ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses therapeutic brick walls, which occur when we get stuck or the treatment process has come to a standstill. The author discusses three major sets of contributing factors that lead to therapeutic brick walls occurring, they are: therapist-generated, client-generated, and therapist–client–ecosystemic generated. Under each of the contributing factors, the author offers trouble-shooting guidelines for remedying each of the contributing factors and unsticking the treatment system. Therapists will find this chapter to be highly practical for helping prevent therapeutic brick walls from occurring in their work with couples and families and for recognizing the importance of soliciting session-by-session feedback from them regarding the quality of their therapeutic relationships with them and their perceptions of the change process or lack of. Once constraints are identified that may be blocking the change process, using the trouble-shooting guidelines in this chapter, therapists will have many options to pursue to get unstuck with their clients.
