ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various ways that therapists direct their clients to take some form of action. But whenever therapists assume the role of director, they are also the client’s scene partner. Therapists can’t tell a client what to do without playing a transferential character for them. To direct is to perform multiple roles by default, both in the private mind of one’s scene partner and in the interpersonal dramatic action that unfurls between them. The author suggests that whenever therapists intrude upon their clients’ process with a specific direction, they must think of themselves as directors who are also actors. Case examples illustrate several different ways therapists can effectively direct their clients in session—including and especially in ways that help clients to direct themselves.
