Provocative Therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach in which the therapist serves as the devil’s advocate, siding with the negative side of the client’s ambivalence toward his life goals, relationships, work, and the structures within which he lives. The provocative 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 behavioural patterns.
The purpose in provocative therapy is to change the client’s behaviour. One of the outcomes of PT sessions is the emergence of humour, both to sensitise and desensitise the client to problematic cognitive, affective, and behavioural issues, and a warm-hearted exchange in its varied forms—exaggeration, irony, self-deprecation, Dali-esque absurdities, etc.
With a twinkle in his eye, a smile playing about his lips, and a genial use of affectionate banter between friends, the therapist employs challenging communication approaches to sensitise and desensitise the client to problematic cognitive, affective, and behavioural patterns. This is the key to Provocative Therapy— whimsical, caring, supportive communication. Although humour is a side effect of Provocative Therapy, this approach is not about telling jokes or being funny! Often, Frank’s work is misinterpreted as stand-up comedy, which is a gross misrepresentation. “Provocative” does not mean “aggressive”; again, this is another common misinterpretation of this work.
The root meaning of provocative is pro + vocare, to “call out”, and there are five different types of behaviours that are “called out” in the client in this approach. Not every interview with every client elicits all five of these, but each interview with each client demonstrates at least some of them.
The client, then, is provoked by the therapist to:
- Affirm his self-worth, both verbally and behaviorally.
- Assert himself appropriately both in task performances and relationships.
- Defend himself realistically.
- 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.
- Engage in risk-taking behaviours 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, which includes 73 case examples.
Videos featuring Frank Farrelly and Provocative Therapy
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Frank Farrelly teaches the “What’s wrong with that?” Provocative Therapy exercise in a Leeds UK Provocative Therapy training.
The blocklist for individuals and companies in respect of Provocative Therapy can be found here.
Unfortunately, since Frank’s passing, some individuals have sought to misrepresent Frank’s work, and these appear on the blocklist.