Answers to “Intro to Coherence Therapy Part 3” Comprehension Check: 

1) “Engaging empathically with the suffering the client experiences from the anti-symptom position is the first step in commencing Coherence Therapy.”

TRUE.  

EXPLANATION: The client must first have the experience that the suffering he or she has been experiencing as a result of the symptom is empathically understood by the therapist.

2) “Symptom Deprivation prompts the client into bumping experientially into what is most relieving, comforting or welcome in not having the symptom.”

FALSE.

EXPLANATION:  The goal of Symptom Deprivation’ is for the client to bump into that which would be uncomfortable or unwelcome if the symptom didn’t exist.

3) “Sentence Completion requires the client to repeat the initial stem of a sentence, then to fill in the ending with whatever first comes to mind, speaking out loud in a series of repetitions.”

TRUE. 

EXPLANATION: The first few repetitions often generate endings the client would expect, while subsequent repetitions often generate endings that come as a surprise even to the client.  The therapist listens for which ending or endings make most sense of the existence of the presenting symptom.

4) “The Overt Statement can be said back to the therapist, to imagined others, or spoken to the whole world in general.”

TRUE. 

EXPLANATION: A key element of Overt Statement is that the client repeats it out loud to a relevant figure.  This could be an actual person like the therapist or an visualized figure who is not currently present.

5) “Engaging with ‘anti-symptom’ empathy means....”

c) demonstrating a close understanding of the client’s suffering as a result of the symptom, and his or her desire to be rid of it.

6) “In the Discovery phase the therapist seeks to...”

b) come to understand the unconscious function of the symptom through the client’s direct experiencing.

7) “The emotional truth of the symptom is...”

b) a combination of attributed implicit meaning, along with the emotion felt.

8) “Frequently, the therapist might commence Discovery work by...”

a) asking the client to describe a concrete example of a specific occurrence.

9) “An Overt statement...”

c) is optimally a succinct “I statement” of that which feels true to the client.

10) “In the Discovery phase the therapist should aim to work as...”

b) an anthropologist, starting from a position of “not knowing”, learning as much as possible from the client and constantly seeking more specificity about the client’s experience, avoiding fixes, and making as few interpretations as possible.

Thanks for viewing the Coherence Therapy Introductory video Part Two!