Exaggeration Experiment

The client takes a negative belief, gesture, or emotion and exaggerates it to absurdity. "I am a failure" becomes "I am absolutely, mathematically a failure, I take up unneeded space". It often turns into laughter and relief. Through exaggeration, the belief lays bare its absurdity, and the client sees it is a story they themselves keep telling, not a fact about them.

Step-by-step guide

1. Pick out a belief or gesture: "I hear you criticizing yourself constantly"
2. Offer to amplify through exaggeration: "Be as critical of yourself as you can"
3. The client says: "I am disgusting, the worst of the worst"
4. The therapist invites still more exaggeration
5. Common result: laughter, relief, distance from the statement
6. Inquiry: "What happened? Is it true — everything you just said?"

When to use

• Dysfunctional beliefs: "I will never be good enough"
• Perfectionism: "I have to be the perfect mother every second"
• Phobias and catastrophizing: "If I say something, everyone will laugh at me"
• Gestures and postures of self-deprecation — amplified to absurdity
• The client speaks of the problem without emotion — exaggeration brings back contact

Key phrases

Follow-up questions

Alternative phrasings