Goulding redecision therapy: how does it work and what methods does it use?

Goulding's Redecision Therapy is one of the main schools (or streams) 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.

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

Goulding Redecision Therapy

Goulding's Redecision Therapy (1979) It was created by Robert (Bob) L. Goulding MD and Mary McClure Goulding, two renowned American psychotherapists. When it was created, between the 1960s and 1970s, 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 humanistic philosophy psychotherapy system), and also includes Existential Psychotherapy and Behavior Modification techniques.

Its use for group therapies is ideal. 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 in oneself, and that a sense of humor is fundamental to any process of therapeutic change.

Said therapy focuses on becoming aware of certain explicit decisions carried out, especially those taken in the childhood, in order to be able to become aware and understand how these decisions have affected one's life for years to come late.

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Transactional Analysis: fundamentals

Before explaining in more detail what Goulding's Redecision Therapy consists of, let's see the three central principles of Transactional Analysis (TA), since said therapy is an application of the same. In a very synthesized way, Transactional Analysis is based on three fundamental principles:

• We are all born "well", but depending on our relationships we can change.
• We all have a human potential to discover and exploit.
• We can all change to be more autonomous, and we have the resources to achieve it.

Characteristics of this type of therapy

Now that we know the basic premises of Transactional Analysis, let's 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 main goals 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 in this “path of changes and decisions”.

The authors of this therapy highlight the importance of decisions we make as children; These decisions respond to the different orders and "mandates" that we receive from fathers, mothers and other people important, and can be verbal or non-verbal responses (ie behaviors, actions, feelings, words, etc.).

Through these decisions (which are actually adaptive responses), we subjectively survive our environment, always according to the Gouldings, and we do it with the resources we have, which in those stages of life are rather limited and scarce. The resources can be of different types: affective, behavioral and cognitive..

Such decisions (which the authors of Goulding Redecision Therapy refer to as "decision early life") influence and mark, to a great extent, our future life, and define how we relate to others. others. In redecision therapy, all of this is worked on.

Functioning

Regarding its operation, Goulding redecision therapy It begins with the following question: “What do you want to change now?”. In other words, this therapy is based on change and decision-making on the part of the patient, so that he turns 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:

1. “What is the main complaint?”
2. “What was this patient doing to himself when he decided to seek care?”

As Goulding redecision therapy progresses, the therapist aims to answer the following questions: questions about the patient, addressing the issues as he considers (through different techniques psychological).

Some of these questions are: “What are his feelings?”, “What behaviors does he dislike about himself?”, “Does he obsess instead of think? ”,“ Is he depressed? ”,“ Is he angry, or bored, or phobic most of the time? ”,“ Is he unhappy in his marriage? ”,“ Is he unhappy in his work?" etc.

It is evident that if the patient has come to therapy it is because something wants to change, something that makes him unhappy, either of himself or of 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 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 used in redecision therapy is simple, clear, and concise. The therapist's role is to listen “carefully” (active listening), observe “carefully” and confront “carefully”.

The method used by the therapist within Goulding's Redecision Therapy is based on do not blame the patient for failures, and in looking within it for the answers you need 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 It is based on an approach based on the "here and now" (ie at the present moment). How do you manage 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 his memories with her affections, and that he can address their internal struggles and their tensions in a more direct way (the objective is for the patient to situate himself in the scene of what he explains, and not so much that he limits himself to talking about she).

Therapist Actions

We have summarized a series of actions that the therapist must carry out for the therapy to be successful, always basing ourselves on the original ideas of the Gouldings 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 he should ask the patient to focus on the present momente when explaining what he wants to communicate.

2. When the patient offers information from the past…

In the event that the patient tells data about her past, the therapist will ask him to imagine that he is in said scene at that precise moment, and that he tries to explain it as if he 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 persons) 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, post-traumatic stress disorders, grief, consequences of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, problems in social and/or affective relationships, etc.

Of course, the therapist who works through this therapy must have been duly trained in it, with experienced professionals and demonstrable consolidated training.