Most therapists think of “resistance” as the main obstacle to therapeutic progress. But whether it manifests as a passive-aggressive response to interventions, desperation for help alternating with a refusal to collaborate, self-destructive behavior, or struggle for therapeutic control, the underlying conflicts about self-protection vs. trust in the therapeutic process remain the same. Even when clients sincerely want something different for themselves, they often can’t control the instinctive defensive responses evoked by the therapeutic relationship—but it doesn’t have to thwart therapy. In this recording, discover how to:
- Befriend the resistance by treating it as a resource and allying with it
- Reframe stuckness as a survival strategy and increase clients’ curiosity about the process
- Help clients use action, movement, and gesture to experience stuckness or resistance in new, more empowering ways