Paradoxical Prescriptions : A Team Approach to Strategic Family Therapy / Thomas C. Todd.

This paper describes a strategic, paradoxical therapy approach useful in family therapy. A discussion of the criteria for case selection indicates the ideal profile to be a case which has been treated by several therapists, using various modalities, with virtually no change. Other indications of the need for strategic therapy are discussed, including a high degree of client resistance and a clear, severe, and intolerable symptom. Four major categories of strategic techniques are presented: restraining, positioning, relabelling, and prescribing. Two sample prescriptions, developed by the therapy team and presented to the clients, are described and analyzed to illustrate the incorporation of different strategic techniques. Suggestions for using paradoxical therapy are given with a description of the actual process, i.e., preparing and conducting a session, consulting in the team meeting, and delivering the prescription. The outcomes of the sample cases are discussed and successes and failures of strategic therapy are reviewed. (NRB)

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