Empty-chair and two-chair work

1. Introduction

Version followed: the emotion-focused therapy (EFT, formerly "process-experiential") chair tasks as set out by Greenberg, Rice & Elliott (1993) and Elliott & Greenberg (2016): two-chair dialogue for self-evaluative (self-critical) splits, two-chair enactment for self-interruption, empty-chair work for unfinished business, and compassionate self-soothing. These are supplemented by the Gestalt/psychodrama-derived dialogues as organised in Scott Kellogg's Transformational Chairwork (Kellogg 2015; Kellogg 2019), and by two documented variants of the empty chair: Paivio's empathic exploration and "chair work with the empathic other". Where the EFT and Kellogg versions differ (EFT works from a task marker toward a defined resolution; Kellogg's "giving voice" has no agenda to change the part), the version is named in each entry. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Kellogg 2019; Greenberg, Rice & Elliott 1993 contents page]

What it is: a family of experiential techniques, not a stand-alone therapy. The client speaks from, and moves between, chairs that stand for parts of the self (two-chair) or for a significant other (empty chair). It began in Moreno's psychodrama, was popularised by Fritz Perls in Gestalt therapy in the 1960s, and was later formalised as task-analysed procedures in EFT. It has also been adopted by schema therapy and cognitive-behavioural chairwork. [source: Kellogg 2019] Kellogg's point that chairwork "has little to do with chairs per se" holds: the active ingredient is speaking as a part or to a person, in the present tense, rather than talking about them. [source: Kellogg 2019]

How change happens: in EFT, the chair puts the opposing parts, or the self and the internal image of the other, into live contact. This activates the relevant emotion scheme in the session. The client moves from secondary, reactive feelings (e.g. hopelessness, blame) to primary emotion and the unmet need underneath. Expressing that need evokes a new emotional response, such as the critic softening into compassion or the image of the other shifting, so that one emotion transforms another. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Greenberg & Malcolm 2002 as summarised in Holmström et al., jyx.jyu.fi] Kellogg adds Beisser's paradoxical theory of change: deeper contact with what one currently is brings change, and repeatedly moving between a part's chair and a central "self" position strengthens the healthy adult or "inner leader". [source: Kellogg 2019]

2. Framework

Chairwork has no phases of its own. It is used inside a course of therapy (in EFT, typically a brief course; the case in Elliott & Greenberg 2016 improved by about session 16 and ended at about 20 sessions with monthly follow-ups). Both levels below matter. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016] General session counts for EFT for depression (often quoted as 16–20) are not confirmed. [uncertain]

A. Course level (EFT case-formulation stages) [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016, Table 1, paraphrased]

Stage 1: Bond and narrative. Goals: an empathic, prizing relationship; the client tells their story; the therapist observes emotional processing style (over- vs. under-regulated, external vs. internal focus) and listens for painful experience (the "pain compass"). Chair work: usually not yet, or only brief, low-intensity versions.
Stage 2: Co-created formulation. Goals: identify Markers, Emotion schemes, Needs, Secondary emotions, Interruptions and Themes (the authors' MENSIT acronym), and agree goals and tasks. Chair tasks are offered when their markers appear and the rationale has been explained.
Stage 3: Applying the formulation. Repeated chair tasks on the core themes (e.g. the central self-critical split or unfinished business with a parent), tracking micro-markers and new meanings. Consolidation sessions (spaced out) were used ad hoc in the published case and are not a formal part of EFT.
Moving to chair tasks requires: (1) a working bond; (2) a clear, current marker in the session (see each task); (3) agreement on the task after a rationale; (4) enough affect regulation to tolerate activation. Where regulation is poor, safety, calming and validation come first. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; criteria wording synthesised]

B. Within-task level (one chair dialogue). Each EFT task runs: marker → offering and setting up → evoking and deepening → partial resolution → full resolution. A task may run over several sessions, picking up where it was left. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998; goodmedicine two-chair diagram; staging labels partly from Elliott et al. 2004 [uncertain]]

Partial resolution: each side (or self and other) has clearly stated its feelings, needs or wishes. Full resolution: competing needs are understood and reconciled (two-chair), or the self is validated and the view of the other shifts (empty chair). [source: goodmedicine diagram; Holmström et al.]
When to end a dialogue: leave time to debrief (Kellogg returns the client to a centre/neutral chair to reflect). If the work is incomplete, name where it got to and agree to return. [source: Kellogg 2019; synthesis]
Format: individual, 50–60 minute sessions; Perls ran chairwork in workshop groups with one person in the "hot seat" (Perls 1969 [uncertain]). Kellogg describes 2–3 chairs, plus centre and neutral positions. [source: Kellogg 2019]

Who it is not for (as a primary approach): psychotic processes, impulse-control or antisocial patterns, and clients needing immediate crisis management or case management (e.g. acutely suicidal, or in a current abusive relationship). These clients need stabilisation first. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]

3. Guiding principles

EFT relationship principles [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]:

Empathic attunement: track what is most alive and painful moment to moment. Practically: chair work starts from what the client is feeling now, never from your plan.
Therapeutic bond (empathy, acceptance/prizing, presence/genuineness): Practically: stay warm and on the client's side in both chairs. Prize the vulnerable side especially, and do not take sides against any part.
Task collaboration: agree goals and in-session tasks, and explain the rationale for chair work. Practically: ask before moving chairs, and accept "no" without pressure.

EFT task principles [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]:

Emotional deepening through key tasks: Practically: stay with the task linked to the client's goals and persist gently, but switch if a more central marker appears.
Self-development: support self-determination and personal power, and let the client set how safe the work needs to be. Practically: offer a less intense version (e.g. talk to the chair without switching) when the client wants one.
Flexible processing modes (attending to the body, symbolising emotion, expressing wants, reflecting on meaning): Practically: alternate between evoking and reflecting, and debrief each chair.

Emotion-change principles [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]:

Awareness, expression, regulation, reflection, transformation: Practically: raise arousal to a workable level, never flood. Transform emotion with emotion (e.g. sadness or protective anger and self-compassion meeting shame), not by arguing.

Chairwork-specific principles:

Speak to, not about; first person, present tense: Practically: redirect "I'd tell her that…" to "Tell her…". [source: Kellogg 2019; Sicoli & Hallberg 1998 on increasing immediacy]
Curiosity toward every part (no admonishing): Practically: interview a harmful part (e.g. a part that self-harms) to understand its purpose before any challenge. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Paradoxical change (Beisser): Practically: help a part be more fully itself rather than trying to change it. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Strengthen the healthy adult / inner leader: Practically: always return to a centre position to reflect and choose. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Neutral positioning: sitting equidistant between the chairs signals respect for both sides. [source: goodmedicine diagram; secondary]
Separate valid standards from contempt: the critic's standards are often valid but come wrapped in contempt. Practically: draw out the standard, and let the contempt be felt and responded to. [source: goodmedicine diagram; secondary]
Do not rush; complete each step: novice therapists push clients through too fast. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998] Go slowly with trauma, since some clients are very fragile. [source: Paivio interview, caperspring.com]
Safety first with dangerous parts: be very careful inviting a suicidal part to speak unless the setting is controlled and the client will be safe after the session. [source: Kellogg 2019]

4. Intervention inventory

Entries 1–7 follow the EFT version; entries 8–15 follow Kellogg's Transformational Chairwork or named variants. All example language is illustrative unless quoted with a source.

1. Process-guiding responses that carry all chair work (EFT)

Purpose / when: these are the therapist's moment-to-moment moves inside every chair task. Empathic responses keep the client feeling understood, and process-guiding responses structure the work. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]
Steps: (1) Empathic understanding: brief reflections of the client's meaning. (2) Empathic exploration, the most characteristic EFT response: evocative reflections that use vivid images, exploratory questions, "fit" checks ("Does that fit?"), and empathic conjectures that tentatively name the feeling or need just under the surface. (3) Process suggestions: short directions to speak from a chair, switch, or say it to the other. (4) Experiential teaching: brief explanations of emotion or of why a task helps. (5) Task structuring: setting up chairs and roles. (6) Presence: gentle, prizing voice, eye contact at moments of contact, and occasional process disclosure. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]
Example language: process suggestion "So come over here and be them" [Elliott & Greenberg 2016]. Conjecture: "Maybe underneath the anger there's a wish just to be seen?" (illustrative).
Watch for: reflections that drift into talking about; inaccurate empathy and poor questioning, which Sicoli & Hallberg (1998) link to clients leaving the task early. Working: the client's speech becomes more present-tense, specific and felt.

2. Offering and setting up a chair task (all EFT tasks)

Purpose / when: turning a marker into a task the client has agreed to. Use when a clear marker appears and the bond is solid. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Sicoli & Hallberg 1998]
Steps: (1) Reflect the marker back so the client recognises the conflict or lingering feeling. (2) Give a one- or two-sentence rationale (experiential teaching). (3) Ask permission. (4) Place chairs. In two-chair work, the critic or other usually goes in the second chair, with the client choosing labels (e.g. "bully", "perfectionist" / "child", "worn-out self"). Sit equidistant. [source: goodmedicine diagram, secondary] (5) Start the dialogue from the side carrying the energy (usually the critic, or the client speaking to the other). (6) Close with a debrief, and with a homework suggestion if useful. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like one part of you is really going after another part. Would you be willing to try something a bit unusual? It can help to give each side its own chair and let them speak to each other directly, so we can hear what each needs."
Watch for: hesitancy or embarrassment. Normalise it, and offer a lighter version (speaking to the chair without moving, or the therapist briefly voicing a line). Working: the client engages and addresses the chair directly.

3. Two-chair dialogue for a self-evaluative (self-critical) conflict split (EFT)

Purpose / when: resolve internal conflict in which one part criticises, coerces or controls another, and the other part feels hopeless, ashamed or crushed. Marker: a self-criticism voiced with some feeling; Elliott & Greenberg give the example of a client feeling inferior and like a failure. Variants: "should" conflicts, decisional conflicts, and anxiety splits (one part scaring the other, the "anxiety producer"). [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Greenberg et al. 1993 ch. 10]
Steps (stage model as summarised by Sicoli & Hallberg 1998 from Greenberg 1984 / Greenberg et al. 1993, and the goodmedicine diagram; wording mine):
1. Critic chair, harsh criticism: the client, as the critic, speaks directly to the self in the other chair. Ask them to say exactly how they put themselves down, in second person ("You…").
2. Specific criticism: draw the critic from global judgments ("you're useless") to the concrete demands it makes. Increase immediacy: have the client exaggerate the posture, tone or contempt, or say it again. Sicoli & Hallberg cite an instruction to stand on the chair and be condescending toward the weak side.
3. Experiencer chair, affective reaction: switch. Ask, "What happens inside when you hear that?" The first reactions are often fragmented, collapsed or defensive (secondary emotions).
4. Differentiation: help the experiencer move from secondary feelings (hopelessness, shame, resignation) toward primary feelings (hurt, sadness, fear, assertive anger).
5. Needs and wants: the experiencer states to the critic what it needs (e.g. acceptance, room to fail, rest). This is the pivotal step.
6. Critic chair, values and standards: switch back. The critic states the standards behind its attack, which are often valid but delivered with contempt.
7. Softening: invite the critic to respond to the need it has just heard. Softening appears as compassion, concern or fear for the self (sometimes like a worried, angry parent).
8. Negotiation and integration: the two sides bargain and arrive at a new, shared stance.
- Partial resolution = both sides have clearly voiced their needs. Full resolution = needs reconciled. [source: goodmedicine diagram]
Example language (illustrative): "Come over here and be the critic. Make her feel small. How do you do it?" / "Come back here. What happens inside when she says that?" / "Tell her what you need from her." / "Come over here. She says she needs you to let up. What do you say to that?"
Watch for: the critic retaliating when the self tries to change, causing impasse and anguish. In the published case this was the turning point toward self-soothing work. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016] Watch also for premature exit (the conflict never clarified) and early exit at the resolution stage. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998] Working: the critic softens, the experiencer stands taller or expresses clear need, and arousal drops. Greenberg & Higgins (1980) found that two-chair work at a split produced deeper experiencing than focusing with empathic reflection. [source: gestaltresearch.org abstract]

4. Two-chair enactment for self-interruption (EFT)

Purpose / when: when the client blocks their own emotion or its expression. Marker: something like feeling tears come and then tightening to push them back. Elliott & Greenberg's published case had numbing as the interrupter. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Greenberg et al. 1993 ch. 11]
Steps [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016, wording mine]:
1. Notice and reflect the interruption as it happens.
2. Make the interrupting part explicit by having the client enact it from the other chair: physically (e.g. squeezing their own throat or arms, pressing down), through a metaphor (e.g. a cage, a lid), or verbally ("Stop, don't feel, don't cry, it's dangerous").
3. Help the client experience themselves as the agent of the shutdown ("I do this to myself"), and ask the interrupter what it fears and what it is protecting against.
4. Switch: the experiencer responds to and challenges the interrupter.
5. Support expression of the previously blocked emotion or need.
- A York dissertation (Vrana 2021, supervised by Greenberg; abstract only) adds components: awareness of how one interrupts, awareness of its purpose, realising its negative impact, reduced fear of emotion, and a desire to allow emotion. [source: yorkspace abstract]
Example language (illustrative): "Come over here and do it to her: how do you stop the tears? Show me with your hands." / "What are you afraid will happen if she cries?" / "Come back. How is it to be squeezed like that? What do you want to say to that part?"
Watch for: an interrupter that is protective for good reason (e.g. emotion that would flood a client with poor regulation). Respect its purpose and negotiate. Working: the client names the purpose, fear of the emotion reduces, and the blocked emotion emerges at a tolerable intensity.

5. Empty-chair work for unfinished business (EFT)

Purpose / when: to resolve lingering, unresolved feelings (resentment, hurt, grief) toward a significant other, often an attachment figure, living or dead. Marker: an unresolved feeling toward the other expressed with high involvement, such as saying they have never forgiven someone. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Greenberg et al. 1993 ch. 12]
Steps (assembled from Elliott & Greenberg 2016, Greenberg & Foerster 1996 and Greenberg & Malcolm 2002 as summarised by Holmström et al.; sequence labels partly from Elliott et al. 2004 [uncertain]):
1. Make the other present: the client imagines the other in the empty chair. Ask what they see (face, expression) to activate the internal image of that person.
2. Express to the other: first reactions are usually complaint and blame (secondary). Keep the client speaking to the other.
3. Differentiate: help the client move from blame and complaint into primary emotion, often sadness and assertive anger, separately and fully. Experiential access to and intense expression of primary adaptive emotion is a key resolution component.
4. Express the unmet need directly to the other (e.g. to be protected, loved, recognised).
5. Enact the other (where useful): the client switches chairs and speaks as the other, first to make the hurt vivid (how the other was), later to show how the other responds to the client's need. [source: "So come over here and be them", Elliott & Greenberg 2016; staging [uncertain]]
6. Shift in the view of the other: the client either holds the other accountable or comes to a more nuanced understanding of them, sometimes forgiveness.
7. Self-validation / letting go: the client affirms their own worth and entitlement to the need, and lets go of an unmet expectation that the other will change.
Example language (illustrative): "Can you picture your father in this chair? What do you see on his face?" / "Tell him what that was like for you." / "Say more about the hurt… tell him what you needed from him." / "Come over here and be him for a moment. What does he say?"
Watch for: blame that cycles without deepening (secondary anger); collapse into hopelessness ("what's the point"); interruption of tears (go to entry 4); dysregulation. With a traumatising other, imaginal confrontation can be counter-therapeutic without specific preparation [source: Holmström et al., citing Leal et al. 2021]. See entries 6 and 7 for alternatives. Working: a drop in tension after expression of primary emotion and need; the representation of self and other shifts. [source: Holmström et al.; Greenberg & Malcolm 2002] Supported by Paivio & Greenberg (1995). [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]
Grief variant: for prolonged or complicated grief, the same task works on primary sadness, unmet needs and traumatic elements of the death, ending in honouring the deceased's legacy and new projects. [source: Comillas conference abstract; details thin [uncertain]]

6. Two-chair compassionate self-soothing (EFT)

Purpose / when: for stuck, dysregulated anguish, core shame or an unmet existential need (e.g. the client says no one will ever understand them). Also useful when a critic stays contemptuous and will not soften. Paivio reports finding it more transformative than critic work for clients who feel "rotten to the core". [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Paivio interview]
Steps [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016, wording mine]:
1. Begin with a calm, validating presence, and use regulation first if the client is flooded.
2. Deepen the anguish enough to reach the core pain, and help the client say the unmet need.
3. Set up two chairs. The needy part goes in one, often pictured as a child or a close friend going through the same thing.
4. Invite the client into the other chair as a strong, nurturing self or an idealised parental figure, and ask what they would offer this person: validation, support, protection.
5. Switch back, and ask the needy part to take in what was offered and say how it lands.
6. Build gradually over sessions.
Example language (illustrative): "Imagine a child sitting there who has gone through exactly what you went through. What does she need to hear?" / "Come back. How is it to hear that?"
Watch for: the client being unable to offer compassion ("she doesn't deserve it"). Shift to a child or friend image, or let the therapist model warmth. Working: softening of shame and a felt sense of comfort; one emotion is transformed by another. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]

7. Empathic exploration (EFTT alternative to imaginal confrontation)

Purpose / when: a lower-intensity way to resolve unfinished business with perpetrators or attachment figures in complex trauma, for clients who find the empty chair too overwhelming. It is based on the same unfinished-business resolution model. [source: Paivio interview; Paivio & Pascual-Leone, EFT for Complex Trauma]
Steps (outline only; full procedure [uncertain]): (1) Keep the client in their own chair, with the image of the other held in mind rather than in a chair. (2) Use empathic exploration of the client's feelings and needs about the other, addressed to the therapist. (3) Move through the same components: primary emotion, unmet need, shift in view of self and other.
Example language (illustrative): "As you picture him now, what do you feel inside? … What did that girl need back then?"
Watch for: the therapist's compassionate, soothing presence is critical, and the pace must be slow to avoid re-traumatisation. [source: Paivio interview] Working: the same markers as entry 5.

8. Chair work with the empathic other (facilitator plays the other)

Purpose / when: a modified empty chair for clients who find it hard to engage in a standard empty-chair dialogue (reluctance, or engaging without feeling). The facilitator takes the role of the significant other and responds empathically. [source: Holmström et al., jyx.jyu.fi; published as a training-group case study, so its use as a clinical routine is [uncertain]]
Steps [source: Holmström et al., wording mine]:
1. With the client's agreement, the therapist sits in, or speaks for, the other's position (e.g. the father).
2. Arousal: as the other, listen empathically and reflect the client's feelings and needs.
3. Consent check: once primary feelings and needs are voiced, ask whether the client wants to hear the other's feelings and needs. If not, return to listening.
4. Alternate between empathic listening and empathic expression of the other's side, following the client's ambivalence about connection.
5. Completion: move toward the standard resolution components (thwarted need expressed, shift in the view of self and other), then step out of role and debrief.
Example language: consent probe "Are you interested about how I am in this situation?" [Holmström et al. transcript]. Illustrative: "(as father) It hurts you a lot that I never asked how you were."
Watch for: contraindicated without specific preparation when the other was traumatising (risk of the therapist voicing a perpetrator) [source: Holmström et al., citing Leal et al. 2021]. Watch for role confusion after the exercise, so de-role explicitly [synthesis]. Working: emotional engagement increases, and the client reaches expression of need and a shifted view of the other.

9. Giving voice (interviewing a part) (Kellogg)

Purpose / when: to understand an inner part, mode or voice (e.g. a critic, a part that drinks, a part that self-harms) with no agenda to change it or set it in dialogue. Drawn from 1960s Gestalt work and Voice Dialogue. Kellogg calls it the heart of the work. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Steps [source: Kellogg 2019, wording mine]:
1. The client starts in a centre chair.
2. The client moves to another chair and speaks as the part, in first person.
3. The therapist interviews the part: when it first came into the client's life, its role or purpose, how it feels about the client, its hopes and fears, and what it would want the therapist to tell the client.
4. The client returns to centre and reflects on what it was like to be that part and what relationship they want with it.
Example language: "May I speak with the part of you that does the cutting?" [Kellogg 2019, paraphrase of his example]. Illustrative: "(to the part) When did you first show up in her life? What are you trying to do for her?"
Watch for: admonishing the part (do not). With a suicidal part, only in a controlled setting and only if the client will be safe afterwards. [source: Kellogg 2019] Working: repeated centre–chair–centre movement gives the client more control, so they are less likely to be taken over by the part in daily life. [source: Kellogg 2019]

10. Repetitive storytelling from the chair (Kellogg)

Purpose / when: to process a difficult memory. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Steps: (1) The client tells the story from a designated chair. (2) They retell it several times in a row (Kellogg's case example uses four or five). (3) Note details added with each retelling. (4) Debrief from centre. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Example language (illustrative): "Tell it again from the start, as if it's happening now."
Watch for: distress levels, and stop or ground the client if they become flooded. Exposure-type safety applies: prior consent, a grounding plan, and no use in acute crisis. [synthesis] Working: added detail on retelling signals integration, and the therapist's own habituation allows more exploration. [source: Kellogg 2019]

11. Imagery rescripting within chairwork (schema therapy, as used by Kellogg)

Purpose / when: to change the meaning of a childhood memory of harm or humiliation. Kellogg takes it from Young, Klosko & Weishaar (2003). [source: Kellogg 2019]
Steps [source: Kellogg 2019, wording mine]: (1) Establish a safe-place image. (2) Bring up the memory, now including the adult self (and optionally the therapist). (3) Interrupt the scene and protect the child using whatever resources the client wants (protectors, authorities, imagined figures). (4) Optionally, place the younger self in a chair and have the adult speak to and affirm them. (5) Debrief.
Example language (illustrative): "Go back in as the adult you are now. Step in before it happens. What do you do?"
Watch for: overwhelm. Safe-place establishment is the precondition. Working: relief, and a felt sense of the child being protected.

12. Internal dialogues: co-existing parts and witnessing (Kellogg)

Purpose / when: to map the client's "mode system" when distress comes from parts out of balance. Kellogg names three forms: parts speak in turn without addressing each other; parts engage directly (cognitive restructuring or rebalancing a polarity, which is the classic two-chair format); or one part witnesses the others, common in third-wave approaches. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Steps (co-existing / witnessing): (1) Give each relevant part a chair. (2) The client speaks from each in turn, briefly. (3) For witnessing, the client takes an observer chair and describes what they see in each part without judging. (4) Debrief. [source: Kellogg 2019; step order synthesised]
Example language (illustrative): "From this chair, just watch those two. What do you notice about them?"
Watch for: the observer chair being taken over by the critic, in which case move it to a new position. [synthesis] Working: greater distance and choice about parts.

13. Polarity dialogue (rebalancing) (Kellogg)

Purpose / when: for ambivalence between two legitimate poles (e.g. connection vs. independence; work vs. rest), when neither is a critic. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Steps: (1) One chair per pole. (2) The client alternates, voicing each side "as emotionally, powerfully, and simply as possible" [Kellogg 2019]. (3) After three or four rounds, the client moves to a centre space. (4) Reflect on both and explore how to balance them. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Example language (illustrative): "Say it as simply and strongly as you can, from the part that needs to be free."
Watch for: debating instead of speaking from felt need, so ask for shorter, more felt statements. [synthesis] Working: both poles are owned, and a balance emerges from centre.

14. Role reversal (Kellogg / Perls / psychodrama)

Purpose / when: in encounters with a real person, to take the other's perspective, build empathy, or make the other vivid. Especially useful for unfinished business. [source: Kellogg 2019, citing Perls 1969]
Steps: (1) The client speaks to the other in the empty chair. (2) The client switches chairs and answers as the other, in first person. (3) The client switches back and responds. (4) Repeat as needed, then debrief from centre. [source: Kellogg 2019; step detail synthesised]
Example language (illustrative): "Sit here and be your mother. Mum, what do you say when she tells you that?"
Watch for: a client who, as an abuser, attacks themselves harshly. Limit or omit role reversal with perpetrators, and prioritise the client's own voice. [synthesis] Working: new understanding of the other, or a clearer sense of what the client needs to say. Kellogg also uses this format for assertiveness rehearsal and for expressing love, anger, fear or grief. [source: Kellogg 2019]

15. Vector dialogue: appreciations and resentments (Perls, via Kellogg)

Purpose / when: for ambivalent relationships, so that both resentment and appreciation toward one person can be fully expressed. [source: Kellogg 2019, citing Perls 1969]
Steps: (1) Place one chair for the other person and two chairs angled about 45 degrees toward it: one for resentments, one for appreciations. (2) The client alternates between them for a few rounds, speaking directly to the other. (3) The client moves to a neutral place to debrief. [source: Kellogg 2019]
Example language (illustrative): "From this chair, tell him what you resent… Now move. Tell him what you appreciate."
Watch for: one side being skipped (often resentment, out of guilt), so stay with it. Working: a more whole, less split view of the other.

5. Handling problems

Embarrassment or refusal to use chairs. Respect the refusal (task collaboration and self-determination). [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016] Offer graded options: speak to the chair without switching; imagine the other without a chair (empathic exploration, entry 7); let the therapist voice the other empathically (entry 8). Kellogg notes the work can be done without chairs. [source: Kellogg 2019; Paivio interview; Holmström et al.] Never press after a second "no". [synthesis]
Talking about instead of to; intellectualising. Redirect gently to first-person, present-tense address. Ask for one short, felt sentence. Use posture or tone enactment to raise immediacy. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998; Kellogg 2019]
Premature exit (the conflict never gets clear). Go back to empathic exploration to sharpen the marker. Ask the critic for specific criticisms rather than global ones. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998]
Early exit at the resolution stage. The client voices needs but stops before the critic responds. Ask the critic chair to respond to the need, and be sure each step is completed before moving on. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998]
Impasse: both sides voiced, no integration. The new position may feel too threatening. Let the process unfold gently, and invite the client to explore what stands in the way. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998, citing Polster & Polster 1973] If the critic retaliates or stays contemptuous, move to compassionate self-soothing (entry 6), as in the published EFT case. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Paivio interview]
Starting with an internal critic is too hard. Begin with an external, visualised critic (a person the client experiences as critical), then return to the internal split. [source: goodmedicine diagram, secondary]
Collapse, hopelessness or resignation in the experiencer chair. Treat these as secondary feelings. Reflect them empathically, then conjecture about the primary hurt or anger and the need underneath. If collapse persists, switch to self-soothing. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016 emotional deepening sequence; application synthesis]
Blame that loops (empty chair). Acknowledge the anger, then help the client separate the components: hurt, anger and need, each said directly to the other. [source: Holmström et al., citing Greenberg & Foerster 1996; procedure synthesis]
Emotional numbing or tears being pushed down. Switch to the self-interruption task (entry 4). [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016]
Overwhelm or dysregulation. Lower intensity: slow down, ground the client in the here-and-now, move them back to their own or centre chair, and use the therapist's calm presence. Resume only once regulation returns. Regulate first in clients prone to flooding, and go slowly with trauma. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; Paivio interview; grounding steps synthesis]
Perpetrator or traumatising other. Prepare thoroughly. Consider empathic exploration instead of the chair, and avoid role reversal or the therapist voicing the perpetrator (entry 8). [source: Holmström et al., citing Leal et al. 2021; Paivio interview; role-reversal caution synthesis]
Suicidal or self-harming parts. Kellogg advises great care in giving a suicidal part a voice unless the setting is controlled and the client's safety after the session is assured. Before such work, complete a standard risk assessment and safety plan (including lethal-means counselling on storage or removal), and schedule follow-up contact. Acutely suicidal clients need crisis management first. [source: Kellogg 2019; Elliott & Greenberg 2016; risk-protocol steps synthesis]
Non-adherence between sessions. Sources do not prescribe chairwork homework. Possible offers: noticing when the critic or interrupter shows up during the week, writing an unsent letter to the other, or a short self-soothing practice. Treat a missed task as information about the interrupter, not as failure. [synthesis]
Alliance ruptures (the client feels pushed, judged or exposed). Stop the task. Return to empathic understanding, and acknowledge your part (e.g. pushing too fast). Renegotiate whether and how to continue. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016 bond and task-collaboration principles; rupture repair steps synthesis]
Therapist errors (stopping the dialogue too early, poor questions, inaccurate empathy) lead to unresolved tasks. Increase empathy, ask for specificity, and heighten immediacy. [source: Sicoli & Hallberg 1998]
Cultural fit. Some clients (the authors mention some Northern European men) struggle to focus on emotion, and clients from collectivist backgrounds may need empathy grounded in their values and more process guidance. Confronting a parent, even in imagination, may feel disloyal: offer appreciations alongside resentments (entry 15), or let the client address the chair without requiring confrontation. [source: Elliott & Greenberg 2016; adaptation synthesis]
Lingering role after the dialogue (the client still feels "in" the critic or the other). De-role: return to the centre chair, have the client state their own name and where they are, and debrief what each chair felt like. [source: Kellogg 2019 centre-chair debrief; de-roling steps synthesis]

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