Revising assumptions and rules

In this point and the following ones (74-80), ways of revising underlying assumptions and rules will be discussed. Assumptions are best tested with behavioural experiments (Padesky and Greenberger, 1995; Mooney and Padesky, 2000). The ‘If . . .’ part of the assumption can be put to the test in order to determine if the ‘then . . .’ part will be realized. For example, a client believed ‘If I say what I want, then others will see me as selfish and reject me.’ As an experiment, on a night out with her girlfriends, the client stated what film she wanted to see and where she wanted to eat afterwards. To her surprise, her friends agreed and asked her why she did not speak up more often. She spoke up on several more occasions to test further her assumption with, again, no adverse consequences (though her friends did not always go along with her wishes). The client’s reformulated assumption was: ‘If I say what I want, then others will see it as normal behaviour but not always agree to do what I want.’