NICK WRIGHT
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The pertinent Ps

20/1/2012

3 Comments

 
​Griffin & Tyrrell in their excellent book, 'How to Master Anxiety' (2006), talk about the ‘three pertinent Ps’ that can contribute to anxiety or depression. It’s something to do with how a person perceives events or experiences and what meaning he or she attributes to them. Using this model, the coaching task could be to help a person surface and test his or her assumptions and conclusions.

The first P is ‘personalising’. It’s about whether the person believes that what happens to and around them is a result of something he or she has done. ‘I must have done something to offend her’, ‘It’s all my fault’. It’s as if the person perceives him or herself as the cause of whatever happens. It moves beyond, ‘I may have contributed to this’ to believing, ‘I’m solely responsible for it.’

The next P is ‘pervasiveness’. It’s about whether the person believes that the impacts of an event or experience in one aspect of his or her life or work extends to all other aspects. ‘It’s all ruined’, ‘I’m hopeless at everything’. It’s as if the person perceives a single incident or experience as indicative of how everything is. It’s a case of rash generalisation from the specific.

The third P is ‘permanence’. It’s about whether the person believes that an experience or the consequences of an action will extend forever into the future. ‘It will always be the same’, ‘This will ruin my whole life.’ It’s as if the person believes a current experience is a definitive predictor of how life and work will be from now on. There is no room for alternative possibilities.

Now there are of course situations where a person may indeed be responsible for something that happens, e.g. he or she may have said or done something that upset a colleague. The person may have taken a decision or acted in a way that had wider consequences than expected. The person may have experienced something genuinely challenging or life-changing.

The ‘pertinent Ps’ are about making incorrect inferences or assumptions, attributing causal relationships where there may be none, drawing invalid conclusions and projecting a fixed view onto reality and the future that, if combined with what I would call a fourth P, ‘pessimism’, trap the person in a stressful, despondent world that could lead to anxiety or depression.

I mention the pessimistic dimension because it’s possible, for instance, that a different person could experience the same ‘pertinent Ps’ positively, e.g. attribute positive experiences to themselves, believe that success in one area means success in all areas, imagine a bright future on the basis of what’s happening now. In this case, the person may feel confident and optimistic.

The difference and potential coaching solution may lie in a fifth P, ‘perspective’. As we have noticed, it’s something to do with how a person perceives an experience or event. Albert Ellis noted this in his ABC theory of emotion. What a person feels is a consequence of what she or believes about an event or experience, rather than a direct consequence of the event or experience itself.

The tricky part in coaching is that changing perspective is sometimes easier said than done. After all, our perspectives are shaped by history, including previous relationships and experiences, and culture. They can feel so familiar, so much part of us, so intrinsic to our way of seeing and experiencing the world, that to change them can feel threatening or disorientating.

A sixth P, ‘person’, can make a difference. When a client feels authentic interest, empathy and support from a significant other, which could include the coach him or herself, he or she is more likely to feel less anxious, less defensive, and thereby more open to consider alternative perspectives. It’s as if the relationship itself allows the metaphorical cognitive dust to settle.

One final P, ‘prayer’, can draw these domains together with profound effect. Deep prayer is trusting, loving relationship, sharing intimate presence with the ultimate significant Other. It’s a here and now experience where we are drawn and inspired into see a glimpse of the broadest possible perspective. It can become a true source optimism and confidence for both client and coach.
3 Comments
Richard Boston
21/1/2012 01:26:47 am

I like the blending of concepts, Nick. Interesting that the fourth P is Pessimism when the first 3 Ps are the classic Seligman optimism vs pessimism dimensions - is he referenced in Griffin and Tyrrell's book? The support networks of Person and a higher power are nicely woven in, as is the ABCDE. In the spirit of collaboration, can I suggest an 8th and 9th? A sense of Purpose and Physical health.

Cheers


Richard

Reply
Nick
21/1/2012 05:43:09 am

Thanks for the reply, Richard. Interesting thoughts. I don't remember Griffin & Tyrrell mentioning Seligman's work; the Pessimism dimension is something I added because it also seems significant. I really like the Purpose and Physical dimensions, a good addition. For some reason it reminded me of Glasser's Reality Therapy with its 3 x Rs: Reality, Responsibility and Relationship. I was thinking today there's also something about Power - how far a person feels able to exert influence or control over what he or she is experiencing. Psychological schools like CBT seem quite optimistic about a person's ability to reframe and thereby manage their experience whereas others like ACT less so. I'm also wondering why some people appear to have stronger sense of personal power than others and how this relates to, perhaps, childhood and cultural experiences and psychoanalytic notions of strong or weak ego structure. Any thoughts?

Reply
Richard Boston
22/1/2012 01:44:07 am

Mmm, yeah. Power (and influence) comes up in some of the confidence stuff (e.g. Hadland) and the sense of Personal Power would include self-efficacy (Bandura) and self-reliance (EQ), and visualisation / access techniques are largely about shifting to a perspective that offer a greater sense of personal power. Afraid I'm not sufficiently across psychoanalysis to comment on that front, but anxiety / neuroticism appears to have a biological component (not necessarily hereditary or permanent) and to (obviously) be very susceptible to life experience.

Reply



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    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

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