Speed in client interactions

When I was first interviewed by Frank Farrelly in a Provocative Therapy module, I was totally amazed at the speed of what happened during the interaction. This is one of the elements of PT that in my view makes it so effective. The Provocative Therapist does not adhere to any traditional rules associated with CBT and does not rely upon specific techniques often used by other practitioners. The interaction with the client is very much in the here and now and the Provocative Therapist will provoke responses from the client by a variety of means. As Frank would say

"Run it up the flagpole and see if they salute it..."

The Provocative Therapist will often interrupt the client affecting a series of what NLPers would call "pattern breaks" resulting in the client shifting through a series of different emotional states. In doing so, the client often becomes wholly confused by what they used to think of as "the problem" and this provides the momentum for them to become free from the old "stuck state"
Often the therapist will work at lightning speed and not even wait for client responses, but instead forcing the client to defend "the problem" by insisting that "the problem" is not really all that bad and that the client may have actually missed all the benefits that the problem has to offer! The "What's wrong with that?" exercise is an excellent way to develop this approach where the Provocative Therapist insists that the client, thinks and feels the same and does even MORE of the old behaviour. This results in the client then protesting that they want CHANGE and this protest frequently produces accelerated changes in the clients perceptions.

I am running a 3 day event with Frank in May 2009 where we will be exploring this approach in detail. This event will be hosted by The Association for Provocative Therapy (AFPT) http://www.associationforprovocativetherapy.com/ and I will also be demonstrating the differences between NLP and PT at the 2008 IASH conference in SF USA- see http://www.nlpiash.org/dnn/