MOL research

Re.: Mary Powers (990914)

Mary: The fundamental hypothesis about MOL is that it is the essence of
successful therapy, and of all therapies when they are successful. So
research should be directed towards finding out if that is so.

David: If this is so, and we divided a therapists' cases into more
successful and less successful cases, we should find that more MOL-like
activity happened in the more successful cases. If there were no
differences, or if the reverse happened, then the fundamental hypothesis
would be disconfirmed.

We would have to have some way of identifying instances of MOL-like
activity.

Mary: I am puzzled as to why you think this is MOL: "I asked him to apply
the MOL
to the topic: what I want in a relationship". It seems to me that you've
got the thing backwards - you, instead of the client, chose the topic, and
you expected the client, not you, to use the method of levels - on himself.

David: OK. Let us call it MOL-like activity. In that I am more inclined to
use MOL as a technique, one tool among many, I will sometimes select a "hot"
topic for a person. By this, I mean one which therapy discussion suggests is
important to the case. From the little that I have told you about the case,
I think you can appreciate that the topic of "relationships with woman" is
important to this man. I know that the MOL can start on almost any topic. I
have contributed transcipts to this list in which I did this to people on a
chat list. Remember? I simply go into the MOL mode once the topic is
suggested and the person accepts it.

···

From: David M. Goldstein, Ph.D.
Subject: Re: MOL research
Date: 9/15/99

[from Mary Powers (990914)]

David G.:

You ask "What are some of the fundamental questions about the MOL which
research should target".

The fundamental hypothesis about MOL is that it is the essence of
successful therapy, and of all therapies when they are successful. So
research should be directed towards finding out if that is so.

The first thing that comes to my mind is to find out if it works any better
than traditional therapies of various flavors. I suppose that therapists
researching this would have to treat half their clients traditionally and
half with MOL and see how each group does. Among the numerous problems with
doing this is that a therapist is either going to be biased in favor of
what he has always done, or thrilled with MOL and biased that way, which in
either case is going to affect the result.

But any therapists who has practiced a while should have records on his
clients, and if he switched to MOL, should be able to compare results -
length of therapy, proportion of failures, kinds of problems that were
resolved better before or after, etc.

Another angle would be to study transcripts and videos of different
therapies and see if up-a-level remarks occur, if the therapist does
anything with them, what happens next, etc., etc., and what the outcome is.

         * * * *

I am puzzled as to why you think this is MOL: "I asked him to apply the MOL
to the topic: what I want in a relationship". It seems to me that you've
got the thing backwards - you, instead of the client, chose the topic, and
you expected the client, not you, to use the method of levels - on himself.
???

Mary P.