ABSTRACT
Cognitively clear patients with life-limiting illness as well as bereaved persons who are facing anxiety and depressive moods may benefit from this experiential exercise. Coin therapy is most useful to clients who ruminate on the negative side of their life circumstances and who are visual learners. Coin therapy is a simple technique to demonstrate to clients the negative impact of over-worrying or focusing on only one side of their life experience. When further prompting is required, the therapist can bring to the client's attention the fact that sometimes an intense focus on the negative aspects of living leads the authors to miss out on many of the positive aspects of life, as they hardly explore this other side. Returning to the coin demonstration, the therapist then instructs the client to explore both sides of the coin without holding the coin upright or turning it over.
