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sarahsweets · Jan 05, 2021, 11:04 AM

I am uncomfortable with the idea and do not understand it so I did some research and wanted to share some points:

Quote:

Reparenting was a controversial form of psychotherapy in which the therapist actively assumes the role of a new or surrogate parental figure for the client, in order to treat psychological disturbances caused by defective, even abusive, parenting. The underlying assumption is that all mental illness results principally from such parenting, even including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Despite the therapy's association with the theory and practice of transactional analysis in the field of psychology, there is not much empirical evidence for its effectiveness, and some significant suggestions that it can in fact be harmful; most mental health practitioners do not regard reparenting as a legitimate form of therapy.

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Terminology and Definitions
Although reparenting is widely practiced, there is no set system of terminology among practitioners. In addition, the definitions of commonly used terms differ in definition among practitioners. The vagueness produced by these two weaknesses present danger of miscommunication between the therapist and the patient during treatment. The patient may also not fully understand the information shared with them when contracting or terminating treatment.[12][13]

Therapist-Patient Relationship
The nature of reparenting often requires the therapist to develop a close relationship with the client. There is no protocol to provide the boundary as to what the therapist can or cannot do. Often, it is up to the therapist to determine the plan of action to take when faced with a dilemma during treatment. As a result, there is risk of the therapist becoming too extreme in their methods, which can endanger the client and lead to new psychological problems.[12] Due to the dominant role of the therapist in the relationship, the therapist has greater power over the client, which may lead to them abusing this authority and exploiting the client. There is also risk toward the therapist in that he or she may become too attached to the client, which can hinder professional judgement.[13][14]

Frame of Reference
There is no way to objectively determine the success in completely replacing the client's parent ego state after reparenting therapy. The therapist can only rely on the client's subjective statement, which may conflict with the therapist's account of the results.[12] This conflicts leads to questioning whether the therapy actually succeeded in reforming the Parent ego state.

Monitoring
This problem is especially true for total regression reparenting. Clients in therapy are totally immersed in an environment that promotes regression into the child ego state. However, during this time at which the client may spend months or years, the client is left at the mercy of the therapist and the institution. There is no higher authority to monitor the actions of the therapist as well as the well being of the client. The client is left to trust his or her therapist throughout therapy.[12]

Scientific Efficacy
Although some studies have been done to prove the efficacy of reparenting, the amount of statistically powerful studies available are few. Few studies try to confirm the mechanism or isolate moderating variables of reparenting. The transactional analysis theory in which reparenting theory is based on is already a heavily debated topic. As a result, most of the scientific community gives little support for reparenting theory.[12][13]