ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses performance techniques that therapists can use during initial consultations, drawing from approaches that actors use for auditions. In some cases—such as short-term, symptom-focused psychotherapy treatments—clients will expect therapists to perform in each scene exactly as they did at the audition (or initial consultation). But this situation is the exception. In most cases, the audition is merely a means to an end: a formal performance that helps clients make informed guesses as to who will be the best fit for the role they need to cast, who will rise to the specific challenges their project presents, and who seems trustworthy enough to embark on an intimate, collaborative, uncharted voyage with them. Examples are given for various ways therapists can effectively perform at their initial consultations.