"This package is a real delight. For those who have been lucky enough to see Frank Farrelly in action it is reassurance that you really can believe that you saw what you saw. Provocative Therapy is so distinctive a form of therapy it is easy to think that, surely, it couldn't have been like that. It was. And for those who have yet to witness the burlesque of psychotherapy, these DVDs bring you closer than the pages of his book and even than audio recordings of his workshop sessions. Your next step is to get up there in the chair next to him and have the experience head-on. You can even get some sense of what that would be like because the DVDs offer different angles.
Provocative Therapy might seem strange, it might seem like fun, it might seem shocking, and it can be all of those but beyond that it's profound. The Provocative Therapy symbol is a harlequin, upside down, with one foot balancing the Eastern Yin-Yang symbol and the other holding its Western equivalent, the twin masks of Tragedy and Comedy. Psychotherapy, as a field, has tended to align itself with Tragedy though its aim is to assist the person to move on into the world of Comedy. Unfortunately, in Western culture it is Tragedy which has the cognitive kudos. The intellectual heavy-hitters steer clear of Comedy as it can bring their ivory edifices crashing down with ribald, thigh-slapping guffaws. Dangerous stuff, humour. Rigid ideas beware.
Frank Farrelly's form of psychotherapy mashes Tragedy and Comedy together in a head-on collision. What that provides for those who sit with him is a fresh, often a startlingly fresh, perspective on the ideas and feelings which are holding them in thrall. And, here, you see it in living colour.
There are three full client sessions, plus discussions on them with client and watching participants. There is also Frank's introduction to his work, a meanderingly lateral presentation that hops associatively, bip, bam, boom, from one thing to another, but conveys more of what he is about and of the man himself than any neat bullet-driven PowerPoint structure ever could.
It comes with extras, too: an audio CD of Nick Kemp interviewing Frank about his encounters with NLP's Richard Bandler and John Grinder, plus another audio CD of excerpts of Frank's reading his 'Me and God', thus far only published in German translation. You also get a booklet which is, itself, an estimable extra comprising an article by Nick Kemp along with one Frank co-authored in the 'Sixties. Hell, that's a long time ago, must be out-of-date by now. Nooooooooooo.
This package is a great way to introduce yourself (if you've missed out on it) or your friends to a psychotherapy that challenges so many of the ideas that have become the accepted wisdom of the field, yet maybe ain't so smart after all. Everybody with any interest in change work should take the Provocative Therapy challenge."
Here is an excerpt from the Provocative Change Works for Phobias DVD set which shows me using this approach with Matt a needle phobic.
I use the Provocative Change Works approach outlined on the http://www.provocativechangeworks.com/ site with most clients in private practice. Increasingly I have strayed away from trad NLP & Hypnosis to create a very different approach that really accelerates approaches with clients. I have discussed some of these approaches with Steve Andreas and wrote up the "Tempo exercise" for his USA online newsletter.
I speak regularly to Frank Farrelly the creator of Provocative Therapy on the phone. Sometimes it feels like I have been in a 4 year intensive Provocative Therapy workshop and as well as learning a massive amount from him, we have also become good friends. Provocative Change Works fuses the provocative element of Frank's work with Ericksonian hypnosis and other approaches to shift client states. I use this combination for all client conditions and have found humour to be the fastest catalyst for change.
My first introduction to Frank Farrelly totally changed how I work with clients and Provocative Change Works as an approach is the evolution of how I have integrated all my influences in private practice. The PT element is definately the catalyst in accelerating change in both states and beliefs with clients. One of the many advantages of seeing clients on a regular basis is that this gives me huge opportunitities to practice and develop skills. Working "in the trenches" with clients is a whole world away from demonstrating techniques in workshops with students. I developed the tempo change exercise from working with literally hundreds of clients with anxiety issues!
