The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the psychotherapeutic notion of "resistance," as it is described by Koop and Kivel (1990) and by Verhulst and van de Vijver (1990). The paper not only presents a summary of these views of resistance but also provides a discussion of what they offer in terms of developing a comprehensive approach to counseling.
Kopp and Kivel (1990) discuss resistance as it is formulated in Adlerian therapy. In this regard, the Adlerian perspective postulates resistance as purposive and deliberate on the part of the client and uses a model termed "Traps and Escapes." In order to understand the model, it is first necessary to understand that Adlerians view resistance as serving the function of "safeguarding" a client's beliefs about self and others. The fear is that if these beliefs (no matter how neurotic) are not safeguarded, one will lose all sense of self-esteem and self-worth.
Resistance is said to emerge as a paradoxical and conflictual statement by the client through which he or she seeks to "trap" the therapist by bringing him/her into a paradoxical and conflictual interaction. This will happen if the therapist attends only to the client's stated message and not to the message hiding behind the client's actions. Kopp and Kivel (1990) go on to describe several techniques and strategies therapists can use to avoid being trapped in such interactions or to extricate themselves from the traps if they are sprung.
In terms of developing a comprehensive approach to counseling, I think it is imperative to understand and effectively work with resistance. What I liked about this article is that it offered concrete and highly useable techniques for dealing with resistance, e.g. the "spitting in the patient's soup," strategy and the technique of "prescribing the symptom."
However, I am not convinced that the assumption that the client as the generator of resistance is correct; nor...