A bibliography of paradoxical methods in psychotherapy of family systems.

Paradox as a therapeutic technique: A review

The reactions of the entire family system to the death of a child are examined. The case illustrates therapeutic interventions dealing with changes in family structure, guilt and mourning processes in parents, anxiety and other reactions of children, and the cognitive confusion of both children and adults. The problems for the therapist in working with a family following the death of a child are discussed.

Family Therapy Following the Death of a Child

This paper illustrates with case examples the use of paradoxical procedures in a child inpatient treatment center. Indications and contraindications for this type of intervention are discussed.

The Use of Paradox With Children in an Inpatient Treatment Setting

Three cases of school-aged children experiencing problems in peer relations, disturbing habits, school refusal, and inappropriate classroom behaviors are presented. Interventions in each of the cas...

Strategic family intervention: Three cases of school-aged children.

In the present case, a paradoxical intervention was employed in the treatment of a 4-year-old boy for temper tantrums. Temper tantrums, which had been a daily occurrence, disappeared entirely after the second session. A follow-up at nine months indicated there had been no further tantrums.

Treatment of Temper Tantrums by a Paradoxical Intervention

Student Attitudes toward Mental Illness

Frequently it is desirable in research siruations to apply success and failure treatments to Ss for the purpose of measuring contrasting outcomes on a specified dependent variable. Tables of random numbers can be used in assigning Ss to the two conditions, but then each group must still undergo the experience of success or failure. An alternative method which has the advantage of incorporating the success or failure treatment in a natural presentation that involves the actual randomization is the use of a test of extreme difficulty. It is well-known that an extremely difficult power test is essentially a guessing test which divides Ss randomly. When all the examinees are of equal ability relative to the criterion, then half the total group will answer each item correctly. When the criterion is impossible for all subjects, Ss will be guessing, and will distribute themselves randomly into \"passing\" and \"failing\" groups. A test developed for the purpose of randomly assigning Ss to success and failure groups without regard for intelligence or ability, and at the same time providing the success or failure experience, is known as the Verbal Facility Test ( 2 ) . It is a test which presents definitions of foreign words from languages unfamiliar to the Ss involved, such as Tagalog, Swahili, and Vietnamese. Items to be answered True or False are of the order of: \"halimbawa means departure,\" \"hodi means I'm hungry,\" \"salamin means eyeglasses.\" Instructions are designed to be ego-involving. A 20-item form was part of an experimental procedure administered to all 119 Ss (M.,. = 16 yr.) simultaneously. Following the test, Ss were asked to score their own tests as E read the correct answers. E then called for the scores to be put on the blackboard, starting at the top of the distribution. Of a possible 20, the scores ranged from 18 to 5, with the distribution midpoint between scores of 10 and 11. Ss scoring 11 and above were told they did very well and praised for their successful performance. Those below 11 were told they did not do so well. Ss then continued with the procedures related to the dependent variable. The advantages of using an extremely difficult test such as the Verbal Facility Test to randomly assign Ss to success and failure groups lie in its efficiency, its seeming naturalness to Ss, and its minimum dependency on deception. The reported scores reflect genuinely correct and incorrect answers. The essential aspect of the test is that the necessary knowledge is outside the domain of the usual S. Thus, the only deception is in the implication that it is reasonable to test this knowledge. Care should be taken to alter this impression in the post-experimental debriefing. The application of this technique to other experimental situations could utilize different but similarly difficult content. This technique is particularly useful in an experimental design such as Campbell's Posttest Only Model ( 1 ) which frequently provides for the most namral presentation of experimental procedures but where randomization is essential to the design.

Rachel T. Hare-Mustin

Papers

Treatment of Temper Tantrums by a Paradoxical Intervention

Student Attitudes toward Mental Illness

A Natural Method for Randomly Assigning Subjects to Success and Failure Conditions