When You Don't Know Where to Turn / A Self-Diagnosing Guide to Counseling and Therapy

by Steven J. Bartlett

This choice point that people experience became the focus of Dr. Greenwald's direct decision therapy.

AN EXAMPLE

Here is one of the most dramatic examples of his approach: Dr. Greenwald had been invited to give a demonstration of direct decision therapy at a mental hospital in Norway. He asked for a volunteer from the inmates, someone who could speak English. A twenty-year-old patient named Marie came forward. She had the appearance of a back ward schizophrenic. She was haggard, wild-eyed, and unkempt. Here is Dr. Greenwald's description of their opening conversation:[[8]]

[[8]] Harold Greenwald and Elizabeth Rich, The Happy Person (New York: Stein and Day, 1984), pp. 180-181.

I gestured toward a chair. "Won't you sit down, please?"

"When I'm ready. I'll sit when I'm ready."

"Would you tell me your name?"

She waved an arm toward the staff member seated behind me. "You heard him. Marie, my name is MARIE!"

"I'm sorry, Marie, I didn't catch it at first. Now I wonder if there is anything I can do for you. Would you like me to help you?"

"You can't help me, none of you can help me. Why don't you leave me alone? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS AT ME?..."