Contextual Therapy believes people get their needs met how?
Finding balance and fairness, people naturally keep track of relationships.
The Major Concepts of Contextual Therapy?
Destructive entitlement, Entitlement, Exoneration, Justice/Fairness, Ledger, Legacy, Loyalty, Merit, Multidirectional partiality, Parentification, trustworthieness
What is the theory of dysfunction for Contextual Theory?
The trustworthiness of relationships breaks down because fairness, caring and accountability are absent.
The Contextual Theory of Change ?
A preventative plan for current and future generations.
Restore people’s capacity to give through fair relating and trust.
Stages of Therapy in Contextual Theory?
- Unit of treatment is decided by the therapist
- Engagement
- Focus on cognitive exploration of historic factors that are having impact on current relationships
- Alter perceptions of family and individuals
- Facilitate problem solving
- Encourage family members to increase their options by expanding the trust basis of their own relationships
- Therapy is long term
What is the length of Contextual Therapy?
Long term
What is the stance of a Contextual Therapist?
Active Personal engagement Co-therapy is encouraged Raise issues of relational balances A catalyst of resources Advocate for all within the basic relational context.
What are the methods and techniques of Contextual theory?
- Multidirectional partiality
- listening
- observing
- responding to unconscious material
- the decision of whom to see belongs to the therapist and is based info shared by the family
- couple treatment is not considered a separate modality
Diagnosing and Assessment through Contextual Therapy
- Family resources are the main focus of assessment, they are seen as potentially self-validating
- Observations of family relationships includes all 4 dimensions
- Assessment is ongoing
- Triangles are assessed
What is Merit?
What is earned through accumulation of care and concern towards others.
What is Ledger?
An internal system in which the relative balance of debts and entitlements is kept.
The Contextual Therapist takes what type of stance?
Multidirectional Partiality
What is Multidirectional Partiality?
The therapist takes a stance in which the therapist is accountable to and supportive of all members of the family.
Equitable Asymmetry
The unequal, but healthy degree of care and consideration given by parents,toward children.
Revolving Slate (of Injustice)
The generational prepetuation of destructive entitlement where one generation damages the next innocent generation. Reinforced by earned destructive entitlement.
Relational Ethics
The fundamental dynamic force that holds families and communities together through reliability and trustworthiness.
Entitlements
What each person is inherently and fairly due and what each accrues based on his/her behavior toward others and other’s behavior toward him/her.
Exoneration
When the therapist helps the client see the positive intent and intergenerational loyalty issues behind even the destructive behaviors of the previous generations. Also thought of as Forgiveness.
What is the goal of Contextual Therapy?
Exoneration, to allow clients to have understanding and forgiveness for family and past generations.
Filial Loyalty
The care and concern given to children results in loyalty inherent in children toward parents.
Destructive Entitlements
The development of symptomatic behaviors in the pursuit of self-justifying and harmful means to satisfy the perception of what is due as a result of deficient caring and responsibility in parenting.
Split Filial Loyalty
Parents require the child to choose between them. The child must be loyal to one at the expense of the loyalty of the other. The child becomes symptomatic in attempts to bring the parents together.
Loyalty
The internalized set of expectations, injunctions, and obligations, deriving from interactions with ones family of origin.
Invisible Loyalties
Unconscious obligations that children take on in order to help their families, sacrificing their own interests and well being in the process.
