The Paradoxical Interventions, Essay Example

Deirdre, I agree: one very good paradoxical technique for Jean, Henry, and Jessica might well be to get Jessica to act out as you describe. That might also get Jean and Henry to realize that they can, and must, take a stand and do something about their daughter’s behavior. I also like your idea about using resistance, describing the symptom as the problem and then using that as the basis for the intervention. Jessica’s fear of school can be engaged with as the central problem, and then everything else can follow from there. I actually had a suggestion in this vein: I would instruct Jessica to practice being afraid of school. Every day, say for ten minutes at eleven, she should focus on how afraid she is of school. The idea, of course, is that by practicing being afraid of school, Jessica would get actual control over the whole thing, and be generally more cooperative. The other thing I suggested was relabeling: encouraging Henry and Jean to see that the problem isn’t that their daughter is afraid of school, it’s that she’s afraid of not being around her parents. Would it really be so bad for her to be around her parents all the time? So what if it gets in the way of school? Such a paradox might compel them to, in essence, get their act together and start behaving in a more parental fashion.

Rachael, I think you’re right about families socializing to a problem in accordance with the dictates of perception: people can’t receive what they aren’t open to. I agree that one approach in this case would be to have Jessica act out, as you say: say, set a specific time of day and have her act out for that period of time. I actually recommended that she practice being afraid of school! I reasoned that if she did this, she’d gain control of it, and that would help her to be generally more cooperative and amenable to going to school and obeying her parents, etc. It’s funny, but I also recommended relabeling: it isn’t that she’s afraid of school, she’s afraid of not being with her parents! Is that so bad? Anyway, good insights, good recommendations! It sounds like we’re very much on the same wavelength in this case.