One of the biggest misreadings of Provocative Therapy by people who
have not studied with Frank Farrelly is the belief that "to be
provocative" means to be aggressive with the client!
In Provovative Therapy and Provocative Change Works (tm) the
practitioner or therapist ensures that they treat the client
interaction as if talking to an old friend with a twinkle in the eye(and to quote Frank) working from the heart chakra...
On the last PT training in Leeds I had to reign in a delegate who
decided that being aggressive and abrasive was the task of the day
and didn't realise that he not only came over as a complete arse! He seriously pissed of his partner in the exercise!
Provocative comes from the original term Provocare which means to
call forth. The "provocative element" in interacions is therefore to stimulate client responses using humour and Frank goes so far as to say that if a client is not provoked into laughter then the therapist is not using Provocative Therapy!
I noticed in recent times a number of NLPers deciding that having
read the original Provocative Therapy book of having attended a
Provocative Therapy weekend training, concluded that they were
now "Provocative Therapists!" I also have come across a number of
longstanding NLP trainers and Master Trainers and even an Associate
Professor (LOL!) all totally misreading Frank's work, believing it
was about being rude and obnoxious. None of these individuals had of course ever trained with Frank.
I set up The Association for Provocative Therapy" (AFPT)with Frank's blessing, which promotes PT in a professional manner. There are no certifications in PT, but we do have membership and a code of conduct. In my own Provocative Change Works approach I also promote building rapport using humour with the client which in combination with other approaches works to great effect.
Recently I was able to see the original transcript for Frank's book
as well as a newspaper article from 1972 on Frank's work. This
reminded just how revolutionary his approach was for the time and of course still is today.
For PT courses in the UK and USA, see www.associationforprovocativetherapy.com
