Binder And Patel's Argumentative Analysis

Binder & Patel (2004) state that, “In contrast to the rigid adherence to the notion of termination as a final ending, our guidelines reflect the increasing heterogeneity of views regarding the meaning and role of termination…” (p. 238). Two of the most significant views on termination are a successful termination and a premature termination. Another view on termination is that there is little relevance and isn’t justifiable, with every client, to excessively focus on the termination. Binder and Patel (2004) state that, “Therapists should evaluate each therapeutic relationship on its own merits and strive to distinguish between legitimate, appropriate reactions to termination and unhealthy, excessive ones” (p. 235). They then went on to state,
Often termination can be very difficult for clients who may have a dependent attachment to the therapist, especially client’s who deal with psychologically significant issues, such as separation and loss. Even with these clients, termination doesn’t inevitably elicit painful memories of past separations or losses and stimulate a client’s feelings related to his/her past traumas. It is suggested to pay attention to these clients with dependent tendencies and/or separation or loss issues and properly assess whether it is relevant or not to focus on these issues when it comes to the termination process with that client, always striving for the most positive and natural end of therapy. The client’s meaningful relationships outside of therapy should be addressed throughout the process and paid close attention to towards the end of therapy, remembering that clients with the lack of social support do not typically cope well with the ending of the therapeutic relationship and are more likely to experience termination as abandonment or rejection. In contrast, clients who do have a meaningful support network typically don’t experience termination in this way. Binder and Patel (2004) advise therapists, “to explain, clearly and explicitly, to patients that they will be working as efficiently as possible and that the treatment will be of limited duration” and also that a therapist only sets an early termination date after evaluating the client’s, “…psychological resources and interpersonal support network” and a focus for therapy has been developed and accepted by the client. When the client has agreed to this, he/she is then more likely to accept a time limit as being reasonable (p. 239). The American Association for Marriage