The intrapersonal and systemic ramifications of symptom prescription.

Abstract

This article describes the use of symptom prescriptions for worrying and other complaints reported by a client over the course of her treatment. The efficacy of treatment is assessed by means of diagnostic, self-monitoring, and objective assessment data. Issues pertaining to stages of change, involvement of family members in treatment, and components of symptom prescriptions are discussed. I would like to thank Catherine Lee for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

An Overview of Paradoxical Counseling and its Congruence with Biblical Writings

“…Paradox has metamorphosized into what has been called "prescriptive psychotherapy." 24,25,26,27.2B, 29 PC might have been one of the many fads and fashions that crowded the counseling establishment in its early beginnings. Positive reframing or interpretation, for instance, has acquired new clothes as "cognitive restructuring.vv"…”

Defiance-based symptom prescription and psychological reactance: A critical evaluation.

“…Symptom prescription is not simply asking the client to have the symptom, it involves asking the client to enact the symptom in a specific fashion that the therapist believes will be beneficial to the client. Thus, for example, clients may be asked to have their symptoms in a specific location, or to maintain the symptoms for a certain period of time (e.g., Hunsley, 1988a). The psychotherapeutic use of symptom prescription dates back to the work of Alfred Adler (e.g., Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956) and Dunlap (1928) and has been used by therapists with such diverse orientations as existential (Frankl, 1959), behavioral (Ascher, 1989), strategic (Weeks & L'Abate, 1982), and transactional analysis (Wathney, 1982).…”

Couples' accounts of the effects of individual psychotherapy.

“…Psychotherapists have been interested in the effects of individual therapy on the client’s significant others, particularly the spouse, for several decades (Fisher & Mendell, 1958; Fox, 1968; Glasser, 1963; Goodstein & Swift, 1977; Hunsley, 1988; Hurvitz, 1967; Kniskern & Gurman, 1985; Moran, 1954). Indeed, two related notions about individual therapy and marital functioning now appear to be firmly ensconced in the belief systems of many clinicians, especially those espousing a systemic perspective.…”