Avatar Posted by WIGUY 312 days ago (Question)
Please provide me with your opinions, professional and otherwise, on the use of a technique in therapy for a patient suffering from depression that involves a “magic wand” and resembles the horizontal gaze nystagmus field sobriety test used by law enforcement officers to catch drunk drivers. Specifically, the therapist takes a child’s glitter wand (approximately 12”/30cm long, .5”/1.2cm in diameter filled with a viscous liquid holding in suspension colorful metallic glitter that rises and falls based on gravity), waves the wand approximately a hand’s length from the patient’s eyes and traverses approximately the entire field of the patient’s vision once a second. The patient is told to follow the wand only with his/her eyes and think about an incident from his/her past that had a dramatic, negative effect on him/her, particularly something that has made the patient angry. The therapist continues to wave the wand for approximately a minute and then suddenly stops and asks the patient what he/she is thinking about now. After the patient replies, the therapist may or may not inquire further about the reply, and then resumes waving the wand for another minute or thereabouts before stopping and again asking the patient to divulge his/her immediate thoughts. The therapist then repeats the process for approximately ten to fifteen minutes. The patient is not told specifically what the purpose or objectives are of that exercise.

If this is a recognized technique or treatment, could you please identify it by name, and if any studies have been done on its efficacy, could you please identify them and, if possible, provide a link to any online sources publishing or commenting on the study(ies).

Thank you.


Answers

Written by Clyde 307 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Answer: + -

Sorry.

I really dont know what you are talking about. Could you be a little more specific?

Best,

Clyde


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