Method of levels

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · William T. Powers, Timothy Carey · 1950

What it is

Method of Levels (MOL) is a transdiagnostic, conversation-based psychotherapy built on William T. Powers' Perceptual Control Theory (PCT). PCT holds that people act to keep their perceptions of themselves and their world matching internal reference values (goals). These goals are arranged in a…

Format

• MOL is a single-method therapy without fixed phases. It has no separate assessment, formulation, skills or relapse-prevention stage, and MOL therapists avoid summarising, structuring, interpreting, diagnosing and advising. Every session uses the same two-goal process, and the structure comes from…
• Within each session (the two goals)

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: Timothy Carey's two-goal Method of Levels as set out in Carey 2006 (2024 edition) and Carey 2008 (Hold That Thought), and later with Warren Mansell and Sara Tai (Mansell, Carey & Tai 2013; Carey, Mansell & Tai 2015). Scheduling follows patient-led appointment scheduling (Carey & Spratt 2009; Carey, Tai & Stiles 2013), and principles follow the IAPCT's current statement of MOL. Sources and status:…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• practitioners adding advice or interpretations out of habit. Count them in review.
• turning the explanation into a lecture. It is working when the client stops waiting for instructions.
• using it so often that it interrupts. It is working when the client deliberately chooses to continue or stop.
• any pressure to disclose; don't apply it. It is working when the client can explore their reactions without giving the content.
• supplying your own meaning for the image. It is working when the client elaborates the image and then steps back to comment on it.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.