Thursday, January 7, 2010

In defense of therapuetice preconceptions and generalizing.

Our own experiences are really all we have to go on.  The goal, in my opinion, is not so much to avoid using my previous experiences with like individuals as to avoid adhering to them with too much rigidity.  Does that distinction make sense?  It's subtle, but we in academia like to discard babies and bathwater alike, so we neglect this point too often... 

I did this with a gal just today.  She reminded me of a battered wife I worked with who had been of a similar background, ethnicity and age.  We dug in and did some group work and, sure enough, she'd come into treatment out of a profoundly abusive relationship.  Interestingly though, she claims he only hit her one time, which is significantly different then the client whom I related her too...  so if I were to dig in and press her on this issue, say "he must have hit you more!" or something silly like that, that might be an example of me adhering too closely to preconceived conclusions.