Future oriented psychotherapy is a term first introduced by Stanley Lesse and William Wolf. They stressed the need for all future psychiatrists, psychologists, social scientists, and political scientists to understand the relationships between sociodynamics and individual psychodynamics. They viewed discussion of the future as a prophylactic technique and guided patients over a relatively brief number of sessions to consider their role in the future in order to prepare for the impending stresses and challenges.
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Theory
Frederick T. Melges summarizes his general thesis: "The general thesis is that time distortions disrupt anticipatory control and lead to psychopathological spirals. That is, problems with time, such as distortions of sequence, rate, and temporal perspective, disrupt the normal interplay between future images, plans of action, and emotions, thereby leading to lack of anticipatory control and vicious cycles (spirals)."
There is no published research on this topic.
Treatment
In 1972, Melges wrote a paper about a future oriented intervention, which he referred to as FOR and later on wrote a book chapter describing the intervention. FOR is based on a psychodynamic model and was intended to be an adjunctive intervention not a treatment for psychiatric disorders. Melges described it a "useful adjunct to past and present oriented therapies" to help patients with low self-esteem and identity diffusion.
There were five stages to his FOR treatment.
- Assessment and selection of patients
- Interpretation of vicious cycles
- Redecisions
- Self-Futuring
- Temporal Organization