Choose the gentler route when facing them is too much

Know when to stop confronting the imagined person and explore the memories with a listener instead.

なぜ効果があるのか

Facing an imagined person who caused serious harm brings high emotional intensity, and not everyone can tolerate it at a given moment. Sandra Paivio's research compared the empty-chair version of the work with a gentler version in which the memories are explored with an empathic therapist and no one is confronted in the chair. Both helped. The chair version produced higher rates of clinically significant change, but more people dropped out of it, which suggests the chair is a strong route that not everyone can stay with, and not the only one.

やり方

1. Before you begin, ask: is this someone who frightened or seriously harmed me? If so, do not do this alone.
2. During the dialogue, watch for the signs to stop: feeling flooded, losing track of time or place, or images that will not settle.
3. If they appear, stop the dialogue rather than pushing through it.
4. Bring it to a trained therapist and ask about exploring the memories with them directly, without the chair.

エビデンス

Paivio and colleagues (2010) randomly assigned adults with painful histories of mistreatment in childhood to emotion-focused therapy using imaginal confrontation in the empty chair (20 clients) or empathic exploration of the memories without the chair (25 clients). Both versions produced significant improvements with gains maintained at follow-up and no statistically significant difference between them on the outcome measures. The chair version had higher rates of clinically significant change, but attrition was also higher with the chair (20%) than without it (7%). (rct)

This trial was a course of therapy with trained therapists; neither version is meant as a self-guided exercise for someone who was seriously harmed.

出典

• Paivio, S. C., Jarry, J. L., Chagigiorgis, H., Hall, I., & Ralston, M. (2010). Efficacy of two versions of emotion-focused therapy for resolving child abuse trauma. Psychotherapy Research, 20(3), 353-366.
• Ottingerová, L., Halamová, J., & Szitás, D. (2026). Experiential therapies including Chairwork: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1692630.

よくある間違い

Pushing through because the confrontation feels like the "real" work. In Paivio's trial the gentler route did not differ significantly on the outcome measures and more people stayed with it, even though the chair version produced more clinically significant change among those who stayed; stopping is part of the method, not a failure of it.