Nathaniel Branden - Mode of Therapy

Mode of Therapy

While Branden began his practice of therapy as, primarily, a cognitivist, starting in the 1970s he rapidly shifted toward a decidedly technically eclectic stance, utilizing techniques from gestalt therapy, psychodrama, neo-Reichian breathwork, Ericksonian hypnosis, etc., as well as original techniques such as his sentence completion method, which he favored. In a piece from 1973, he characterized his mode of therapy as consisting of four aspects: education, emotional unblocking, stimulation of insight, and encouragement of behavior change. In contrast to the exclusively experiential or exclusively cognitive (insight-oriented) methods of the day, Branden saw his mode of therapy as distinguished in part by “the integration of the emotional and the cognitive, the practice of constantly moving back and forth between the experiential and the conceptual.”

Sentence completion, a method that figures prominently in Branden’s mode of therapy, is a good example of this dual focus. In its most common variation, it consists of a therapist giving a client an incomplete sentence — a sentence stem — and having the client repeat the sentence stem over and over, each time adding a new ending, going quickly, without thinking or censoring, and inventing endings when stuck. In this way, a therapist can facilitate the generation of awareness and insight (for example, with a stem such as, “If my fear could speak, it might say—”), as well as shifts in cognitive-motivational structure (for example, with a stem such as, “If I were to be kinder to myself when I’m afraid—”). By improvising a succession of such stems, many based on endings generated by a previous stem, a therapist can, according to Branden, lead a client on a sometimes dramatically emotional journey of self exploration and self-discovery.

More recently, Branden has integrated techniques from the field of energy psychology, such as Thought Field Therapy and Seemorg Matrix work, into his practice, viewing psychological trauma (which such techniques target) as a significant barrier to growth and development. He has described human problems as occurring both “above the line” — that is, in the realm of cognition and volitional behavior — and “below the line” — that is, in the realm of unconscious trauma stored in the body.