Corresponding Author Information: Carlo Vetere
Session Abstract: During a collaborative assessment, usually one of the main goals with families is to help parents to develop empathy towards their children, in order to understand the inner motivations related to their dysfunctional behaviors. However, in certain clinical situations, the parents’ resources appear not to be enough for this aim, and for this reason, this kind of intervention is not possible. In order to face this challenge, the author will show an original technique called “Reverse Assessment” that can be extremely useful with older adolescents and young adults. Specifically, the goal of this intervention is to reverse the usual procedure regarding the discussion of children’s test results with parents. In this case, parents’ test results are discussed with the young client in order to promote an understanding of parents’ limits as people, reducing the anger and the pain caused by their deficiency in parenting. The author will present with video recordings a family intervention of two siblings, where the MMPI-2 and the Early Memories Procedure were administered to their parents. Data show the clinical utility of this technique, and how the systemic use of the tests helped to build what many authors called the "siblings' mind".
Presenters:
Carlo Vetere | Istituto veneto di terapia familiare
Carlo Vetere