CCRT attempts to discern what are the core, motivating 'wants' behind a patient's behavior. By exposing the hidden reasons for his or her negative behaviors, the client can become more mindful and hopefully change them. CCRT defines the 'wish' (W); the response from others (RO) and the response from the self (RS). In the case of Ms. A, her 'wish' seems to be for self-validation. Ms. A is a very insecure client, based upon her past experience of being sexually abused. Although she says that she wants to have an intimate relationship, her actual behavior in the therapeutic setting suggested that she had great fears of intimacy. Her unexpressed and subconscious 'want' may actually be 'not to be hurt,' rather than to have a relationship. As a result, when she has sexual intimacy with a man, taking the relationship to the next level (RO), her response from the self (RS) is to...

Often this takes the form of being increasingly demanding, growing frustrated with the man's behavior, and thus sabotaging the relationship and causing her to end it.
Using CCRT is particularly effective in dealing with a patient such as Ms. A, whose symptoms do not neatly fall within a specific disorder. Rather than attempting to classify her mix of neediness and avoidance as a personality disorder, given that otherwise the patient is extremely high-functioning, the use of CCRT allows the therapist to break down her behaviors and help her find ways of adopting more proactive strategies. It enables her to identify her avoidance behaviors and realistically evaluate the behavior of men in her life (Kassaw & Gabbard 2002:723). CCRT can also potentially alleviate some of the problems of patient transference -- patients often…