| MS. GREEN comes to her therapy session
and is visibly upset. Her homework assignment had been to spend an hour
each day practicing controlled breathing and relaxation. Each time she
started a practice session, her husband would knock at the bedroom door
to tell her that one of her daughters was calling or to ask her to help
him to find something in the house. Ms. Green was at a loss as to how
to handle this problem. The therapist had her role-play the situation
with her husband. She was unable to assertively ask him to stop interrupting
her in the role play. She told the therapist that she never asked for
any privacy at home.
Discussion: Here we have an example of a skill deficit—namely,
a lack of knowledge as to how to behave in an assertive way—that
would contribute to Ms. Green’s problems. Her family has a long
history of interacting with her in a way that makes her the caretaker
in every interaction and reinforces her pattern of being nonassertive.
Her husband is accustomed to her availability at any given moment, and
his response to her need for privacy and time for herself may be to sabotage
her efforts, whether he is aware of this or not.
from Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy for Clinicians
ISBN: 978-0-7817-6044-7
February 2006 |
