Makale Özeti:A Multimodal Behavioral Approach to Performance Anxiety

There are many different approaches in Behavior Therapy and Multimodal Behavior Therapy is one of them which is originated by Arnold Lazarus.
Although many behavioral therapies are trimodal (ABC- Affect, Behavior, Cognition), multimodal therapy has 7 modalities which are Behavior, Affect, Sensations, Imagery, Cognition, Interpersonal relationships, and Drugs/biology (BASIC I.D.). Mutimodal therapy studies on these modalities which are distinct from each other but interacting at the same time.
In this article, Lazarus and his colleague gives many example cases about different performance anxiety types and treatment in these cases according to the multimodal therapy approach. Some simple and obvious tactics to overcome performance anxiety are cited also in this article.
The most common form of performance anxiety is speaking in the public. People suffering from this problem usually think that they will forget what they will say, they may do mistakes, and etc. Breathing exercises and relaxation techniques will be helpful in these conditions according to the authors.
Another common problem about performance anxiety is sexual performance anxiety. For these kind of problems, it will be helpful that the therapist should explain everything clearly and the client should dispel the myths too. It will also be helpful to suggest the client to read books about these kind of topics.
The last and the most mentioned about case in this article was DeAngelo’s who was a violinist in a very big orchestra and suffering from performance anxiety. Multimodal therapy techniques were applied to him. Systematic desensitization applied from the least feared thing to the most feared one. He was also shown how to use deep muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing. After reaching the most feared one, the next step was to ask DeAngelo to play violin for the therapists in the clinic. Some homework assignments were given to him such as doing rehearsal with the orchestra once in a day.
After the third quarter of the therapy, he was mostly got rid of his fears. It was also understood that he also have problems with his practice of masturbation. The thing that the authors said about this problem, psychoanalytic approach could be better for this situation. However they used systematic desensitization by making a hierarchy for this problem too. The therapy of him lasted three and a half month and he was totally cured as he said.

Arnold A. Lazarus & Arnold Abramovitz, a Multimodal Behavioral Approach To Performance Anxiety, JCLP/In Session, Vol. 60(8), 831–840 (2004)

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Makale Özeti:The Future of Technical Eclecticism

In recent years there is an increased interest about eclecticism among psychotherapists. Therapists realized that there is not only one way to treat the client. It is better to use techniques, which are taken from different theories and way of thinking, on the client because there is not an orientation which is efficient in all cases.
Eclecticism means that taking the best and the most useful ways from a theory or a method and using it.
Eclecticism exists since long years. It is used by many psychotherapists. Freud also used eclecticism by integrating different methods.
Frederick Thorne was the first psychotherapist who thought that one way of treatment from a single theory is not good enough and Lazarus is the one who has brought the term technical eclecticism.
The authors in this article states that if a technique is successful to solve the problem, it does not mean that the theory is also a good one which the technique is belong to. It means that technique of the theory is good. It is not the theory used on people; it is the technique which is used on people.
Also it is stated that there cannot be a single technique or a theory to treat all the problems. There should be many and the most suitable one should be used according to the characteristic of the client and the type of his/her problem.
The other idea in this article is, not only the technique taken from a theory, also therapeutic relationship between the therapist and client is also important and the best fitting should be used. How close their relationship is whether client oriented or therapist oriented therapy is applied and etc. is also important.
According to the authors, all the theories almost equally effective for some cases like diagnosis of the problem but it is needed to select the best fitting technique from various theories for the treatment.
Another idea from this article is that not only the students match the patient and the therapy technique for the problem; they also should be competent to treat all these problems and should be able to use multiple theories in the future.
The last point mentioned about in this article is that didactic courses about technical eclecticism should be given, different kind of textbooks should be read in order to have an eclectic idea, and training institutes should be established in order to teach eclecticism and so on.

A. Lazarus, L. Beutler & J. Norcross, The Future of Technical Eclecticism, Psychotherapy, Spring 1992, Volume 29, N:1, pp.11-20

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Makale Özeti: In this article, Lazarus points some important experiences and knowledge of himself after his 40 years of psychotherapy profession and o

In this article, Lazarus points some important experiences and knowledge of himself after his 40 years of psychotherapy profession and offers for the practice of effective and efficient psychotherapy.
He mentions about some falsehoods, that emphasized by some supervisors, such as "Never give advice; don't self disclose; always adhere to clearly demarcated boundaries; try to answer questions by posing other questions; listen rather than speak." Lazarus regarded these as misguided and counterproductive.
One of the most common wrong information given by the trainer to trainee is that “It must come from the client”. According to this belief, if the idea, recommendation, or advice comes from the therapist, it probably does not good for the client because the idea is not originated from the client. According to Lazarus, if you wait for the client to come to certain action paths or realizations, you may wait for a very long time.
Another point mentioned by Lazarus is that if it is expedient, should not the client give any advice and wait for the client to find an idea? According to him there seems to be an exception to almost every proposition or position. “It depends”.
Good therapy calls for the clinician to be "an authentic chameleon" (Lazarus, 1993). Therapist must decide when to be cold, warm, directive, nondirective, supportive, etc.
Other point that Lazarus mentioned about is boundaries between the client and therapist. There must not be a sexual relationship, business transactions, and misuse of power between the client and therapist. However, according to his previous experiences, Lazarus believed that selective self-disclosure, a willingness to see a client at odd times and to run
over time (at no extra cost), occasional availability outside the confines of the consulting room, and a sliding fee scale may all enhance rapport and serve useful clinical functions.
The last view of Lazarus in this article is “breadth is often more important than depth”. According to him, if the clients learn more coping responses in the therapy session, less likely the relapse will occur.

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