Banter as Psychotherapeutic Intervention

Active Intervention Is Generally Indicated only for states of resistance which are not self-limiting and interfere with the purposes of therapy. The use of special forms of intervention in therapy, as distinguished from the more common procedures, such as clarification and interpretation,1 may be regarded as devices to meet particularly frustrating and unyielding therapeutic problems. Most therapists make occasional use of banter, but usually as an exception to the more serious business of therapy. My experience has been that the idea of deliberately using banter as a technique is not generally welcomed by co-workers in the field, mainly because it is regarded as an essentially aggressive, destructive pursuit. Disregarded is the widespread use of banter as a form of teasing in the development of a large variety of socialized techniques for the modification and mastery of sadomasochistic drives.2 In its use in therapy, bantering serves a function closely related to its social purposes.3

I shall not be able to give more than a brief account of the indications and justifications for the use of banter in treatment, and shall have to leave aside the question of its limitations. I shall discuss banter as a method I have found to be of value in a particular setting with a group of patients having distinctive characteristics, treated by psychiatric residents receiving their first introduction to outpatient psychotherapy. I stress the situational context of my remarks for reasons which I hope will become clear as I go along. Bantering offers the beginning student a congenial, active method of approaching the problems of the difficult patients assigned to him, and allows him to