Giving assignments to clients is a valuable tool because it speeds up the process of change. There are two kinds of assignments. A particular form of behavior is increased tenfold so that it ends up being rejected. My teacher would assign someone who puts everyone ahead of themselves to stand in front of the escalator at busy Water Tower and say to everyone: “Go ahead of me” until they can’t stand doing it anymore. The other kind of assignment provides a new experience to replace the unhelpful behavior. A group assignment for a pleaser would be to say something critical to each group member and the therapist and then to others outside the group.
Categories