The Farrelly Factors are 39 behaviors, strategic patterns and mental
activities that Frank Farrelly, the founder of Provocative Therapy,
does, feels and thinks when working with a client. They were defined
by Jaap Hollander, Ph.D. with help of Dr. Graham Dawes and René Duba.
The factors are very different in terms of their level of abstraction
and their importance in therapy, but they have one thing in common:
they are all practical, i.e. they all describe what one can actually
do (behaviorally, emotionally and cognitively) when one wants to do
provocative therapy. Although this list is not claimed to be exhaustive,
these factors together form a detailed description of the input part
of the provocative therapy process (The next steps in our definition
of provocative therapy and provocative coaching would be to develop
similar descriptions of the processing and the output happening in
the context of the provocative style).
The factors are divided in seven sections:
- Ongoing behaviors (things
the provocative therapist does all the time or most of the time)
- Conditional Behaviors
(things with which the provocative therapist reacts to certain
behaviors of the client, if-then statements: if the client does
X, then the therapist does Y)
- General Provocative
Tools (things the provocative therapist sometimes does)
- Reacting to Problem
Statements
- Reacting
to Self Concept Statements
- Therapists/Consultant's
Internal Processes (what the provocative therapist does mentally
to enable him/her to do what s/he does)
- Strategic Patterns
Ongoing behaviors
1) Make Physical Contact
Maintain both eye contact and physical contact (repeated touch, stroking,
patting, friendly gentle 'punching', et cetera). Lean towards the
client. Do this most of the time, but especially when the client seems
to want to avoid eye contact because s/he is embarrassed or in a strongly
emotional state.
2) Use a Joking Tone of Voice
Speak in a joking, teasing tone of voice.
Actually, use three major voice tones:
- Joking
- Hypnotic
- Quasi frustrated.
1. Joking
Generally, and as a starting point, speak in a teasing, joking
tone of voice as if you were saying: "We both know better than
this".
2. Hypnotic
When the client enters in a confused state however, change your
voice tone. Start giving positive suggestions in a low, hypnotic
tone of voice (e.g. eternal therapeutic truths of an abstract nature,
like "People need to be able to defend themselves, or the world
will use them as a doormat"). Here ideally your tempo matches
the breathing - or other physical processes - of the client.
3. Quasi frustrated
When the client keeps repeating the same statements, start talking
in an quasi frustrated tone as if you were saying: "You are
an impossible case for this tired old therapist".
3) Nonverbal Mirroring
Precisely mirror some of the clients nonverbal behaviors (posture,
tone/tempo, typical gestures). Frank doesn't do this consciously,
but when you observe him, you'll notice he definitely does it most
of the time. Use this nonverbal matching 1. for rapport 2. to stimulate
your own reflections and associations on the emotional state and the
essential beliefs of the client.
4) Use Anecdotes
Illustrate issues with short metaphors, quotes, proverbs and anecdotes.
I have some detective books that Frank has left at our house. As he
reads them, he underlines good strong one-liners. Collect these and
use them over and over again. Don't be afraid to repeat yourself.
Because, as the famous Dutch author Gerard Reve once said: "You
accuse me of repeating myself, but then I ask you: who else should
I repeat?" Another great source of one-liners are Ashly Brilliant's
books. When Frank hears a good joke or a good anecdote or movie scene,
he savors imagining how he uses this with a client.
5) Focus Intently on the Client
Focus your attention completely on the client. Ignore outside stimuli
as much as possible. This is probably something most good therapists
and trainers do. One of our master practitioners modeled a similar
process studying Al Pesso. He calls it 'the envelope' Concentrate
on the client. It may help to see the client as an explosive device
you are dismantling. I mean, that's the level of concentration I am
referring to.
6) Don't Help the Client!
Make no effort to be helpful. Don't think up any serious solutions
to problems. Don't give any serious advice!
7) Don't Keep Track of the Session
Bring up irrelevant remarks, wander of into sidetracks, forget what
was said a moment ago.
8) Be Easily Distracted.
Be very Dumb React in a dissociated, distracted manner to statements
the client emphasizes or presents with emotion. You react especially
strongly to statements that seem important to you but that the client
offers in an offhand manner or in a manner that seems to say 'I don't
really want to talk about this now", or "This is not really
important". To statements that the client emphasizes on the other
hand, you have just the opposite response: you repeat them in a listless,
bored tone of voice, you forget them, you ask for irrelevant details
(thereby showing you don't understand them) etcetera. Frank seems
to presuppose that the client cannot learn much from repeating what
he already knows. Don't be too smart or intelligent. The intellectual
analysis of the clients problem is only valuable - according to provocative
therapy - if combined with a strong emotional state.
9) Remember that You are Provoking Appropriate Behaviors
Keep in mind, that 'provocare' is Latin for 'eliciting'. Provocative
therapy is a good example of the old NLP adagium that "the meaning
of your communication is the response you elicit".
What responses do you want to elicit?
- Assertive Behavior
- Self Affirmative Statements
- Appropriate Self Defence
- Psycho Social Realty Testing
- Expressions of Warmth, Caring, Affection, Friendship, Love
- You know that the session went right, when you elicited enough
of those responses.
[top]
II) Conditional Behaviors
10) Go for the Emotion
If the client shows low emotional involvement, then vary your own
behaviour until you elicit a strong nonverbal reaction. Emotional
involvement is paramount in provocative therapy. Simply try to get
as strong an emotional reaction as you can (anything short of the
client getting up and leaving). Blushing, vehement head shaking, puzzled
or angry facial expression, exaggerated disdain, verbal interruptions
like "Now wait a minute here!". That kind of response. This
is one of the reasons why Frank talks about sex so much. By placing
the themes the client comes up with 'in the bedroom', you are pretty
sure to get a strong emotional response.
11) Red-Green Color Blindness
If the client reacts with strong emotions and s/he asks/demands that
you stop, continue. You know you are doing good in provocative therapy
if the client demands that you stop it. That's you signal to continue
along the same lines with renewed energy.
12) Describe the Clients Strong Nonverbal Reactions
If the client shows strong nonverbal reactions, describe these nonverbal
reactions to the client and/or ask the client to specify feelings
and thoughts. "You blush, you throw you body backwards in the
chair, what???"
13) Ask for Specification
If the client doesn't finish a sentence or gives a vague statement,
then ask for specification. "What???" "What are you
saying? I can't hear you!" "You say you have reasons to
stay married. Name three!"
14) Trance Work
If the client is in a confused or expectant or trancelike state,
then proclaim universal truths in a slow, solemn tone of voice. When
you do all or many of the above mentioned behaviors, the client will
get confused. As Milton Erickson would say: his/her habitual frames
of reference are being depotentiated'. In plain English: what works
in a normal conversations doesn't work here. Clients will often demonstrate
many of Erickson's 'trance-indicators' like breathing changes, eye
blink slowing, internal focus, absence of movement, et cetera. In
provocative therapy you can use these moment just as a hypnotherapist
would. Change your tone of voice and start giving solemn suggestions.
Say highly abstract truths like "Deep inside people know what
they feel" or whatever is appropriate for this client. Please
note: in these moment you are not provoking, you are giving direct
suggestions in a non-joking manner.
15) Responding seriously to traumatic experiences
When the client reports traumatic experiences, like being raped or
shot or loved ones dying, don't behave provocatively immediately.
First talk about what happened exactly, get the details of how and
when and where and how long. Then congruently give your own response
to the traumatic experience, for instance that it never should have
happened. After that, you may gradually start responding provocatively
to the clients reaction to the traumatic events, for instance to the
fact that someone plans on feeling guilty for the rest of his/her
life.
16) Reflect incongruence
Reflect the clients incongruence in your own behavior. For instance
when the client says he wants to exercise more, but s/he says it without
any nonverbal expressions of being motivated, say in a tired tone
of voice: "Yes, sigh, you are so motivated", exaggerating
the tired nonverbals in your own body language..
[top]
III) General Provocative
Tools
17) Interrupt the Client
Interrupt the clients story (and train of thought) with unexpected,
"snappy" lines. Don't worry about the client finishing their
sentences or their line of reasoning. Don't be polite. Just interrupt,
even if there seems no way you could possibly have reached any sensible
understanding of what they are saying. Frank usually interrupts the
clients after one or two sentences.
18) Mimic the Client
Mimic the client in a theatrical fashion.
19) Illustrate the Impact of the Clients Behavior on Others
React very strongly, in a theatrical fashion to the behaviors of
the client. For instance, when the client has a very authoritarian,
self important air, act very insecure and impressed ('I don't hardly
dare to say anything to someone of your stature'). If the client acts
very seductive, pretend to be hardly able to keep your sexual impulses
under control.
20) Misinterpret the Clients Confusion or Other Communication Problems
Claim that the problem is a sign of a great asset. For instance when
the client can hardly speak from embarrassment, claim that he is quietly
and serenely planning a perfect response.
21) Lamely Protest Claims of Progress
Sadly suggest, with deep sighs, that "it's soooo difficult to
change". Ineptly deny or regret ludicrously any progress the
client reports. Use whatever kind of ridiculous reasons you can come
up with to claim that the client will never change will never reach
his/her goal, etcetera. If the client reports improvements don't believe
him/her/it (voice twisted faces skepticism). It's just a temporary
relapse into sanity. Soon the problems will return with renewed vigor.
Humor is essential here! Absolutely crucial.
22) Ineptly Undermine Favorable Feedback
Humorously and lamely undermine favorable feedback the client receives
from others. In almost a whining tone of voice: "Well, .....
they are just telling you that..... maybe..... because they know you
can't ...... handle the truth." You want them to able to counteract
your denial of their progress. "If you don't believe me, you
cab ask my brother...."
23) Have them Repeat Strong Conclusions
When the client voices a strong statement expression, a new insight,
a decision or a major operating value, have them repeat it. Pretend
you don't understand. If possible: misunderstand.
24) Broadly and extensively dramatize your fantasies
When you are talking about absurd solutions, or other absurd aspects
of the clients' situation, make a kind of theatre play out of them.
Don't just mention them, but act out the different roles as if you
were an actor playing all the different roles in a play. Go into as
many details as you can think of.
[top]
IV) Reacting to
Problem Statements
25) Do Some More of That, Think Some More of That, Feel Some More
of That!
What's wrong with that? But that's the best thing to do! Encourage
problematic behaviors, thoughts and moods by describing absurd advantages
(or absurd disadvantages of changing them) or overemphasizing the
clients capability to cope. When I lost 40 pounds, and we had some
floods from the river Waal, Frank wrote to my wife: "Do you realize
Anneke, that Jaap, now that he lost all this weight, makes a much
less effective floatation device when the dikes break?"
26) Daliesque Solutions
Give absurd, off-the-wall, Daliesque, surrealistic solutions. It
doesn't matter how absurd. To a male client who was drowning in self-pity:
"You could buy a wheelchair. Don't spend you energy on walking!
You can have a PA system attached to your wheelchair announcing loudly,
"Make way! Here comes The Sufferer Of The Year!" On the
telephone to a homeless drunk recently released from a Wisconsin prison
who was asking him for a place to stay and shelter from the bitter
winter winds: "I know how you can get a warm bed and good food
within three minutes. Leave that phone booth at that busy intersection.
Walk out in the middle of traffic, Drop your pants, pump your cock,
and point at the heavens and scream over and over, as loud as you
can: "Jesus is coming and so am I!" And help will arrive
within minutes."
27) Absurd Explanations
Give absurd explanations. I have trouble getting in touch of my feelings.
Where are you from? I'm from Friesland. Ah, there you have it! That
province is so flat and windy, it blows the emotions right from the
Frisian people! It's genetic and cultural. My research shows that
86 percent of Frisians don't even have emotions!
28) Overemphasize the Clients Assets to The Total Exclusion of his
Problem
Take an asset the client obviously has (for instance: good position
in society, physical beauty, intellectual development, et cetera).
Then claim that for a person with such an enormous asset, the problem
he has presented is totally trivial and unimportant. What does it
matter if nobody likes you? In your position you don't need people
to like you!
[top]
V) Reacting
to Self Concept Statements
29) Your Such a Fat Fuck Anyway
Exaggerate perceived negative self-concept Client: "I have trouble
sleeping". Frank: "You can say that again! Your eyes look
like two pissholes in a snowbank"
30) Exaggerate Negative Body Image
To a markedly obese female patient: "Oh my God, the Goodyear
Blimp has slipped its moorings!"
31) Exaggerate Cultural Stereotypes
Use any cultural stereotypes that fit the client or the people
who are important in his narrative. "Yes, but you are a woman!
A woman is supposed to be weak, that's the only way to get guys to
help and protect her!". Another example: "What do you do?".
"I train managers". "YOU?!?!, you train managers?".
"Yes." "YOU?!?!, well, are they baby managers? Are
they basket cases?".
[top]
VI)
Therapists/Consultant's Internal Processes
32) Get into the 'Giggling' State
Get into an emotional state in which you are very sensitive to the
funny, the absurd, the incongruent, the ridiculous in what the client
says and does. Frank likens this to that state in puberty where you
are giggling with friends about just everything.
33) Be Warm
Maintain warm, understanding feeling state towards the client. Feel
for the client like you would feel for a good old friend or a good
family member. Provocative therapy should be like 'Affectionate banter
between close friends'.
34) Listen to your Own Inner Guides
Imagine wise persons standing behind you, talking with you about
this client. Listen to what they say. This is the spiritual side of
provocative therapy. Imagine/see/hear guiding spirits telling you
things about the client.
35) See Internal Television Sets
Internally see a ring (like a semicircle) of large screened colored
television sets (depicting the client, his life, his work and his
relationships). Pay attention to the one with the brightest colors
and/or the loudest sound (or the one you find most interesting, like
funny or embarrassing situations with important others). At the same
time you are looking at the client from the corner of your eye, scanning
and monitoring his reactions. Occasionally walk into one of the sets.
Describe what you see and hear and feel (and smell). Strategy: Watch
and listen to client. Say words to yourself to label your experience
of the client and his situation. Use these words to find vivid associated
images. See these images behind or next to the client. Talk about
these images.
[top]
VII) Strategic Patterns
36) Reverse the Blame between Client and Life
Teasingly blame the client (if the client blames life, the system,
society); bombastically blame life (if the client blames him/her self).
Change this around if the client changes, always staying in the opposite
position. To a business coach who complains that he doesn't focus
on the needs of his clients enough: pounding his fist on the arm of
the chair "That's the trouble with business these days! If only
the damned customers would stay away and wouldn't interfere, businesses
could operate much more smoothly".
37) Take Sides
Choose one side of a conflict. Exaggerate its advantages and justification.
Claim that the disadvantages are a fact of life that the client has
to live with. When the client starts protesting, suggest he can't
change or flip to other side of conflict.
38) Demand that the Client be Interesting
Demand that the client be interesting and amusing.
39) Act Crazier than the Client
When an eight year old kid is brought to him with a burping problem,
Frank will try burping more than the kid.
[top]
Copyright 1990-2000
Jaap Hollander
Reproduced with the kind permission of Jaap Hollander
www.iepdoc.nl
