Method of levels

The method of levels (MOL) is a cognitive approach to psychotherapy (or an approach to cognitive behavioral therapy) based on perceptual control theory (PCT). Using MOL, the therapist aims to help the patient shift his or her awareness to higher levels of perception in order to resolve conflicts and allow reorganization to take place.

History

The Method of Levels is an application of perceptual control theory, with theoretical roots primarily in cybernetics and engineering. The Method of Levels was first developed by William Treval Powers for his 1973 book, Behavior: The Control of Perception. However, the editor persuaded Powers to remove the chapter discussing the Method of Levels from the book prior to publication. However, Powers shared the technique verbally, particularly within the Control Systems Group. In the 1990s, David Goldstein of New Jersey, United States, began using the Method of Levels in clinical practice with patients. Later in the 1990s, Timothy A. Carey, an Australian psychologist, became interested in the Method of Levels. Carey obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology primarily so that he could test the Method of Levels.

Theory

PCT contributes a useful perspective on psychological disorders by providing a model of satisfactory psychological functioning as successful control. Dysfunction then is understood as disruption of successful control, and distress as the experience that results from a person's inability to control important experiences. No attempt is made to treat the symptoms of distress as though they were in themselves the problem. The PCT perspective is that restoring the ability to control eliminates the source of distress. Internal conflict has the effect of denying control to both systems that are in conflict with each other. Conflict is usually transitory. When conflict becomes chronic, then symptoms of psychological disorder may appear.

Method

The core process is to redirect attention to the higher level control systems by recognizing "background thoughts", bringing them into the foreground, and then being alert for more background thoughts while the new foreground thoughts are explored. When the level-climbing process reaches an end state without encountering any conflicts, the need for therapy may have ended. When, however, this "up-a-level" process bogs down, a conflict has probably surfaced, and the exploration can be turned to finding the systems responsible for generating the conflict—and away from a preoccupation with the symptoms and efforts immediately associated with the conflict.

Research

A randomised controlled trial in subjects with first-episode psychosis demonstrated that the retention in the trial at final follow-up was 97%, suggesting a successful feasibility outcome. The feedback provided by participants delivered initial evidence of the intervention for this population. The approach may also be effective in the treatment of sleep disorders and suicidality.

See also

• Coherence therapy
• Common factors theory
• Focusing (psychotherapy)
• Metacognition

Further reading

• Bird, Timothy; Mansell, Warren; Tai, Sara (2009). "Method of Levels: initial steps in assessing adherence and the development of a qualitative framework for mapping clients' control hierarchies". The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. 2 (3): 145–166. doi:10.1017/S1754470X09990158. ISSN 1754-470X.
• Carey, Timothy A. (Spring 2001). "Investigating the role of redirecting awareness in the change process: A case study using the Method of Levels" (PDF). International Journal of Reality Therapy. 20 (2): 26–30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-21.
• Carey, Timothy A. (2006). The Method of Levels: How to do psychotherapy without getting in the way. Hayward, CA: Living Control Systems Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9740155-4-5. OCLC 63193390. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
• Carey, Timothy A. (2008). "Perceptual Control Theory and the Method of Levels: Further Contributions to a Transdiagnostic Perspective". International Journal of Cognitive Therapy. 1 (3): 237–255. doi:10.1521/ijct.2008.1.3.237. ISSN 1937-1209.
• Carey, Timothy A. (2016). Hold that thought: Two steps to effective counseling and psychotherapy with the Method of Levels. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications. ISBN 978-0-944337-59-2.
• Carey, Timothy A.; Carey, Margaret; Mullan, Richard J.; Spratt, Christopher G.; Spratt, Margaret B. (2009). "Assessing the Statistical and Personal Significance of the Method of Levels". Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 37 (3): 311. doi:10.1017/S1352465809005232. ISSN 1352-4658.
• Carey, Timothy A.; Mansell, Warren; Tai, Sara J. (2015-06-05). Principles-based counselling and psychotherapy: A Method of Levels approach. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315695778. ISBN 978-0-415-73877-4. OCLC 898113412.
• Goldstein, David M. (2007). "Method of Levels therapy: Helping the normal change process within a person when normal change doesn't seem to be happening by itself". The International Journal of Healing and Caring. 7 (1): 1–17.
• Goldstein, David M. (29 October 2007). The MOL Therapy Case Study of AF. Presented at the CSG 2008 Annual Conference.
• Goldstein, David M. (29 March 2009), Perceptual Control Theory Psychotherapy (PCT Psychotherapy)
• Mansell, Warren (June 2005). "Control theory and psychopathology: an integrative approach". Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 78 (2): 141–178. doi:10.1348/147608304X21400. PMID 16004696.
• Mansell, Warren (2009). "Perceptual Control Theory as an integrative framework and Method of Levels as a cognitive therapy: what are the pros and cons?". The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. 2 (3): 178–196. doi:10.1017/S1754470X08000093. ISSN 1754-470X.
• Mansell, Warren; Carey, Timothy A. (2009). "A century of psychology and psychotherapy: Is an understanding of control the missing link between theory, research, and practice?". Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 82 (3): 337–353. doi:10.1348/147608309X432526. ISSN 1476-0835.
• Mansell, Warren; Carey, Timothy A; Tai, Sara (2012). A transdiagnostic approach to CBT using method of levels therapy: distinctive features. The CBT distinctive features series. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203081334. ISBN 9780415507639. OCLC 774499959.
• Mansell, Warren; Goldstein, David M. (2020). "Method of Levels Therapy". The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818948-1.00013-7. ISBN 978-0-12-818948-1.
• Powers, William Treval (2009). "PCT and MOL: a brief history of Perceptual Control Theory and the Method of Levels". The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. 2 (3): 118–122. doi:10.1017/S1754470X08000111. ISSN 1754-470X.
• Powers, William T. (15 December 2022) [2010], The Method of Levels: a Cognitive-Therapy synthesis, Edgartown, Massachusetts, USA: International Association for Perceptual Control Theory, retrieved 27 March 2024 Republished from Powers, William T. (16 August 2010), The Method of Levels: a cognitive-therapy synthesis (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-14
• Richer, John M. (2020). "Perceptual control theory: A Paradigm Shift?" (PDF). Human Ethology. 35 (1): 79–90. doi:10.22330/he/35/079-090.
• Scholte, Tom (2023). "Reorganization as anti-oppression: PCT, the Method of Levels, and the Theatre of the Oppressed". The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory, Volume II. Elsevier. pp. 349–378. doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-91165-8.00014-7. ISBN 978-0-323-91165-8.

External links

• Living Control Systems Publishing - A website by Dag Forssell
• MethodOfLevels.com - A website by Timothy A. Carey
• PCT Resources - A website by William Treval Powers