Resource Therapy

Resource Therapy is an integrated theory of personality and psychotherapy. It is based on the concept that the personality is composed of parts, and the part that presents to therapy is not the part that needs work, rather a reporting part that is explaining the issue. The power of resource therapy rests in its therapeutic techniques that assist the therapist to both 1) identify the personality parts that can benefit from change and 2) implement prescribed techniques or actions that promote change.

The conceptual understanding of personality parts originated with Paul Federn, a contemporary of Sigmond Freud. He postulated that all individuals have parts and each time a person moves from one part to another their ego identity goes with them, so no matter which part is conscious there is a feeling, "This is me."

Others, such as John Watkins (Ego State Therapy) and Eric Berne (Transactional Analysis) built therapies based on the conceptions of Federn. Emmerson’s Resource Therapy (2014) distinctly sees each part as a resource that can benefit us in its unique way. If a part becomes pathological it can result in unwanted emotions, unwanted behaviours, or suboptimal performance. It is the goal of Resource Therapists to move pathological parts to normality so clients can benefit from their full array of resources.

Clients often come to therapy confused and lost in attempting to understand why they sometimes feel out of emotional or behavioural control. When it becomes clear to clients that it is only a part or only some parts that need help, they automatically feel a level of relief. They are further benefitted by the therapist focusing on the parts that need change rather than continuing to dialogue with the healthy reporting part that is complaining about the emotions or behaviours of other parts. Because Resource Therapy quickly locates the parts that need change and works with them directly, it offers the shortest distance between the state of therapy and the resolution.

Professor Gordon Emmerson, MAPS registered psychologist, University lecturer, author.