"I walked into the consulting room, introduced myself, and noted that if the oppositional girl caused any trouble, I would handle it by slapping her. The father, initially slumped in his seat and appearing resigned, perked up. 'You can't hit my daughter,' he said."
"I asked the girl if it would feel like a betrayal of her own mother to accept the stepmother as a parent. This helped frame the girl's reluctance as an issue between the girl and the birth mother and not as a direct rejection of the stepmother."
"Would I have started so dramatically if they had a way to post online that I had threatened to hit a child? No. Would they have still managed to clarify their relationships if I had started the session the usual way? I don't know, but I doubt it would have been as impactful."
A family assessment was conducted involving a 12-year-old girl who had been slapped by her stepmother. The session aimed to clarify parental roles and relationships. The father reacted strongly to the idea of hitting his daughter, leading to discussions about parental authority. The girl expressed reluctance to accept her stepmother as a parent, which was framed as a conflict with her birth mother. The dramatic approach used in the session proved effective in facilitating important conversations and insights among family members.
Read at Psychology Today
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