Responsibility assumption

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In existential psychotherapy, responsibility assumption is the doctrine, practiced by therapists such as Irvin D. Yalom where an individual taking responsibility for the events and circumstances in their lives is seen as a necessary basis for their making any genuine change. [1]

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From the therapist's viewpoint, the goal is to identify these events and circumstances, always operating, in Yalom's words, "within the frame of reference that the patient has created his[/her] own distress". [1] Then the therapist must "find ways to communicate this insight to the patient". [1]

The problem that Yalom seeks to address is that of seemingly passive patients, with therapists shouldering the entire burden of the therapy because they think that that is what they must do. [1] A "sluggish" patient can be "galvaniz[ed] into action" by asking the simple question: "Why do you come?". [1] Other techniques including scenarios where other people assume responsibility, and drawing a parallel between those scenarios and the patient's own. [1]

In detail, techniques involve:

Assumption of responsibility does not by itself motivate behavioural change. [4] It must be accompanied by a will to change. [4]

See also

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References

Citations

Reference bibliography

  • Murphy, Thomas J. (2013). "Encouraging Client Responsibility". In Carlson, Jon; Slavik, Steven (eds.). Techniques in Adlerian Psychology. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781135893958.
  • Nelson-Jones, Richard (2010). "Existential Therapy". Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy. SAGE. ISBN   9781446259511.
  • Rosenthal, Edward C. (2006). The Era of Choice: The Ability to Choose and Its Transformation of Contemporary Life. MIT Press. ISBN   9780262250245.

Further reading