Symbolic-Experiential Theory of Counseling

The ultimate basis for Carl Whitaker's Symbolic-Experiential theory of counseling can be traced back to Alfred Adler and the use of an holistic theory of personality and model of psychopathology in combination with a humanistic philosophy. Adlerian psychotherapy speaks of challenging clients through a type of Socratic dialogue where they are encouraged to "correct mistaken assumptions, attitudes, behaviors and feelings about themselves and the world … The objective of therapy is to replace exaggerated self-protection, self-enhancement, and self-indulgence with courageous social contribution … We do not reduce psychotherapy to a by-the-numbers procedure, but practice it like an art requiring creative innovation" ("Basic Principles of Classical Adlerian Psychology," 2000).

Whitaker, considered one of the mavericks and originals in that he does not fit into any ready-made category, took the notions of "Socratic dialogue" and expanded it into this new family systems therapy approach. Because this was not only a new approach to therapy but also a new way of looking at behavior (described "as a kind of communications research focusing on the face-to-face relationships of people in ongoing groups" (Hoffman, 1981, p. 17), Whitaker felt he needed a new stance between the therapist and the family. He found this in what he called the "therapy of the absurd" (Whitaker, 1975). Whi

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the family members: We started with Mother's alcoholism. She gets one point for that. Now we've uncovered Dad's gruesome collecting disease, so he gets two points. John's revealed his school phobia and bared Henry's delinquency. Mary, do you plan to destroy yourself by being the family heroine and the nurse to every patient in the entire hospital … Jim, if Mary tried to kill herself because she sensed you'd like her dead, do you suspect that if the gang of you would help her, she might convert to killing you? (Whitaker, 1973). He also has been known to squat down next to a baby straining during a bowel movement and strain and grunt with him. In another session, he suddenly told a young woman who had been diagnosed as "psychotic" that she should sit on her father-in-law's lap, telling her: "Incest is better than love" (Whitaker, 1973). As reported in Burnham (1988), Whitaker once told a young boy who had been acting in a nervous fashion following his father's death to "go over and sit on your dead father's lap. He's sitting right over there. Yes, I think I can see the dent that his backside is making in the chair" (p. 63). 5. Target Clientele It would seem that the target clientele for someone like Whitaker (as well as ot
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