top of page

METHOD OF LEVELS (MOL) AND THE “FOUNDAMENTAL FOUR” ASPECTS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY.

Author: Matias E. Salgado

Abstract

In the world of Psychotherapy, the wide variety of models with its group of interventions, strategies, and activities assure us they can “lead us to Rome”. Nevertheless, as soon as we set foot in the clinical world we can perceive how limited these approaches can be. A large body of research supports that psychological distress can be understood through transdiagnostic processes, and encourage the development of universal models. On that basis, from Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) and its therapeutic application, in the Method of Levels (MOL) we describe the four fundamental aspects to make therapy “more therapeutic”: (1) to sustain focus on the problem, (2) to facilitate some form of external expression, (3) to involve a change in emotional state, and (4) to generate a shift in points of view to evaluative, higher-level perspectives. The more present these four components the therapy has, the more effective it becomes. Focusing on increasing the extent to which these “fundamental four” exist in any therapeutic encounter could be the most important thing a therapist can do to assist in the effective and efficient amelioration on people’s distress.


Download Full Article


References

  • Carey, T. A., Mansell, W., & Tai, S. (2015a). Principles-Based Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Method of Levels approach. London, England: Routledge.

  • Carey, T. A., Mansell, W., & Tai, S. J. (2015b). Making therapy sessions more therapeutic. En Principles-Based Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Method of Levels approach (pp. 102–117). Routledge.

  • Churchman, A., Mansell, W., Al-Nufoury, Y., & Tai, S. (2019). A qualitative analysis of young people’s experiences of receiving a novel, client‐led, psychological therapy in school. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 19(4), 409–418.

  • Fernández-Álvarez, H. (2011). Paisajes de la psicoterapia: modelos, aplicaciones y procedimientos. Buenos Aires: Polemos.

  • Harvey, A., Watkins, E., Mansell, W., & Shafran, R. (2004). Cognitive Behavioural Processes across Psychological Disorders: A transdiagnostic approach to research and treatment. London, England: Oxford University Press.

  • Mansell, W., Carey, T. A., & Tai, S. J. (2012). A Transdiagnostic Approach to CBT Using Method of Levels Therapy: Distinctive Features. London: Routledge.

  • Mansell, Warren. (2018). El Método de Niveles: ¿Es la terapia psicológica disponible más parsimoniosa? Revista de Psicoterapia, 29(110), 7–15.

  • Mansell, Warren. (2021). The perceptual control model of psychopathology. Current Opinion in Psychology, 41, 15–20.

Comments


bottom of page