Therapy Gems: On Delivering the Right Intervention – Limit-Setting Versus Interpretation with the Troubling Client

ON DELIVERING THE TRANSFORMATIVE INTERVENTION

Jill Terminates Her Therapist
The client often threatened to fire her psychotherapist. She said she would find someone else to work with. A few times, she would say, “You’re not available enough. You’re too busy. I’m going to find someone else. You took a week off. Are you saying I need to find another therapist? You’re NEVER HERE!” Other times, she went for an assessment elsewhere, then she returned for her therapy appointment complaining about the limitations of the other psychotherapists she had consulted.

A 45 year-old woman, Jill, has Bipolar Disorder, Rapid Cycling, sometimes with psychotic features, and an underlying Borderline Personality Disorder. She grew up experiencing profound sexual abuse. She also suffers from chronic pain.