Using Conscious Interiority as a Therapeutic Tool

AbstractThis chapter returns to the particular systems of psychotherapy (introduced in Chapter 5). However, in this chapter the interventions and techniques of the various systems are examined to illustrate how they incorporate FOCI for healing purposes. In other words, conscious interiority is shown to operate as a therapeutic tool in the different psychotherapeutic systems, thereby bolstering the common factors and integrative psychological approach of this book. This is accomplished by examining how hyper-interiority is corrected by utilizing FOCI; in rational emotive behavior therapy (disputing irrational notions via active-directive approach); cognitive behavior therapy (identifying and learning maladaptive behaviors); client-centered therapy (highlighting the interiorized, subjective contents of mind); existential therapy (confronting our self-individuation); Gestalt therapy (focusing on the experiential self); dialectical behavior therapy (balancing the need for change with the way things are); acceptance and commitment therapy (coming to terms with one’s circumstances and enacting one’s values). Also examined are the A-B-C-D chain of cognition, FOCI and self-improvement, and self-change through self-reflexivity.