Ordeal Therapy

Paper Summary:

This paper describes ordeal therapy which was developed by Jay Haley. More specifically, the paper describes the principles behind the ordeal therapy process and provides examples of how it could be used. The paper also looks at the stages of ordeal therapy and then discusses how a therapist would decide which patients would benefit from this form of therapy.

Table of Contents:
Overview
Stages of Ordeal Therapy
Applying Ordeal Therapy
Which Clients will Benefit from Ordeal Therapy
Families, Children, or Individuals?
Scenario/Exercise using Ordeal Therapy

From the Paper:

"In ordeal therapy the therapist begins with the identification of "triangular, intergenerational relationships or "perverse triangles" ("Family", n.d.). When this occurred the patient and therapist could then focus on the "incongruence" of these relationships in relation to communication. Next the client is then directed toward taking control of these relationships, or the individual's participation in them. This is accomplished through the patient being given scenarios in which the individual must respond to that are at a higher level of concern than the issues currently plaguing the relationships. The situation and the response allow the person to understand that if he or she can resolve the higher level issue, then the problem at hand can also be resolved and the person is then empowered to take control over life. Haley believed that in accomplishing this task the individual was involved in the therapeutic process, as well as the therapeutic relationship with the therapist. This is what Haley referred to as the "therapeutic paradox"."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bray, J. (n.d.). Ordeal therapy. Quiet Quality. Retrieved March 29, from http://www.quietquality.com/Ordeal.htm
• Family therapy: Jay Haley. (n.d.). Family Therapy. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://www.abacon.com/famtherapy/haley.html
• Holley, J. (2007). Jay Haley. The Washington Post. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101741.html

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