Family therapy by default: developing useful fall‐back positions for therapists

Abstract

This article looks at some of the effects on practitioners of the increasing complexity and variety of ideas within the family therapy field. In adopting the currently popular notion of ‘default position’ from information technology, I argue that therapists can easily feel that their work has a random quality to it. I examine how our own default positions can be based on force of habit, a quest for novelty or the effects of stress. Some suggestions are offered for how we can more accurately go about choosing ideas that will be of help to the families with which we work and to ourselves.

The Therapist's Inner Conversation in Family Therapy Practice: Struggling with the complexities of therapeutic encounters with families / Das innere Gespräch des Therapeuten in der familientherapeutischen Praxis: Schwierigkeiten mit der Komplexität therapeutischer Begegnungen mit Familien / Los diálogos internos del terapeuta en la práctica de terapia de familia: Luchando con las complejidades de los encuentros terapéuticos de familia / La Conversation Intérieure du Thérapeute dans la Pratique de la Thérap

“…The family therapist's actions in the stream of the conversation, resulting from unreflected and immediate responding to what presently happens in the session, is referred to by some authors as actions from a default position (Reimers, 2006). Given the complexity of a family therapeutic session, it seems unavoidable that the therapist's contribution to the dialogue is some kind of balance of conscious therapeutic intent and a default position.…”

Commentary I: Reflective Practice: The Inner Dialogue and the Therapist in the Family Therapeutic Process

“…Self‐reflexivity and the therapist's inner conversation in fact refer to dual processes that are in complex interaction:

Process 1: without much explicit reflection, as it were from a default position (Reimers, ) the therapist acts in the flow of the dialogue. Process 2: the therapist observes him/herself acting and evaluates his/her actions.

…”

“…Process 1: without much explicit reflection, as it were from a default position (Reimers, ) the therapist acts in the flow of the dialogue.…”

Balancing Hope and Hopelessness in Family Therapy for People Affected by Cancer

“…By initially attending to hopefulness, I did not remain curious and open to Shree's deeper experience. Reimers (2006) encourages therapists to examine their default positions. This is the pattern of relating that therapists tend to rely on time and time again.…”