Resource Focused Counselling and Psychotherapy

An Introduction

Michael Wilson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781317407386
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Therapists sometimes ask: What supports you in life? What gets you through difficult times? Our 'journey' in life relies on a range of resources to equip and fulfil us. Knowing about these resources, however, is not enough: for lasting benefits, they must be bodily felt experiences. The aim of this book is to illustrate the holistic purpose of therapy to resource integration of the client. It draws upon extensive material to affirm that the practice of contemporary therapy benefits from insights gained from evolving neuroscience. Particular emphasis is put on the benefits of drawing on the dimensions of experience to strengthen ego processes like self-awareness and self-regulation, and engage with the depths of being, including 'soul'.

Resource Focused Counselling and Psychotherapy provides professionals with a comprehensive and integrative model of resource focused therapy, drawing upon clinical examples and the current range of research and theory surrounding this emerging approach. Additionally, the book contains a range of self-resourcing exercises and practices for each part of the integrative model, enabling individuals to develop self-resources for greater resilience and well-being in their own lives.

This book is an important read for psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors, including those working with trauma. It also provides valuable insights for modalities practising from a psycho-spiritual perspective, including Jungian and transpersonal psychotherapists.

Chapter 1

Overview of resource focused therapy

Defining ‘resource’

The word ‘resource’ itself is interesting. If we follow a dictionary definition we can say a resource indicates something to increase effectiveness or functionality, and also something to resort to in difficult circumstances. Resources are life enabling strengths, fortitudes, abilities, qualities and capacities. The etymology of the word ‘resource’ originates in the Old French word ‘resourdre’ meaning to ‘rise anew’ or ‘spring up again’. If we also think of a resource as a temporarily lost capacity, something the brain knows how to access through millions of years of evolution, then in keeping with its etymological roots we could say ‘resource’ also means to ‘re-establish the source’ or ‘re-source’; to connect back to the origin, or re-connect to the brain/mind/body wisdom so the resource can spring up, as if anew. Christoph Flückiger and Martin Grosse Holtforth (2008), in writing about resource activation, present a way to use clients’ own strengths in therapy to increase well-being. This view suggests the activation of something known then forgotten, taken-for-granted, neglected, hidden by modesty, not recognised or innate; inner resources. To put emphasis on inner capacities, including innate strengths, takes the focus away from problem-solving, ‘fixing’ or ‘prescribing’ resources to clients (e.g., as in some solution-focused approaches) which often fail to acknowledge the pre-existing resources utilised by clients before engaging in therapy. Rather, in my view, effective therapy first seeks to discern inner resources already available to clients, before seeking to collaboratively cultivate resources in other ways. Examples of inner resources include the ability to ease worry or anxiety, to avoid rumination, and to activate a range of positive feelings (e.g., joy, enthusiasm, contentment, optimism).

The term ‘resource’ also refers to engaging with something outer to increase functionality and effectiveness. Examples of outer resources include going on retreat, enjoying a quiet day, spending time in nature, meeting with a friend or sitting with a therapist. These resources can support the development and maintenance of capacities across the dimensions of human experience (e.g., thinking, emotional, physical, interpersonal, spiritual), increase well-being in these dimensions, and potentially enable the realisation of our fullest aspirations in life. This may even include the activation of exceptional human experiences (Palmer and Hastings, 2013) and non-ordinary states of consciousness (Grof, 2012; Garcia-Romeu and Tart, 2013). While these are rare occurrences, such possibilities point to the extraordinary range of experiencing. So, for example, in this sense the practice of meditation is a resource to gain greater mastery for self-regulating thoughts (thinking dimension) and feelings (feeling dimension) and increase spiritual awareness (spiritual dimension).

The engagement with both inner and outer resources is necessary then for effective change and to enable clients to reach their goals through therapy – whatever they may be in terms of potential.

Areas of resource focus in therapy

Yet while the term ‘resource’ may be relatively easy to define, therapists will not always agree on which areas to resource in therapy. Views are likely to depend on therapeutic orientation and firm ideas and beliefs about the aims of therapy. For instance, these include such broad aims as to transform suffering, reduce distress, support the emergence of identity, facilitate and enable self-actualisation (Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers) or individuation (Carl Jung), engage in meaning-making, support decision-making, reduce depression and anxiety, work through trauma (Chapter 8), or more generally increase satisfaction in life. Others support the view that therapy aims to strengthen ego and to minimise a propensity for ego-depletion. William Goldstein (1993: 173), for example, suggests such an aim increases at least a number of relative strengths: ‘the relative intactness of reality testing; the relative intactness of thought processes; the relative intactness of interpersonal relations; the relative intactness of the adaptation to reality’. In brief, such a focus aims to support the relatively stable part of consciousness (ego) to achieve greater buoyancy and to increase secure relationships in life, and therefore place emphasis largely on the thinking (cognitive left brain thinking), feeling, and interpersonal dimensions. A similar aim is offered in Samuel Rubin’s (1986) ‘ego-focused psychotherapy’ which seeks to reduce guilt and to constructively satisfy drives (e.g., control impulses, release of anger) in order to strengthen ego functions, thus focusing primarily on the thinking and feeling dimensions. Yet there is no consensus amongst therapists as to what the term ‘ego-strength’ actually means (Bjorklund, 2000; Ando, 2009; Hagger, Wood, and Stiff, 2010).

Alternatively, if we take the view of ego as a process rather than a structure we avoid the thorny issue of trying to figure out what it is about ego that requires strengthening, given the mutable and variable nature suggested by the word ‘process’. Also to understand ego-process as requiring resourcing rather than strengthening does away with the term ‘ego-strength’ altogether. In this view resourcing supports ego-process rather than ego-strength, as there may be nothing to strengthen; no structure, nothing fixed or static. Yet resourcing ego-process does include strength but embraces this within a wider capacity-making frame. This allows a view that moves away from the polarisation and judgement implied by the term ‘ego-strength’, such as in ‘strong ego’ and ‘weak ego’, and helps to soften the idea of an ego that requires propping up, in favour of a more fluid and expanding-contracting part of identity. So we can play with the idea of bracketing the concept ‘ego-strength’ without letting go of strength capacity. Further, while resources may be abundant, scarce, or insufficient, there is no judgement implied in describing a resource as either ‘weak’ or ‘strong’. We therefore avoid evaluating ego in critical terms and look to the resilience found in the experience of strength itself. In addition, to overly preoccupy oneself with ego-strengthening mistakenly lays full weight on only one part of consciousness; one part of identity. My focus on the dimensions and depth or ‘soul’ in this book aims to broaden the view of what identity is.

Resourcing, then, aims to identify and increase ‘both (a) primarily consciously accessible ego resources for constructive ways to relate to others and to tasks and (b) generally non-consciously accessible self-capacities to maintain a cohesive sense of self, identity, and self-regulation’ (Leeds, 2009: 152). Here the term ‘self-capacities’ is viewed differently from ego resource in that self-capacities ‘allow the individual to maintain a consistent sense of identity and positive self-esteem’ (Kohut quoted in Leeds, 2009: 152), whereas ego-resources include ‘conscious abilities which are used to relate to the world outside oneself, including other people and tasks, in a constructive way’ (McCann and Pearlman quoted in Leeds, 2009: 152). In this way developing and maintaining resources strengthens intrapersonal and interpersonal capacities and abilities. Another way of putting this is to talk about the surface and ground of identity, with ego as the surface and self as the ground, albeit the meanings of these concepts differ and comparisons are not always useful. Therefore, in summary, the aims of therapy are various, and what is meant by the term ‘ego-strength’ cannot be agreed upon. However, if we think in terms of ‘ego-process’ rather than ‘ego-strength’ we may resolve a number of issues, without abandoning strength. We can also dispense with polarising and judgemental language altogether as not being conducive to holistic thinking.

Thus far I generally agree with Flückiger and Grosse Holtforth’s (2008) position which supports resource activation of clients’ strengths, but I differ from these authors in that my own focus on the dimensions of human experiencing offers more than merely avenues for inner strength building. My interest lies in developing in-built, innate, hidden, in potentia, under-developed capacities in these dimensions, as well as known or half-forgotten capacities, including intrinsic strength and wisdom. This takes the focus away from a preoccupation with inner or intrapersonal (we even might say a narcissistic over preoccupation with ego) to include interpersonal and transpersonal perspectives.

On this point, other practitioners and theorists locate the aim of therapy within a larger explorative context of nonegoic influences, for instance Sigmund Freud’s id, or Carl Jung’s view that reality consists of both personal and collective unconscious processes (beyond the personal and boundless) accessible to the individual, and that the field of consciousness has no limits (Jung, 1981 [1959], para. 2), whilst transpersonal psychology also locates egoic processes within a larger consciousness perspective. Therapists in this field aim to widen awareness and expand the perceived limits of the field of consciousness (e.g., Rowan, 2005 [1993]; Walsh and Vaughan, 1993; Friedman, 2013), and view ego consciousness as a fragment of psyche as a whole, and a key, but not sole, focus for therapy. From this perspective, therapy also offers the opportunity to look beyond ego-strength and ego function to explore ways to live more contemplatively, and to trust and be guided more by latent creative capacities and depths of psyche. This can mean to engage with whatever might lie below the surface of ordinary awareness and existence, with what might be called ‘soul’, and to live more fully with the content arising from these depths, and even to discern the nature of consciousness itself. Here the focus is on resource-making that supports both egoic development as well as the spiritual, imaginal, and energetic dimensions of human experience. I am suggesting, then, that effective resource focused therapy relies on therapists’ training(s), professional interest, and practical experience, as well as the openness of clients to actively engage in resource-making while engaging with the full range of the dimensions to do this. It is unfortunate that in some instances, exploration into areas such as the spiritual, imaginal, and energetic dimensions is seldom given adequate credence as having therapeutic value. But a certain deficiency and lop-sidedness of personhood are often the result of neglect in these and other areas.

So, resource focused therapy not only aims to support clients to develop and cultivate inner and outer resources, it also aims to help clients self-resource the whole brain/mind/body neurobiological and neurophysiological systems as well as the full spectrum of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal dimensions of human experiencing as this relates to this whole, thereby widening identity and the parameters of possibility. This may be familiar, but less so may be the idea of developing each dimension of human experiencing in its own right. This theme will be developed more fully in Chapter 4.

Vignette: Avril

During the most difficult time in her life when she was battling with the same illness from which her mother died a few years earlier, Avril (aged fifty-four) found ways of not only ‘getting through’ from day to day, but also ‘life enabling practices and processes’ to remind her of what was important when things in life were beginning to fall apart. Perhaps the most significant of these processes was to continue in therapy; to allow herself space to talk, to grieve, and to prepare for her own death. Alongside this, Avril found strength in simple things like sitting in her cottage garden, sometimes for a few minutes at night while gazing up at the moon. Frequently, the evening song of the blackbird found its resonance deep within her. Also, morning walks, evening walks, tea with friends, and long periods of quiet contemplation were some of Avril’s resourcing ‘practices and processes’. When telling me about these in therapy I would often notice how, quite naturally on the in-breath, she would breathe these experiences in, allowing them to drop down into a place deep inside her. Subtly at first, then with increasing vigour, but still subtly. ‘Yes’, I said, ‘keep breathing it all in. These experiences are a part of you’ (while I pondered about the amazing capacity many people have to find resources in difficult times).

Literature review of resource focus in therapies

Literature on resource focused approaches to therapy highlights many orientations and themes. In ordering these into seven categories, I acknowledge they are somewhat arbitrary divisions – given the significant overlaps on focus between modalities. Presenting the therapies in this way helps map their general focus areas, and gives a view of similarities, differences, and specialisms:

1 Where the focus relates to specific conditions, such as working with trauma and emotional and relational trauma (e.g., Levine, 1997; Rothschild, 2000; Ogden, Minton and Pain, 2006; Leeds, 2009; Levine, 2010; Heller and LaPierre, 2012; Grand, 2013; Ogden and Fisher, 2013), with cancer clients (e.g., Diegelmann and Isermann, 2006), with depression (e.g., Williams, 2007), anxiety (e.g., Levy Berg, Sandell and Sandahl, 2009; Flückiger et al., 2014), panic, grief, addiction, a range of symptoms as in symptom focused psychotherapy (e.g., Connors, 2010), personality disorders (e.g., Yeomans, Levy and Caligor, 2013), psychosis, and so on.

2 Where the focus aims to support ego-strength (Rubin, 1986), and strength activation (Flückiger and Holtforth, 2008; Flückiger et al., 2010).

3 Where the focus aims to resource clients via the dimensions such as in emotion focused therapy (Greenberg, 2014), affect-focused psychotherapy (Dornelas et al., 2010), affect focused body psychotherapy (Levy Berg, Sandell and Sandahl, 2009), spirituality focused interventions (Bowland, Edmond and Fallot, 2012), psychoanalytic energy therapy (Mollon, 2008), and cognitive-behavioural therapy.

4 Where the focus aims to increase particular attitudes such as in hope focused therapy (Larsen and Stege, 2010a, 2010b).

5 Where the focus is mindfulness-based such as in Compassion Focused Therapy (Gilbert, 2010), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and the Buddhist orientated Core Process Psychotherapy (Sills, 2009), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes, Strosahl and Wilson, 2011 [2003]), and mindfulness-based practices across therapeutic approaches (e.g., Germer, Siegel and Fulton, 2013; Pollak, Pedulla and Siegel, 2014).

6 Where the focus aims to support functionality such as in job focused therapy (Riordan and Kahnweiler, 1995), solution focused (de Shazer, 2007), and narrative and solution-focused approaches (Chang and Nylund, 2013).

7 Where the focus is on working with family systems (Ray and Keeney, 1993).

From these categories, we find the therapeutic focus is usefully applied to specific areas (e.g., ego-strength and functioning, trauma), but not necessarily in ways to encompass the whole dimension spectrum put forward by my thesis (Chapter 4). I offer this as an observation rather than a critique of therapies which confine therapy to only a few dimensions, (e.g., thinking and behavioural dimensions in CBT), and acknowledge the value of these therapies as often necessary for effective change (there is also reference in Chapter 3 to the limitations of left brain cognitive focus in therapy). My suggestion is that it is beneficial to simultaneously draw upon multiple dimensions to increase therapeutic benefit.

Traditionally, resourcing in therapy was intrinsically linked to the process and outcome of what goes on in the therapeutic relationship. While this remains crucially the case, since t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Permissions
• Introduction
• 1. Overview of resource focused therapy
• 2. The origins of resourcing
• 3. Resourcing of emotional systems
• 4. Dimensions of experiencing
• 5. Integrative resource focus in therapy
• 6. Therapy as education
• 7. Therapeutic relationship as resourcing experience
• 8. Resourcing for trauma
• 9. The resource focused therapist
• Appendix
• Index