Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T02:43:22.651Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Focus in Brief Interpretive Psychotherapy: Dilemmas, Traps and Snags as Target Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Anthony Ryle
Anthony Ryle*
Affiliation:
University Health Service, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The need for a focus for brief interpretive psychotherapy is considered and a new approach is suggested. In this method, the ways in which the patient's construction of himself and his relationships are related to his problems are identified and expressed in the form of dilemmas, traps and snags. It is suggested that these formulations represent an appropriate level of abstraction, allowing patient and therapist to share provisional hypotheses about the goals of therapy and offering the basis for a method of measuring how far these goals are achieved.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 134 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 46 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, R. C. P. (1969) Measurement of feelings using visual analogue scales. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 62, 989–92.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy—towards a unifying theory of behavioural change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.Google Scholar
Battle, C. C., Imber, S. D., Hoehn-Saric, R., Stone, A. R., Nash, E. R. & Frank, J. D. (1966) Target complaints as criteria of improvement. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 20, 184–92.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1976) Cognitive Therapy and the Emotions. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Candy, J., Balfour, H. G., Cawley, R. H., Hildebrand, H. P., Malan, D. H., Marks, I. M. & Wilson, J. (1972) A feasibility study for a controlled trial of psychotherapy. Psychological Medicine, 2, 345.Google Scholar
Erikson, E. (1959) Identity and the life cycle. Psychological Issues, No. 1.Google Scholar
Ezriel, H. (1950) A psychoanalytic approach to group treatment. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 23, 59–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hafner, R. J. (1977) The husbands of agoraphobic women and their influence on treatment outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 289–94.Google Scholar
Haley, J. (1963) Strategies of Psychotherapy. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Hurvitz, N. (1975) Interaction hypotheses in marriage counselling. In: Couples in Conflict—New Direction in Marital Counselling, ed. Gurman, A. S. and Rice, D. G. New York: Aronson.Google Scholar
Mahler, M. S., Pine, F. & Bergman, A. (1975) The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Malan, D. H. (1976) The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Raimy, V. (1975) Misunderstandings of the Self San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Rowe, D. (1970) Poor prognosis in a case of depression as predicted by the repertory grid. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 319–21.Google Scholar
Ryle, A. (1975) Frames and Cages. London: Sussex University Press, Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Ryle, A. (1978) A common language for the psychotherapies. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 585–94.Google Scholar
Ryle, A. & Lunghi, M. (1969) The measurement of relevant change after psychotherapy: use of repertory grid testing. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1297–1304.Google Scholar
Ryle, A. & Breen, D. (1972) Some differences in the personal constructs of neurotic and normal subjects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 483–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryle, A. & Lipshitz, S. (1975) Recording change in marital therapy with the reconstruction grid. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 48, 39–48.Google Scholar
Ryle, A. & Lipshitz, S. (1976a) Repertory grid elucidation of a difficult conjoint therapy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 49, 281–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryle, A. & Lipshitz, S. (1976b) An intensive case-study of a therapeutic group. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 581–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sifneous, P. E. (1972) Short Term Psychotherapy and Emotional Crisis. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sloane, R. B., Staples, F. R., Cristol, A. H., Yorkston, N. J. & Whipple, K. (1975) Psychotherapy versus Behaviour Therapy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tschudi, F. (1977) Loaded and honest questions: a construct theory view of symptoms and therapy. In New Perspectives in Personal Construct Theory. ed. Bannister, D. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Winnicott, D. W. (1971) Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.