Extending MOL to Marital, Group and Family Therapy

dmg · February 17, 2007, 7:36am

[David Goldstein (2007.02.17.0208)]

Dear Listmates:

We have had a discussion of whether MOL Therapy is only for individual
therapy. Tim Carey has made some very good arguments for this point of
view. However, recently, I have experimented with some variations which
may have promise to extending it to marital, group and family therapy.

Some of you may remember the 'Round Robin' technique that Tim Carey used
at the CSG meeting in Canada two summers ago.
I have recently adapted it to a group of residential workers who are
taking a four 1-hour course in MOL Therapy. The four hours are one hour
per week for four weeks. Recall that we paired off into explorer/guide
groups and started a session. At a signal from Tim, the guides switched.

I call the modification the 'Baton.' I start a person off for a
10-minute MOL session while the group listens. After about two minutes,
I 'pass the baton' to another person who continues the MOL session.
After about two minutes, this person 'passes the baton'. The difference
with the 'Round Robin' technique is that the whole group (six people)
hears what went on. I have only done this once so far. It was very
successful.

It occurred to me that this 'Baton' procedure may allow one to do MOL
Therapy in a marial, group or family session. The people in the group
setting will experience the roles of explorer and guide. The therapist
acts as a 'coach' who teaches the MOL Therapy appoach. In my case study
which has recently been published, I define the MOL Therapy steps as
follows.
The general intervention strategies in MOL therapy are as follows:
Strategy 1: Help a person to be aware of what he/she experiences as a
stressful topic is being discussed (foreground step).
Strategy 2: Help a person to be aware of higher level experiences when a
topic is being discussed(background step).
Strategy 3: Ask a person to switch topics and talk about the higher
level experience(go-up step).
Strategy 4: Help a person resolve conflicts that are present during
strategies 1-3(resolve conflict step).

The therapist could introduce comments to teach the MOL Therapy approach
before and as the process unfolds.

I think that the 'Baton' procedure may be a way of doing MOL Therapy
beyond the indivdual setting. This would make it more attactive to
others. I think it preserves the MOL Therapy indivdual approach but may
gain additional strength that can come from other formats.

David

_Gary_A_Cziko · February 17, 2007, 1:30pm

[from Gary Cziko 2007.02.17 7:30 CST]

This all sounds quite interesting, but I have questions about how it is done.

I call the modification the ‘Baton.’ I start a person off for a
10-minute MOL session while the group listens. After about two minutes,
I ‘pass the baton’ to another person who continues the MOL session.

After about two minutes, this person ‘passes the baton’. The difference
with the ‘Round Robin’ technique is that the whole group (six people)
hears what went on. I have only done this once so far. It was very

successful.

As I understand it, MOL requires, as you put it, a guide (“therapist”) and explorer (“client”). So I am not sure how these roles are assigned in your “baton” method. What does it mean that to “start a person off for a 10-minute MOL session while the group listens”?

It occurred to me that this ‘Baton’ procedure may allow one to do MOL

Therapy in a marial, group or family session. The people in the group
setting will experience the roles of explorer and guide. The therapist
acts as a ‘coach’ who teaches the MOL Therapy appoach. In my case study

which has recently been published . . .

Could you provide the reference for your publication (or better yet, send me an electronic copy?)?

–Gary

···

On 2/17/07, D Goldstein davidmg@verizon.net wrote:

Kenneth_Kitzke_Value · February 17, 2007, 2:08pm

[Kenny Kitzke (2007.02.17)]

David, this is exciting. I hope you will continue to work on this “experiment.” This is a wonderful potential application of PCT that could produce dramatic results. And, I hope you will continue to report on your findings and observations.

My professional application in organizations is related to small group activities. The main thrust has been in “problem solving” or “performance improvement” or “conflict resolution” or “goal alignment” where multiple people or organizational functions must cooperate to effect change.

As I reflect upon the most fantastic group results, I can see that elements of MOL were prominent in those group activities. Of course, I did not know about or apply MOL theory per se, but did facilitate various group activities related to clear definition and 100% consensus of the problem (the observed level).

The action that produced sensational results quickly was using creative techniques to change the state of those observed lower levels of reasonalbly-shared group perceptional variables. This, I can see now, is really a form of a group “going up a level.”

While there was always a spectrum of successful results (we celebrated and rewarded the best), I basically equated that to a series of random interactions of numerous variables (some good thinking and some luck). You have made me aware that the extent of the results may be more correlated with how well the principles of MOL were applied in those groups. This is fascinating.

The individual use of MOL in my life has been mostly ministry related. Here I counsel/facilitate an “up-a-level” change in perceptual references to resolve internal conflict (which often involves what other people in their environment of experience do or do not do). But, your idea opens up a brand new idea for me.

Thanks. Anxious to see you in Minnesota for a little tennis and to hear more about your use of MOL with groups. Would passing a tennis ball be as good as passing a baton?

dmg · February 17, 2007, 2:31pm

[David Goldstein(2007.02.17.09130]

Hello Gary,

In this particular class, the social worker was one of the people who had not done the MOL Therapy exercise with me in private; I would make a digital camcorder recording of the class members which would then become part of the next class. So, it was her turn. She elected to do it in class.

She was the explorer because it was her turn. In a moment of reorganization, I decided to give the members of the class the experience of being the guide. I started the ball rolling. As in all MOL Therapy sessions, the explorer picks the topic which is to be discussed.

She started talking about the topic. After about two minutes, I arbitrarily picked the next person to be the guide. I provided some coaching based on what had been discussed during the first segment.

After about two
minutes, I intervened and picked the next guide. Again, I provided some coaching.

At the end of the 10-minute or so session, the explorer thanked the group for helping her think about the topic. She was nervous at first but go into it and seemed to resolve her conflict by the end of the MOL session. This was a real conflict.

It was all the more impressive because there were five different ‘guides’ who were following the same steps.

I can’t post the pdf file of the case study to a website for four months from January 2007 wjhen it was published online. I will send you, and any one else who is interested a copy in May. The reference is:

http://www.ijhc.org/site.php/spgs/read/v7no1

David

*** Gary Cziko

···

g-cziko@UIUC.EDU*** wrote:

[from Gary Cziko 2007.02.17 7:30 CST]

On 2/17/07, D Goldstein davidmg@verizon.net wrote:

This all sounds quite interesting, but I have questions about how it is done.

I call the modification the ‘Baton.’ I start a person off for a
10-minute MOL session while the group listens. After about two minutes,
I ‘pass the baton’ to another person who continues the MOL session.
After about two minutes, this person ‘passes the baton’. The difference
with the ‘Round Robin’ technique is that the whole group (six people)
hears what went on. I have only
done this once so far. It was very
successful.

As I understand it, MOL requires, as you put it, a guide (“therapist”) and explorer (“client”). So I am not sure how these roles are assigned in your “baton” method. What does it mean that to “start a person off for a 10-minute MOL session while the group listens”?

It occurred to me that this ‘Baton’ procedure may allow one to do MOL
Therapy in a marial, group or family session. The people in the group
setting will experience the roles of explorer and guide. The therapist
acts as a ‘coach’ who teaches the MOL Therapy appoach. In my case study
which has recently been published . . .

Could you provide the reference for your publication (or better yet, send me an electronic
copy?)?

–Gary

Bill_Powers1 · February 17, 2007, 2:39pm

[From Bill Powers (2007.02.17.0730 MST)]

David Goldstein (2007.02.17.0208) --

I've had a few thoughts since we discussed this on the phone. Your baton-passing format does one thing that Tim Carey's round-robin didn't do, which is to give each participant a view of the therapist's role in relation to the same person. Tim's method gave each person in the explorer role a view of many different therapists (a brilliant and daring idea!), but the therapists did not see how other therapists deal with the same person.

(To make this a little clearer (thinking of Gary's and Kenny's comments), during a round of this baton-passing procedure there is just one person at the focus being the explorer. Needless to say this would work best with small groups who have established some level of trust and friendship -- in David's trial run, the volunteer at the focus needed to talk about that first, before going on to a genuine MOL session.)

I think your baton-passing method is a powerful teaching tool, especially with an experienced MOL therapist acting as coach. And teaching "the MOL attitude," Tim Carey's nail-on-the-head concept, may be a most useful group-therapy method as well.

Best.

Bill P.