job soon, OR it may take a long time before you find another job

CONTAIN resistance in space/time...

e.g., limit the time that the person experiences the symptom/problem such as: allow yourself 15 minutes to worry over this matter

acknowledge the problem behavior in the PAST TENSE...

e.g., they say: i'm sad --> you say: lately, you've been sad

acknowledge partial instead of global statements...

e.g., they say: i'm always depressed --> you say: sometimes you feel depressed

help people CONNECT to something BEYOND THEMSELVES,,,

e.g., nature, spirit, art, music, a person they admire...can you think of a time when you...

Practice: try out any one of the principles above when listening to someone's issue/challenge/problem