ABSTRACT
The beginning stage of psychotherapy is one of stabilisation, containment, and strengthening the client’s resources to the extent possible. It is too early to look at trauma. In the beginning stage in particular, strategies aimed to support the client to gain clarity and greater continuity of experience are also useful. However, it is important that when clients talk about their experiences, practitioners use the clients’ own language as far as possible and do not go beyond what the clients have said when reflecting their disclosures back to them. This approach reduces the likelihood of the therapist implanting false memories, or that memories will be iatrogenic as it is known. Clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder have strong antennae and can generally pick up the therapist’s dilemmas, problems and distractions. Building a therapy relationship may take longer with these clients because of the level of disruption that they have typically undergone during and since their childhood.
