Contributed by Bill O'Hanlon

5 Results

How to Get Clients to Do Their Homework

Step 1: Don't Call It "Homework"

The best way to ensure clients' cooperation is to make the assignments relevant for them. Task assignments are designed to bring about changes in the... Read more

Hypnotic Language in the Consulting Room

Bill O'Hanlon on the Power of Giving Permission in Therapy

As therapists, we must recognize the complexity and ambivalence at the core of human experience. People run into problems when their lives are dictated by... Read more

Out of the Tunnel

Escaping the Trance of Depression

Depressed clients repeat the same thoughts, activities, feelings, and experiences again and again, as if entranced. Good depression treatment is largely about... Read more

Rarely is someone always depressed, or always empty, or always without energy, or always suicidal. If you (or the person you’re helping) explores exceptions... Read more

consultation May 1, 1998

The Dog Ate It

When clients don't do their homework

How to get clients to do their homework assignments Read more

Bill O'Hanlon

Bill O’Hanlon, MS, LMFT, has authored or co-authored 31 books, the latest being Quick Steps to Resolving Trauma (W.W. Norton, 2010). He has published 59 articles or book chapters. His books have been translated into 16 languages. He has appeared on Oprah (with his book Do One Thing Different), The Today Show, and a variety of other television and radio programs. For more than 30 years, Bill has given over 2,000 talks around the world. He is a top-rated presenter at many national conferences and was awarded the Outstanding Mental Health Educator of the Year in 2001 by the New England Educational Institute. Bill is clinical member of AAMFT (and winner of the 2003 New Mexico AMFT Distinguished Service Award), certified by the National Board of Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists and a Fellow and a Board Member of the American Psychotherapy Association.