The reattribution technique in psychotherapy: what it is and how it is used

Everything we do and what we don't do has some effect on the world. We have a certain capacity to control our actions: we choose what we want to do and what we do (although sometimes it is imposed on some people), something that ultimately gives us the ability to direct our own lives.

Now, we must also bear in mind that our action and intervention in the world is limited: there are many elements that may or may not come together to create a situation determined. In this sense, attributing causes to a specific event can be much more difficult than it seems. However, it is usual that at a mental level we quickly try to give an explanation in which what happens has one or a few factors that generate it.

In some cases this attribution may be unrealistic and cause discomfort, and may even become a pattern in which the causes of positive and negative events are rigidly considered and become a trouble. Fortunately, through various techniques we can modify this pattern. One of them is the reattribution technique, widely used by psychologists, which we are going to talk about here.

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

What is the reattribution technique?

The reattribution technique is a psychological intervention technique frequently used in clinical practiceEither directly or as part of a more complex program or treatment (such as Beck's cognitive therapy).

It is a cognitive type technique that tries to work on the attribution of the causes of patients and is characterized by being based on help the patient to assess what may be the causes of a certain situation in order to discuss and modify her beliefs regarding said situation causality, redirecting the attribution made by the patient towards a more realistic, objective and functional perspective.

Where does it start from?

The reattribution technique starts from the idea of ​​locus of control, that is, from the fact that when analyzing a given situation we usually grant to the existence of this situation some specific causes that can be either internal (that is, the person himself is responsible for it) or external (the environment, other people or abstract elements such as chance), global or specific, stable (the cause is permanent) or unstable (the cause is variable).

The realization of this attribution allows us to try to give a cause to what happens, but sometimes the result of this attribution is unrealistic and dysfunctional and can generate anxieties, anguish, sadness or discomfort among other possible effects. It is at this point that the reallocation technique comes in handy.

• You may be interested: "What is the locus of control?"

What's your objective?

The main objective of the use of this reattribution technique is to help the patient to modify their locus of control, that is to say that it is capable of modifying the attribution of causes that it does for positive and negatives. In this sense, work is done by making the person value the different factors that may be influencing or participating in a certain event, situation and problem.

Thus, what is intended is reduce or eliminate cognitive biases linked to a given attribution of the causes of a situation.

This technique allows the person little by little to appreciate that there are a large number of factors that can influence certain situations or problems are given or resolved in a certain way, so that in the case of negative events the subject is not attributed exclusively responsibility for the result and blame yourself in the case of negative events, or do not attribute successes and results to luck alone positive.

There are different variants of this technique, often specialized in different types of problems. For example, we can find Goldberg's symptom reattribution technique, centered in the attribution of physical symptoms to psychic causes in cases of disorders such as somatization.

In which cases is it used in therapy?

The reallocation technique is applicable to a large number of situations in which the person tends to maintain a rigid locus of control, unrealistic, biased or dysfunctional. In this sense, we can be talking about both clinical and non-clinical problems, although its use in the former is much better known.

Below are some of the problems in which it is usually used.

1. Depression

Among the various disorders in which it is usually used, especially mood disorders. One of the most frequent is major depression, in which as a general rule we can find the presence of cognitive biases that make the interpretation of oneself, the world and the future negative and aversive.

At the level of internal, stable and global locus of control for negative events, while Successes and positive events are often associated with external, nonspecific and unstable causes (such as lucky).

2. Anxiety-related disorders

Anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder or anxiety disorder generalized, are another of the types of problems that we can get to deal with with the technique of reattribution.

Specifically, what can be treated in this way is the anticipation of panic attacks and the attribution of certain symptoms to causes not necessarily dangerous. An example can be found in tachycardia and increased cardiorespiratory rate.

Also the anxiety of a generalized anxiety disorder can come to benefit from the use of this technique by helping to objectify the possible causes of your discomfort and try to promote a more objective view of situations lived.

3. Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder

In addition to mood disorders, other types of situations in which this may be helpful. type of technique is in the context of acute stress disorder or stress disorder post-traumatic. Although these disorders already have different methodologies that allow treating them effectively, variants of the reattribution technique can be considered in the case of people who blame themselves for the traumatic event in question.

This is the case of people who have the so-called "Survivor Syndrome", people who have overcome a disease that has killed many others and feel guilty or unworthy of it, people who survive a traffic accident in which one or the rest of the people have died, people who have experienced a warlike conflict (both civil and military) or cases such as people who have suffered rape or sexual abuse and blame themselves for it.

4. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

One of the main characteristics that many individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder share is a very high level of doubt and a tendency to feel guilty about your obsessive thoughts, or have anxiety about the responsibility they would think they had if the content of their thought came true.

For example, a person who has obsessive contagion thoughts and cleaning rituals because of them will tend to feel guilty. if she doesn't perform the rituals and make sure everything is properly disinfected, or she might feel responsible if someone around her sick.

In this sense, the reattribution technique can be useful as a way for the subject to try to see the situation in a more Objective and assess that there are various variables that could explain why the reason for your distress occurred and that they would not have to do with your own performance. It would try to reduce the tendency to attribute responsibility or blame for those situations whose evocation generates anxiety.

5. Somatization disorder

Somatization disorder, along with other somatoform-type problems, is one of the disorders that can benefit from this type of technique. And it is that in this case the reattribution technique can be used to help the patient to identify the possible psychic causes of the ailment that he notices on a physical level.

6. Hypochondria

Although the approach to hypochondria requires a more in-depth treatment, variants can also be used of the reattribution technique so that those who suffer from it learn to assess the possible causes of their discomfort without associating them with a physical illness.

Now, you have to be very careful that the possible causes that the subject cites are not diseases but rather those elements that make you feel sick and what factors may be involved.

7. Adjustment disorder and other problems

Layoffs, separations, divorces, relationship or family problems, workplace or school harassment... all of this can generate a great level of stress and discomfort that is beyond the control of the person and generate great suffering, without thereby meeting the criteria to consider suffering from depression or an anxiety disorder. These are cases in which symptoms typical of these two types of disorder may appear and that usually appear reactively to a situation (without which the symptoms would not be Present).

We are talking about the adjustment disorder, which can also benefit from the reattribution technique in those cases in which the problem raises or generates an interpretation or attribution of causes that are dysfunctional to the person.

In addition, although a disorder as such does not appear, it is also possible to work with this technique preventively, especially with a population with rigid beliefs, hyperresponsibility or low self-esteem.

Bibliographic references:

• Beck A.T., Rush A.J., Shaw B.F. & Emery, G. (1979) Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York: Guilford Press.
• Burns, D.D. (1990). Feel good. Barcelona: Paidós.
• Guzmán, R.E. (2011). Somatization disorder: its approach in Primary Care. Clinical Journal of Family Medicine, 14 (3).