| Abstract: | Contends that withholding of explicit, formal treatment until after S's completion of experimental and information-gathering ordeals is an opening tactic for psychotherapy that potentiates both a course and a conclusion for the therapeutic process. The benefits of the promise-of-treatment strategy include removal of "failure" from the initial process, ability to assess and intensify client motivation, and possible eliciting of the placebo effect. Clients may be asked to delay treatment until the best one is formulated. Covertly therapeutic tasks (e.g., testing conventional cures, attempting personal solutions, rehearsing symptoms, reframing, slowly developing insight, pretending to be cured, pretending to be sick, spontaneously changing, gathering information) allow the client to do something different and to make a change for the better. Case examples of a 40-yr-old female binge eater, a 20-yr-old male with a sleep disorder, and a 15-yr-old compulsive face scratcher are presented to illustrate the promise-of-treatment strategy. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
