I am lucky enough to take my Provocative Change Works (PCW) work to many parts of the globe and this allows me to really test the PCW model with a wide range of people. Similarly, my two UK clinics attract a huge diversity of people seeking help and of course, I still do pro bono work in conjunction with some local services.
Often when people land on my doorstep they have already tried all manner of approaches and some people have spent literally years seeking help without any noticeable useful change. Frank Farrelly used to talk about the classic psychotherapeutic analytical approach as “the archaeological dig” and commented that in his experience it wasn’t that productive. My own experience is exactly the same. With the PCW approach, we focus on the process that creates and maintains the problem state, so yes some information is useful, but only to the extent that it allows the practitioner to empower the client to think, feel and behave differently.
Change is not time-based but rather determined by the whole think – feel – behavioural sequence. This is what I call the internal environment, but we also need to be mindful of external factors that can play a part in creating and maintaining the problem. Of course its helpful that clients have realistic expectations and I always advise individuals to expect to invest in at least two sessions rather than expect a “magic wand” solution which of course is a bit daft.
When I teach PCW to students I encourage them to think about the nature of any problem state and the ingredients that make the state. For example, a state of anxiety requires the element of anticipation, but although similar a feeling of anxiety is different to a feeling of excitement. The details of how these states occur and in my experience the key to helping the client and this is simpler than many people may imagine but does require a great deal of precision when working conversationally in sessions.
