ABSTRACT
Many clients enter therapy with behavioural deficits. Developing new behavioural repertoires, such as social and assertiveness skills, is often a focus for CBT. Chairwork – particularly role-play – has proven to be an effective medium for assessing and modifying maladaptive patterns of behaviour. This chapter introduces core role-play methods for developing new behavioural skills, such as ‘exaggerated’, ‘successive’, and ‘contrasted’ role-playing. How chairwork can be used to support exposure and behavioural self-instruction is also discussed. Finally, the chapter introduces a helpful framework for behaviour skills training (‘I-MARCHED’) which describes when and how chairwork can be most effectively applied within skills-focused programmes.
