title: Pathway to psychological change from the structural stability theory.
abstract: We show that a path not yet considered exists in the parameter space of the cusp catastrophe that constitutes a 'target-trajectory,' along which psychological change may be achieved in a variety of situations by taking advantage of the protagonists' resistance. The parameters Pathogen - the pathogenic agent - and Therapy, or Dissent and Remedy, are used depending on whether the theory is applied to psychotherapy or conflict, respectively. This proposed target-trajectory offers: (a) conditions optimised in therapy with regard to the intrinsic limitations for the reduction of a patient's pathogenic agent, and in conflict with regard to the 'red-lines' of the protagonists, and (b) the benefit of a step of rapid decrease in the potential barrier to change. Questions raised concern the benefit that a patient may obtain from performing his cognitive task in psychotherapy with minimal requirement for the reduction of his pathogen, and the role that a step of rapid decrease in a potential barrier may play in decision-making, in particular when it comes to end a conflict. The argument is developed in detail for psychoanalytic resistance, relying on principles and procedures described in numerous texts of psychoanalysis. The theory deals with scaling laws - power laws - rather than strict equalities.
authors.affiliation: Universite de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cerf
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory