Resource therapy theorizes that a person is made up of a number of parts and these parts are a person’s resources.

Resource therapy is a stand alone therapy that believes that attending to the cause of an issue is the best way to reduce the symptoms a person is experiencing. Once the cause has been addressed the symptoms resolve, as the person is no longer carrying the pain from the past. Resource therapy believes that it is important to address the issues a person brings to therapy with the part that feels the issue. Often the part that attends therapy is a part that can talk about the issues, this is known as an observer part. The observer part is usually not the part that is experiencing the issue and therefore discussion with the observer part rarely leads to resolution. Working directly with the part that feels or behaves in a way that is upsetting to the client directly addresses the cause of the issue and allows for resolution.

Resource therapists allow clients to identify issues that are causing them angst or distress in their current life and then assists them in resolving these issues at their core. The clients presents with what they are ready to change today and the parts that are involved in that issue are assisted in becoming ‘normal’ or angst or trauma free. In this way the guesswork of where to start, or the past issues that are influencing current behaviours and feelings is taken out of the equation. Therapy is lead by what the client is ready to change.

Traditional Diagnosis and the Resource Therapy Approach

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
In resource therapy OCD is sometimes seen as a retro or more often as a retro avoidant state. The most significant aspect of this understanding is that OCD is understood as the coping mechanism for an underlying state experiencing angst. The first step in treatment is therefore bridging to and resolving the vaded states, this needs to occur before negotiating with the retro states can be successful. Traditional treatments of OCD see OCD as the issue rather than the coping mechanism.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Traditionally those with BPD are considered difficult to treat at best and untreatable at worst. It is common for those with BPD to have experienced significant trauma which is often side stepped with traditional treatments of BPD and cognitive behavioural therapy type treatments. Working with resource therapy the therapist works with the vaded states to resolve their angst, this then allows people to develop coping mechanisms as they are no longer sitting in ongoing angst, as coping mechanisms increase, therapy can move to negotiation with dissonant and retro states. Therapy with people with BPD is sometimes more slowly paced as people with BPD are particularly sensitive to increasing their retro state behaviours such as cutting and overdose as they continue to practise and develop new coping skills, it is therefore paramount to build rapport and trust with these clients so they can be assured that they will not be pushed to quickly to resolve and move forward. People can sometimes feel raw after therapy and for those with BPD this in itself can trigger other vaded and retro states.

Depression
Resource therapy holds that depression can often have it roots in states being ‘vaded’ with disappointment. When a state is vaded with disappointment it lacks energy to continue. It is possible that a state vaded with disappointment becomes so powerful that it does not allow any other states to enjoy anything in life, or it may be that a person just becomes disinterested or lacks energy around a particular aspect of their life. A person may present with symptoms of depression in the context of relationships however is still able to function well in the work environment.

Drug Addiction
In resource therapy drug addiction like OCD is the symptom of states sitting in angst and the persons attempt to avoid feeling that angst. The use of drugs chemically blocks off the vaded states so that the person or the conscious states no longer feel them. Therapy with this group involves the resolution of vaded states and then negotiation with retro often avoidant states. Treatment is often slow or more difficult as the person will often attend therapy having recently used or on the come down which means the vaded states are not available to work with as they have been chemically blocked off from the conscious. Finding states that are strong enough to feel the angst and move through it can be useful as well as the persistence of the therapist in maintaining rapport and providing unconditional positive regard. 

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
DID is a complex and severe ongoing trauma related diagnosis where the person usually a child coped by splitting off their parts to create separate personalities as a means of coping with this often ritualistic abuse. With Resource therapy, treatment of DID involves re-establishing communication between the different personalities which allows the person themselves to feel more integrated as they have an idea of what is going on with each of the different personalities. This treatment involves commitment by the therapist as often the treatment will feel slow and tedious. It is also quite probable that each of the personalities have their own parts that are dissonant or vaded with fear and rejection, confusion or disappointment and associated coping mechanisms. Establishing a sense of real safety is paramount for this presentation.

Anxiety
Generally states vaded with fear will sit on the inside in an energy of angst or being unsettled, this may be a constant underlying tone in the person’s life or it may present when the state is triggered. Treatment involves bridging and resolution of the state vaded with fear. Negotiation of retro and retro avoidant states may also be necessary.

Eating Disorders
Anorexia and bulimia develop traditionally when a young person has states that are vaded with rejection. Retro original and retro avoidant states also play significant roles in these diagnosis’. Treatment largely involves working with and resolving the states that are vaded with rejection as well as negotiation within the parts regarding alternative appropriate coping behaviours. Treatment is often slow as the states are entrenched in their perceptions and behaviour. Treatment almost always involves other members of the family and it is useful if the primary caregivers are able to seek individual therapy to address their own states, that may potentially be effected and affecting the treatment of the person with the diagnosis.

Trauma Related and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Resource therapy has useful interventions for helping people through trauma and grief. Resource therapy holds that there are states that hold onto these experiences as though they are continuing to occur. Therapists in Resource therapy work directly with these states to help them move through the trauma or grief and to then allow them to re-create an internal space in which they feel safe, empowered and no longer confused. The person retains the memory of the event which forms part of who they are, however Resource therapy believes that it is not important for the state that experienced the situation to remain stuck in the emotion for this learning to occur.