A Model of Effective Helping: Doing What Works

Therapists do their best to help their clients overcome a variety of problemsùfrom milder problems like short-term anxiety and depression to long-term, more serious challenges like schizophrenia (Dorman, ôDante's cure,ö 2004) and dissociative identity disorders (Schreiber, 1989). However genuine the clinician's desire to help heal the client, the therapist will be limited by the tools he or she chooses. The most effective tools will yield the best results. It makes sense, then, as a clinician to focus one's attention on models that have been shown to be effective, not just in providing temporary emotional relief to patients, but in leading to a recovered state. Such tools can be drawn from a variety of sources, and often outside-of-the-box application of tools from other fields can be of use to the conscientious therapist. Three tools that a therapist may apply that have a high level of efficacy in leading people toward self-actualization are 1) pursuing honed listening skills, 2) applying performance based objectives, 3) utilizing personality typing to understand and reinforce a client's strengths.

Listening is a key objective of a therapist, as it is through this art that much of the work of psychological healing can be achieved. Listening comprises more than just hearing and repeating a client's ideas, but encompasses gaining a true understanding and integration of ideas within the listener and then establishing a bond with t

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personality states and helped Sybil to integrate disparate parts of herself into a functional, unified consciousness. As in the experience of Dr. Dorman and Catherine, the main tool to heal Sybil's dissociative disorder was not medication but listening. How does one become an effective listener? Part of the journey towards developing this art rests in learning to separate our own biases and judgments from what the speaker is saying. Many times in listening, we are drawn off into our own thoughts rather than using our full attention to analyze the meaning behind the speaker's words--that is, what the speaker wants and what is most important to him or her at that moment. By prioritizing the speaker as the center of our attention, rather than our own concerns, fears, or ego, we can gain access to what amounts to the speaker's giftùan unveiling of his or her soul. A clinician who values this gift and honors the client's vulnerability in offering it, may do more to help the client than years of training in the tools of psychoanalysis can teach. Good listening skills do not come easy; in developing them over time, it makes sense to learn from the best. The best listeners are often not formal therapists but people around us who we ourse
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