Approach: Provocative therapy

Provocative Therapy was created by Frank Farrelly of Madison, Wisconsin in the 1970s. It is a system of psychotherapy in which the therapist plays the devil's advocate, siding with the negative half of the client's ambivalence toward his life's goals, his relationships, work and the structures within which he lives.

The therapist also plays the 'Satanic role' by facetiously agreeing with the doom and gloom feelings and expectations of the client, and "tempting" him to continue his "sinning," his self-defeating attitudes and behavioral patterns.

The purpose of this therapy is to change the client. One of the therapist's main tools to implement this change is warm-hearted humor in its varied forms -- exaggeration, irony, self-deprecation, Daliesque absurdities, etc.

With a twinkle in his eye, a smile playing about his lips, and genially employing the style of affectionate banter between friends, the therapist uses humor both to sensitize and desensitize the client to problematic cognitive, affective, and behavioral patterns. This is the key to Provocative Therapy -- humor. Jocular, whimsical, caring, supportive humor.

The root meaning of provocative is pro + vocare, to "call forth", and there are five different types of behaviors that are "called forth" or provoked out of the client in this approach. Every single interview with every single client does not elicit all five of these, but each interview with each client demonstrates at least some of these five. The client, then, is provoked by the therapist to achieve the following goals of Provocative Therapy:

1.Affirm his self-worth, both verbally and behaviorally. 2.Assert himself appropriately both in task performances and relationships. 3.Defend himself realistically. 4.Engage in psycho-social reality testing and learn the necessary discriminations to respond adaptively. Global perceptions lead to global, stereotyped responses; differentiated perceptions lead to adaptive responses. 5.Engage in risk-taking behaviors in personal relationships, especially communicating affection and vulnerability to significant others with immediacy as they are authentically experienced by the client. The most difficult words in relationships are often "I want you, I miss you, I care about you" -- to commit oneself to others. (Provocative Therapy,p. 56)

This thumbnail sketch does not pretend to answer all questions about Provocative Therapy. For a full explanation of this system, the reader is referred to the book Provocative Therapy, with its seventy-three case examples see

Other sites of interest

- articles on Provocative Therapy - interview with Frank Farrelly by Nick Kemp http://www.provocativetherapy.info/ - Central site for Provocative Therapy video clips and articles http://www.provocativetherapy.co.uk - The British institute of Provocative Therapy (run by Brian Kaplan, MD and Phil Jeremiah a psychiatric social worker) trains health professionals in the use of Provocative Therapy.