Find the split and give each side a chair

Catch the moment one part of you is judging or pressuring another, and set the two sides apart in two chairs.

Warum es wirkt

Greenberg's method starts from a marker: a statement in which one part of the self evaluates or coerces another ("I'm so stupid for doing that", "I should be over this"). As long as both sides speak through one voice, the person only feels the bad mood the split produces. Putting each side in its own chair turns a single knot into two speakers who can address each other, which is what lets feeling and meaning move. Early studies found that two-chair work applied at such a split deepened experiencing more than empathic reflection or focusing did.

So gehst du vor

1. Notice the sentence that has a judge and a judged in it ("I'm pathetic for still being upset"). Write it down word for word.
2. Set two chairs facing each other. Decide which chair is for the part that criticizes or pushes, and which is for the part on the receiving end.
3. Before speaking, name each side in plain words: "the part that says I'm lazy" and "the part that feels tired and crushed".
4. Start in the critic's chair, since in Greenberg's sequence the critic speaks first.

Evidenz

Greenberg, Rice and Elliott set out two-chair dialogue at a self-evaluative split as a task in their 1993 manual, and Elliott and colleagues describe the conflict-split marker in their training text. In an analogue study with 16 participants acting as their own controls, the two-chair operation at a conflict marker produced deeper experiencing and more change in awareness than empathic reflection, with no difference in goal attainment; a second study with 42 counselling students found deeper experiencing than focusing plus empathic reflection. A 2026 systematic review of 22 randomized trials of chair work in many forms and therapies reported effects from small to large. (clinical)

The early studies are small analogue experiments that measured in-session depth of feeling, not lasting change. The 2026 review pools chair work of every kind (including empty-chair work), so it is evidence for chair work in general, not for this step.

Quellen

• Greenberg, L. S., Rice, L. N., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating Emotional Change: The Moment-by-Moment Process. Guilford Press. (Ch. 10, Two Chair Dialogue at a Self-Evaluative Split; Ch. 11, Two Chair Enactment for Self-Interruption Split.)
• Elliott, R., Watson, J. C., Goldman, R. N., & Greenberg, L. S. (2004). Two-chair work for conflict splits. In Learning emotion-focused therapy: The process-experiential approach to change (pp. 219-241). American Psychological Association.
• Greenberg, L. S., & Clarke, K. M. (1979). Differential effects of the two-chair experiment and empathic reflections at a conflict marker. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 26(1), 1-8.
• Greenberg, L. S., & Higgins, H. M. (1980). Effects of two-chair dialogue and focusing on conflict resolution. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 27(3), 221-224.
• Ottingerová, L., Halamová, J., & Szitás, D. (2026). Experiential therapies including Chairwork: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1692630.

Häufiger Fehler

Setting up a split that is really a disagreement with another person ("my mother thinks I'm lazy"). If the critic belongs to someone else, that is empty-chair work; two-chair work is for the voice that has become your own.