Multireferential psychotherapy

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Philippe Grauer · 1985 · Paris

What it is

Multireferential psychotherapy is not a single manualised therapy. It is a French integrative training tradition and practice framework, part of the wider "psychothérapie relationnelle" current. That current descends from American humanistic psychology and from innovative strands of psychoanalysis.…

Format

• C1, preparatory cycle (about 1 year): Modules: continuous multireferential group, analytic psychodrama, practical multireferential-therapy seminar, psychopathology, philosophy, methodology, attachment theory, psychosocial transitions, and a warm-water clinical seminar.
• Group supervision is compulsory for the first two years of practice.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• No published client-phase model was found. CIFPR materials define stages for training (cycles C1–C5), not for treatment. Below, the training structure is given as published, then a client-work framework built from it is offered as.
• C2–C4, core training (3 years): The four methods are taught in alternation each year: Gestalt, bioenergetic analysis, group dynamics and psychoanalysis.
• C5 / C3 professionalisation (about 18 months): Advanced Gestalt and bioenergetics, a 200-h placement as observer and then co-therapist, a clinical-case article and a training-path dossier, and a defence before a jury.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• 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

• Over-interpretation; keep hypotheses provisional.
• Perinatal depression or psychosis, which need medical referral.
• Using one method's language to dodge what another would reveal.
• Nightmares linked to trauma; give priority to stabilisation over enactment.
• Post-intensive decompensation and the high of group euphoria. Make sure there is a follow-up contact.

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.