ABSTRACT
Pluralistic therapists pay considerable attention to identifying the client's goals, understanding what these goals mean to the client, tracking goal attainment over the course of therapy and being on the alert for shifts in the way that the client formulates a goal, or when new goals appear on the scene. Most therapy goals are described in broad terms, and represent general aspirations: being able to be more confident, deciding whether to leave a marriage, finding a more satisfying job, getting rid of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms and so on. The concept of task plays a key role in therapy, because it represents a way of joining up goals with the techniques, activities or methods employed by therapist and client in their work within a session. It powerfully demonstrates how subtle non-verbal information, such as posture and tone of voice, can be used in task identification.
