Suppressive and Expressive Techniques

Suppressive Techniques: Eliminating "Debeism" and Avoidance

Suppressive techniques aim to stop the behaviors the patient uses to avoid contact with his or her present experience.

A main focus is to eliminate "debeisms"; the therapist invites the patient to change his or her language, replacing expressions such as "I have to" or "I must", which imply an external or imposed obligation, with "I want", "I decide" or "I choose", which returns responsibility and personal power to the individual.

Likewise, we seek to suppress "overisms" (talking about third parties or generalizing with "one" or "we") to encourage the use of "I" and the appropriation of discourse.

We also work on the suppression of manipulation, preventing the patient from using neurotic games to avoid facing his reality or to obtain unnecessary environmental support.

Expressive Techniques: Exaggeration and Completeness

Expressive techniques seek to get the patient to externalize the internal. A key strategy is simple repetition: if the patient mentions a loaded phrase (e.g., "I feel trapped") or makes an unconscious gesture (such as moving the foot), he or she is asked to repeat it several times to increase awareness of it.

This evolves into exaggeration and development, where the action or voice volume is asked to intensify (e.g., "say it louder," "hit harder"), allowing pent-up energy to be released.

Another tool is explicitation or "putting words to the action"; if the patient is hitting a cushion, he/she is asked to verbalize what he/she would say to that object, transforming the physical discharge into a full and intelligible emotional expression (e.g. "I'm sick of you!").

Summary

Suppressive techniques seek to stop the avoidance of the present by eliminating "shoulds" and external obligations. The pa