Distraction

Question 1

DEFINITIONS

Answer 1

**1. a diversion technique that is used to divert, change, or narrow the focus of attention so that overwhelming thoughts are avoided/negated

**2. helping the client break attention given to experiences that lead to failure

**3. when the body is engaged in one important task, the mind is focused on another

**4. helping the patient to do something they want to do, but ordinarily would not do

**5. setting one’s attention on something that is incompatible with negative expectancy, as when negative expectancy is unfulfilled, there is more energy available for new learning

**6. a temporary separation of thought or action

**7. novel accomplishments require learning that comes primarily from doing….

**8.a temporary separation of thought and action that creates a greater dependency on highly automated behaviors

**9. diverting client attention from expectancies of dread or expectancies of behavior

Question 2

When to use?

Answer 2

coping with pain, behavior ~ with fear, situations with self-fulfilling prophecies, self-defeating behaviors, or conditioned responses to stimuli; people who have hyper-focus on negative outcomes

Question 3

Questioning and Presupposition

Answer 3

questions are highly distracting and cause person to think

presupposition: one statement presupposes the validity of the other

when one faces a question, Pt likely to focus on answer rather than on the underlying implications
Ex: homicidal patient

Question 4

Emphasis on detail/absorption in task

Answer 4

so absorbed in a complex task that there’s no attention left for immediate circumstances

when someone is given instructions with emphasis on detail, there’s a tendency to focus on how to respond and less attention given to possibility of not responding at all; can enable pt to approach therapeutic task with greater determination

EX: allan’s bleeding leg: pain and fear of injury were shut out as Allan listened to instructions coming from dad, didn’t want him thinking of hurting or worry about bleeding so he got him involved in something about the problem (distraction created an opportunity for competency building)–> redirected Allan by having him focus on beating Alice in number of stitches

Question 5

amnesia

Answer 5

a means to permit uninhibited development of new learnings

Good with C’s who have a lot of distress about traumatizing thoughts or memories

EX: woman who watched where she sat (compulsive of where she sat, hyper observant about chairs)–needed to be distracted from task of becoming more spontaneous, otherwise progress would be blocked by self-consciousness about spontaneity

Question 6

Red herring

Answer 6

emotionally charged decoys can be used to distract the pt so that focus of attention is narrowed and kept from overwhelming aspects of the situation

EX: girl who could not bare to be watched: in having person explain bathing habits, E initiated systematic desensitization, she forgot to be self conscious about being in nude because she was so distracted by need to convince E of how much anxiety she had while bathing, by time she realized she was causing a man to speculate on bathing behavior behavior (associated with nakedness) it was too late–> she had to convince him her bathing was not so tremendous that she would most definitely notice anyone watching her–> weakening the strength of the anxiety