Name of Intervention
Positioning
Introduction
Positioning is employed in the strategic family therapy model and is one of the paradoxical interventions that can be used with individuals, couples, or families. Like all paradoxical interventions, such as prescribing and restraining strategies, positioning is rooted in the assumption that clients resist change and are at times reluctant to adopt new ways of communicating and interacting (Stanton 1981). Positioning is an intervention founded on the expectation that clients will rebel against therapists’ directives (Rohrbaugh et al. 1981). Therefore, therapists employ positioning by accepting or exaggerating clients’ perspective on an issue. This paradoxical intervention is used to get clients to adopt a new and more helpful explanation of the problem in response to the therapist’s embellished perspective. Ultimately, the decision to use a paradoxical intervention and how to apply it (to the whole family or only part) lies in how seemingly...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Haley, J. (1963). Strategies of psychotherapy. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Haley, J. (1976). Problem solving therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rohrbaugh, M., Tennen, H., Press, S., & White, L. (1981). Compliance, defiance, and the therapeutic paradox: Guidelines for strategic use of paradoxical interventions. American Journal of Orthopsychiatric, 51, 114–127.
Stanton, M. D. (1981). Strategic approaches to family therapy. In A. S. Gurman & D. P. Kniskern (Eds.), Handbook of family therapy (Vol. 1, pp. 361–402). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Watzwalick, P., Bavelas, J. B., & Jackson, D. D. (1967). Pragmatics of human communication. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Briggs, J.G., Finley, M.A. (2019). Positioning in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_299
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_299
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49423-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49425-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences