ABSTRACT
The psychodramatic elements and physical set-up in the consulting room for Dialogue Therapy are unique. This chapter manualizes the set-up in detail, then describes the Evaluation process, in such a way that the therapist-reader can replicate these therapeutic elements with ease. Dialogue Therapy is an intensive, anxiety-provoking, time-limited couple therapy rooted in psychodrama and psychoanalysis. Its effectiveness relies on a standardized physical set-up, and certain standardized procedures. Within that frame, many spontaneous and creative interactions will arise, but hewing closely to the structure and procedures is crucial to DT’s value to the couple. When a couple enters the consulting room, chairs are set up with partners facing each other, and each therapist (in the co-therapy model) sits to the side, and slightly behind, each partner. In the solo model, the therapist alternates, sitting behind one partner, then the other. The therapist asks the couple to engage in a number of short exercises, designed to help therapists identify various projective processes, as part of the Evaluation. A deep Evaluation interview is then conducted with each partner, while the other partner listens. The set-up is amply illustrated with figures, and the Evaluation interview questions are offered in a detailed Appendix for the reader.
