What It Means to Do Relational Work With Individual Clients

"Many of our clients come to us for help with issues they're experiencing in their relationships, whether with their spouses, their family members, their friends, or their colleagues. As therapists, we can ask questions about dynamics, offer support, and reflect back what we see, but we're only getting part of the picture. Our understanding is limited by our client's willingness to share and their level of insight. That, in turn, limits how much we can help."

"This knowledge gap can lead to all kinds of issues. For instance, based on our client's reporting, we may end up seeing the client's partner as a villain, while if we were to actually see how things play out, we might discover that our client contributes to unhelpful relationship dynamics. (This is a common refrain among relationship therapists-our clients' individual therapists don't know what they don't know!)"

Many clients seek help for problems in intimate, family, friend, or work relationships. Therapists often rely on client reports, which are limited by clients' willingness to share and by their insight. Limited reporting can create skewed perceptions, such as demonizing a partner or overlooking partner dysregulation and damaging behaviors. Doing relational work with individual clients recreates interactions through chairwork and role-play to reveal actual dynamics. Chairwork and embodied practice allow clients to experience, practice, and shift unhelpful relational patterns. Accurate in-session reenactment improves assessment and enables targeted interventions to change relationship dynamics.

Read at Psychology Today