Abstract
When this sequence happened the therapist was confronted with the question what he2 would do next. Would he ignore Elly’s action and go on listening to the story of mother? Would he ask the child what she meant? Would he ask mother what she thinks Elly meant? Would he act on some idea that popped up in his mind about what might be expressed by Elly’s behavior? One of his ideas was that maybe the injection was a painkiller and that the girl wanted to help mother to feel less pain. This was one of those situations in family therapy practice when a therapist has to make decisions on the spot. Therapists are invariably confronted with the unforeseen, the uncontrollable and the unpredictable. Their theoretical and technical knowledge alone doesn't suffice to help them through the day. In daily practice, since there’s often hardly time for reflection or deliberation, therapists have to act intuitively.
Iwanttothank LeisShawver andeverybody at thePMTH discussion liston theinternet.Furthermore, I also thank CratgSmith,TomStrongand Lynn Hoffman for their comments on this manuscript. I also want to thank my colleagues who have helpedme in discussing the case: Sara Keymolen, An Nijsmans, Karin Tilmans, AnLuyten, AnVanhimbeek, MichVanwayenbergh, Lieven Migerode.
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Rober, P., Larner, G., Paré, D. (2004). The Client’s Nonverbal Utterances, Creative Understanding & the Therapist’s Inner Conversation. In: Strong, T., Paré, D. (eds) Furthering Talk. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8975-8_7
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