I was once listening to an audio presentation given by one of the greatest marketing geniuses who ever lived. The conference participants had paid about $20,000 to hear this man speak.

I’ve dubbed the strategy therapeutic plagiarism. Although I have written extensively on the subject of techniques and psychotherapeutic homework in the past, this is the first time I have ever shared this gem.

How to teach your client to think like a therapist
The impetus for my insight was sparked when the marketing expert told his audience: Advertising space is so expensive that neophyte copywriters who create ads can’t afford to make a mistake. In other words, if a new copywriter creates an ad that costs $100,000 to run in one issue of a magazine, and the ad doesn’t sell anything, then you have just take a sizable chunk of change out of the corporate piggy bank!

Thus, he explained, new copywriters need to attain proficiency in record time, in
perhaps just a few weeks.

The trick to accomplishing this seemingly impossible task is to get the new copywriter to think like the seasoned pro. In order to do this, the new writer is given copies of some of the greatest ads ever written. He or she is then instructed to go home each night and spend a little time rewriting (not typing or keyboarding) the ads on a separate sheet of paper.

As a college professor, I decided to field test the idea with my students who were struggling with their writing. I gave them a stellar writing sample, similar to what they wanted to write. I told them to go home and copy a little bit of it each night. I was pleasantly surprised when a number of these students made marked improvements in their writing, or what some might call Prozac® for their prose.

Beyond Prozac for your prose
I began to wonder if this technique that seemed to work so well for copywriters and college students (many of whom self-diagnosed themselves as writing-challenged) could help those with emotional problems, including addictions. The answer turned out to be an unequivocal yes!

Administering the technique is unusually simple:

1. First ask the client’s permission to record the interview.

2. Before the next session, have the client play the interview back a sentence or two at a time and then copy it verbatim (e.g., therapist said, I said) in their own handwriting.

3. Remind the client to engage in the activity for brief periods (i.e., less than 20 minutes). It is certainly not imperative that the client transcribe the entire interview. The assignment is intended to be therapy, not torture.

4. Bring the handwritten copy to the counseling session to glean what insights can be acquired.

After-hours therapy at a price your client can afford
The beauty of the technique is that the client begins to think like the therapist! If you can accomplish this, then you have reached a goal of monumental proportions. The telltale sign of this is when a client says something like, “when I said such and such, I just knew you were going to say blah, blah, blah ... and I was correct!” Next, the counselor and the client discuss why the therapist said such and such. This is an ideal time to throw in any theory the client might benefit from (e.g., cognitive self-counseling).

Here is the payoff: When the client gets ready to take a drink, gamble, overeat, or whatever addictive behavior he or she is going to engage in, he or she can act as her own therapist in his or her mind. Moreover, unless I stand corrected, there isn’t a managed care firm on the face of the planet that has figured out a way to charge for mental sessions of this ilk ... yet!

The bottom line on therapeutic plagiarism
Will this homework assignment work with every client? (If you have to ask, you would be better off to society in another profession!) Here’s a vest-pocket list of the pros and cons.

What’s hot:
1. Like attending extra counseling sessions without haggling with an insurance company.

2. Ideal for clients with good reading and writing skills, or an intellectual or theoretical bent.

3. Perfect for counselors themselves who have relapsed and now are in need of treatment.

4. Reduces the statistical likelihood that your beeper will go off at four in the morning.

5. Often speeds up therapy by providing additional insight.

6. Helps the client take responsibility for his or her own treatment.

What’s not:
1. Useless for those clients who shun their psychotherapeutic homework.

2. A total mismatch for clients with reading and writing deficits and those who have reduced cognitive skills, some of which are abetted via drug usage.

3. May be inappropriate for obsessive clients who already ruminate over every word uttered by a helper during treatment.

4. Generally isn’t compatible with person-centered or psychoanalytic sessions — the first, because the relationship is considered curative, and the second, because it is too complex for all but an analytically trained person in treatment.

5. Too complex for most children and many adolescents.

Give it a whirl for a week. You might just discover that the copycat technique of therapeutic plagiarism really can improve your counseling sessions in just seven days.

Dr. Howard Rosenthal is the Program Coordinator of Human Services at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley and the author of the Encyclopedia of Counseling and the first ever Human Services Dictionary. His Web site is www.howardrosenthal.com.

This article is published in Counselor,The Magazine for Addiction Professionals, December 2003, v.4, n.6, pp. 30-31

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