ABSTRACT
As I have said earlier, whether we realize it or not, we use strategies in all walks of life. Patients are therefore using strategies of different kinds from the moment therapy begins. In this chapter I focus on a small group of strategies the patient should be encouraged to employ. Many patients adopt these strategies naturally in response to being told about the basic rule of free association (which itself is essentially a strategy) and in response to the entire therapeutic climate. Others need to have them spelled out. Exactly when to talk to the patient about strategies depends on the circumstances. A patient suffering from overwhelming anxiety will not be able to pay much heed to the idea of how to establish a process of investigation leading to discovery. In such instances, considerable preliminary work may be required and in some cases medication may have to be used. But I cannot imagine the existence of even a reasonably good therapeutic process unless the strategies to be mentioned eventually become operative.
