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Patterns

28 techniques · 20 approaches
ACT
Naming the Story
Naming the Story
Instead of following the content of a thought, the client notices that it is part of a familiar story, a narrative the mind tells again and …
Adlerian
Catching Oneself
Catching Oneself
The client learns to notice the moment when the habitual pattern "kicks in" — before it unfolds fully. First they "catch" themselves after t…
Adlerian
Tentative Interpretation
Tentative Interpretation
Adlerian interpretation differs fundamentally from psychoanalytic interpretation. It is offered as a hypothesis — gently, with the qualifier…
Bioenergetics
Character Structure Analysis
Character Structure Analysis
A joint exploration of the client's character structure: how the body is organized in response to early experience, which defenses have beco…
Bruges
Self-Monitoring Diary
Self-Monitoring Diary
The client keeps a use diary between sessions, recording not only the facts of use but also the context — the situation, emotions, preceding…
CBT
Activity Monitoring
Activity Monitoring
A tracking method for observing how daily behavior relates to mood, energy, sleep and stress. The client records activities across the day a…
DBT
Chain Analysis / Behavioral Chain Analysis
Chain Analysis / Behavioral Chain Analysis
A detailed walk-through of a concrete problem behavior along the entire chain: vulnerability → prompting event → thoughts → emotions → sensa…
Deurzen
Relational World Exploration (Mitwelt Work)
Relational World Exploration (Mitwelt Work)
The social dimension (Mitwelt — "being-with-others") holds a special place for van Deurzen. She inquires how the client builds and experienc…
Deurzen
Worldview Mapping / Existential Compass
Worldview Mapping / Existential Compass
A systematic inquiry into the client's basic beliefs about themselves, the world, other people, and the future. Van Deurzen sees worldview a…
EFT for Couples
Negative Cycle Identification
Negative Cycle Identification
Identifying and naming the couple's repeating pattern of interaction: who pursues, who withdraws, how each reinforces the other's reaction. …
Gottman
Four Horsemen Assessment
Four Horsemen Assessment
Identifying the four destructive patterns of communication (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling) and training the couple to rec…
IBCT
Faking Negative Behavior
Faking Negative Behavior
The partner deliberately reproduces the "problem" behavior at home by agreement. This lowers the trigger's emotional charge and gives both t…
IBCT
Pattern Naming
Pattern Naming
The couple, together with the therapist, gives a name to their conflict pattern. The name turns the abstract conflict into a concrete "third…
IBCT
Self-Care When Facing the Pattern
Self-Care When Facing the Pattern
Building a concrete action plan for when the trap activates again. Instead of trying to change the partner — caring for the self in a hard m…
Jung
Fairy Tale Analysis / Amplification Through Fairy Tales
Fairy Tale Analysis / Amplification Through Fairy Tales
M.-L. von Franz developed a method of interpreting fairy tales as "the purest expression of the collective unconscious". Fairy-tale characte…
Längle
Method of Dealing with Aggression
Method of Dealing with Aggression
Aggression in existential analysis is seen not as pathology but as a reaction to a threat to one of the fundamental motivations. The therapi…
Längle
Working with Coping Reactions
Working with Coping Reactions
Each of the four fundamental motivations, when blocked, generates predictable defensive reactions. The therapist recognizes the type of reac…
MBCT
Unpleasant Events Calendar
Unpleasant Events Calendar
Like the Pleasant Events Calendar, but aimed at difficult experience: one unpleasant event a day, with thoughts, feelings, body sensations r…
MBT
Mentalizing Narratives
Mentalizing Narratives
A technique of joint creation of a coherent, meaningful narrative about the client's life with a focus on mental states. In MBT the case for…
MBT
Relational Mentalizing
Relational Mentalizing
An advanced fourth-level technique in which the therapist addresses the interaction between therapist and client as the object of mentalizat…
MBT
Stop, Rewind, and Explore
Stop, Rewind, and Explore
A key MBT intervention for working with moments of loss of mentalization. After the stop, the therapist invites the client to "rewind" — bac…
MI
A Day in the Life (Explore a Typical Day)
A Day in the Life (Explore a Typical Day)
A technique for the detailed exploration of the client's usual day, most often connected with the problem behavior. The client describes how…
Morita
Vicious Cycle Analysis
Vicious Cycle Analysis
Helping the client see the mechanism of toraware: how fixation on a symptom strengthens the symptom, creating a self-sustaining cycle of suf…
Sandplay
Series Review
Series Review
A joint viewing of the photographs of all sand pictures in chronological order. The client sees the whole inner path — from the first pictur…
Schema
Schema Diary
Schema Diary
A structured worksheet the client fills in between sessions when a schema activates. It has seven steps: situation → trigger → belief → emot…
WBT
Well-Being Interruption Analysis
Well-Being Interruption Analysis
Cognitive work with the automatic thoughts that cut off positive experience: identification, classification by Ryff dimension, and restructu…
Yalom
Here-and-Now Focus
Here-and-Now Focus
Speak not about something but about what is happening right now between therapist and client in the space of the relationship. The client's …
Yalom
Life Theme Analysis (Yalom)
Life Theme Analysis (Yalom)
Identifying recurring patterns in the client's life as reflections of their fundamental existential choices. Yalom shows that when a client …
Materials are informational and educational and summarize publicly available scientific sources. They are not medical or psychological advice, are not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, and do not replace consultation with a qualified professional.