Goulding Redecision Therapy: How Does It Work And What Methods Does It Use?
Goulding Redecision Therapy is one of the main schools (or currents) of Transactional Analysis It is an application of the same, and is based above all on the decisions of the individual to achieve therapeutic change.
In this article we tell you how this therapy was born, who its authors are, what its fundamental characteristics are and how it works.
Goulding’s Redecision Therapy (1979) was created by Robert (Bob) L. Goulding MD and Mary McClure Goulding, two renowned American psychotherapists. When it was created, between the 60s and 70s, these psychotherapists worked at the Western Institute for Group and Family Therapy in Watsonville (California, USA) as co-directors of the center.
This therapy integrates techniques from Gestalt Therapy and Transactional Analysis. Technically, it is an application of Transactional Analysis (a psychotherapy system of humanistic philosophy), and also includes Existential Psychotherapy and Behavior Modification techniques.
Its use is ideal for group therapies. However, it can also take other formats or modalities, such as brief therapy, or be part of a more in-depth and long-term therapy.
Thus, Goulding’s Redecision Therapy is based on two basic pillars (assumptions or ideals): that the power of change is within oneself, and that The sense of humor is essential for any process of therapeutic change
This therapy focuses on becoming aware of certain explicit decisions made, especially those made in childhood, in order to be able to become aware and understand how these decisions have affected one’s life years later.
Transactional Analysis: fundamentals
Before explaining in more detail what Goulding’s Redecision Therapy consists of, let’s look at the three central principles of Transactional Analysis (TA), since this therapy is an application of it. In a very summarized way, Transactional Analysis is based on three fundamental principles:
Now that we know the basic premises of Transactional Analysis, we are going to talk about Goulding’s Redecision Therapy. In relation to its characteristics, Goulding’s Redecision Therapy focuses on the vision of the life script that people adopt influenced by external factors (from the environment), especially the family environment.
One of the great objectives of Goulding’s Redecision Therapy is for the patient to be able to make life-changing decisions. As in all psychotherapy, the therapist guides the patient on this “path of changes and decisions.”
The authors of this therapy highlight the importance of the decisions we make when we are children ; These decisions respond to the different orders and “commands” that we receive from fathers, mothers and other important people, and they can be verbal or non-verbal responses (that is, behaviors, actions, feelings, words, etc.).
Through these decisions (which are actually adaptive responses), we survive our environment subjectively, always according to the Gouldings, and we do so with the resources we have, which at these stages of life are rather limited and scarce. Resources can be of different types: affective, behavioral and cognitive
These decisions (which the authors of Goulding’s Redecision Therapy call “early decisions”) influence and mark, to a large extent, our future life, and define how we relate to others. In redecision therapy all of this is worked on.
Functioning
Regarding how it works, Goulding’s Redecision Therapy It begins with the following question: “What do you want to change now?” That is, this therapy is based on change and decision-making on the part of the patient, so that he can turn his life into what he really wants.
In the first session the problem situation is defined; The therapist listens and looks for certain connections between topics trying to answer the following two questions:
“What is the main complaint?”
“What was this patient doing to himself when he decided to seek care?”
As Goulding’s redecision therapy progresses, the therapist aims to answer the following questions about the patient, addressing the issues as he or she considers (through different psychological techniques).
Some of these questions are: “What are your feelings?”, “What behaviors do you not like about yourself?”, “Do you obsess instead of think?”, “Are you depressed?”, “Are you angry?” , or bored, or phobic most of the time?”, “Are you unhappy in your marriage?”, “Are you unhappy in your job?”, etc.
It is evident that If the patient has gone to therapy it is because something wants to change, something that makes him unhappy, whether about himself or his situation. To do this, the therapist must find out one of the most important issues in Goulding’s Redecision Therapy, in order to agree on the therapy contract with the patient; This question is: “What do you want to change?” Thus, we already have a specific objective (desire), and we can now start working on it.
Methodology and role of the therapist
According to the authors themselves (in their book: Changing Lives Through Redecision Therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1979), the methodology they use in redecision therapy is simple, clear and concise. The role of the therapist is to listen “carefully” (active listening), observe “carefully” and also confront “carefully.”
The method that the therapist uses within Goulding’s Redecision Therapy is based on do not blame the patient for failures, and to search within it for the answers it needs to move forward. These responses will also help the patient himself to create an environment that facilitates his therapeutic change.
On the other hand, redecision therapy is based on a “here and now” approach (i.e. at the present moment). How is it possible to work in the present moment from this therapy?
We see it through a series of actions that the therapist must execute, and that will allow the patient to connect their memories with their affects, and to be able to address their internal struggles and tensions in a more direct way (the objective is for the patient to place what you explain in the scene, and not so much that you limit yourself to talking about it).
We have summarized a series of actions that the therapist must take for the therapy to be successful, always based on the Gouldings’ original ideas to develop their therapy. These actions respond to a series of previous situations, such as…
1. When the therapist listens to the patient…
The therapist You should ask the patient to focus on the present moment e when explaining what you want to communicate.
2. When the patient offers information about the past…
In the event that the patient tells data about his past, the therapist will ask him to imagine that he is in said scene at that precise moment, and Let me try to explain it as if I were living it right now
3. When the patient wants to talk about someone…
In these cases, the therapist will ask the patient to imagine that said person (or people) is/are in the office right now; So, You must imagine that you are talking to her (or them) at that precise moment
Applications
What can Goulding Redecision Therapy be used for? Regarding its applications, it can be used to treat a wide variety of psychological and emotional problems, including: depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, grief consequences of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, problems in social and/or emotional relationships, etc.
Of course, the therapist who works through this therapy must have been properly trained in it, with professionals with experience and demonstrably consolidated training.
