Ordeal Therapy: Unusual Ways to Change Behavior

Now available once again, in this classic book noted therapist Jay Haley explains how and why the use of ordeals work in therapy He provides an account of the theoretical basis of ordeal therapy showing how it builds on the work of Milton H. Erickson. With the ordeal technique, the therapist's task is easily defined: It is to impose an ordeal appropriate to the problem of the person who wants to change, an ordeal more severe than the problem. The main requirement of an ordeal is that it should cause distress equal to or greater than that caused by the symptom, just as a punishment should fit the crime. If an ordeal isn t severe enough to extinguish the symptom, it can be increased in magnitude until it is. It is also best if the ordeal is good for the person. Examples of what's good for people are exercise, improving the mind, eating a healthy diet, and other self-improvement activities. Ordeals may also include making a sacrifice for others. Haley explains how ordeals can succeed in promoting change even in cases with long histories of therapeutic failure, and describes the use of different kinds of ordeals, outlines the stages of ordeal therapy and details special techniques to use with different clients. The detailed and extensive case histories cover a wide variety of clients, problems, and therapeutic difficulties. Haley discusses stances to take with different types of clients, strategies to use when working with individuals alone or with several family members, pitfalls to guard against, uses of different kinds of ordeals, stages of ordeal therapy and important considerations when giving directives involving ordeals. He also gives advice on cases that present special therapeutic dilemmas such as suicide threats, and provides new insights into the way individuals and families behave.Problems discussed include psychosomatic symptoms, uncontrollable and violent children, separation and divorce, anxiety incontinence, sexual frustration, alcoholism, speech blocks, and depression. Originally published in hardcover under ISBN 9780875895956.