Restraint therapy

Under Restraint therapy a special form of psychotherapy is understood, which is supposed to remedy attachment disorders. According to this method, two people hold tightly in a hug until negative feelings have passed. It was originally developed for the treatment of children who suffer from autism, intellectual disabilities, mental disorders or behavioral problems. Today, restraint therapy is also used in adults.

What is restraint therapy?

The method of restraint therapy was founded by the American psychologist Martha Welch, born in 1944. It was further developed and introduced into family therapy by the Czech therapist Jirina Prekop (born 1929), starting in the 1980s.

Although Welch and Prekop emphasize the non-aggressive nature of restraint therapy, in the opinion of critical psychologists it can include violence against the person being treated and thus may have a traumatic effect. However, the founders Welch and Prekop stipulate that detention must not lead to punishment or chastisement. In addition, they prohibit the activity of any person who is inwardly open to aggression or rejection of the behavior of the child being treated.

Previous abuse of the child concerned also precludes the therapeutic work of an adult. The basis of the restraint therapy is the mutual hug, during which the people involved look each other in the eye. In this direct confrontation, painful feelings first come to light. As a result, aggressive impulses and massive fears can emerge, which may be clearly expressed. Nevertheless, the intense holding on continues until all negative emotions have dissolved. Then holding on has turned into a more or less loving hug.

With regard to children, restraint therapy should only be carried out by a trusted person or, in exceptional cases, by a therapist. This person has the task of accompanying and, if necessary, intensifying all states of excitement and aggressive emotional expressions that appear. According to Jirina Prekop, the detainee should be encouraged to scold themselves and cry out if they want to. The entire therapy should not have any time limit. The treatment can only be ended when the excitement has completely subsided. It is preferable for the people involved to be in a comfortable position, usually sitting or lying down.

Function, effect & goals

Especially due to legal concerns, the restraint therapy is denied recognition in professional circles. The intensive or sometimes even violent detention of a child against his will can very quickly reach the limits of the legally prescribed framework of interpersonal relationships.

In legal terms, detaining a person against their express will constitutes deprivation of liberty and bodily harm. The German Child Protection Association has criticized restraint therapy as a justification for violence that is not acceptable. Well-known educationalists and psychotherapists speak out against restraint therapy because it reinterprets punitive measures as therapy in the interests of the child. The use of psychological violence is justified under the guise of family love and educational intentions.

Often a parent and the child held each other for hours, usually to the reluctance of the child. Thus the restraint therapy is unsuitable for the treatment of mental disorders. Again and again, those affected and their relatives complained that they caused or intensified trauma. The procedure could not be reconciled with scientific and psychotherapeutic principles. The proponents of restraint therapy argue that the treatment is primarily about love, a better bond and the feeling of security. For these reasons, however, quite a few paediatricians and occupational therapists repeatedly resort to restraint therapy and recommend it to parents as well.

In these cases it is pointed out that in responsible proceedings the law of the fittest never applies and no physical or linguistic violence is used. The restraint therapy should not be misunderstood as a leverage. After all, children could also accept therapy as being held with love, argue practicing child psychologists. It is not desirable, however, if older children in particular have to endure violent sessions over several hours.

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Risks, side effects & dangers

Therapy co-founder Jirina Prekop defends clinging as an opportunity to resolve conflicts “from heart to heart and from bile to bile”. If hurt feelings could be cried out and screamed out during therapy, love would eventually reappear.

In many cases, parents and children would come out of the detention sessions very relaxed. Jirina Prekop recommends holding onto emotional fears, depression, hyperactivity, addictions and compulsive behavior. Above all, restless and aggressive children could regain confidence in their parents' stability. Experienced child psychologists also strongly contradict this point of view. Family therapists report feelings of guilt among parents and behavioral problems in children who have undergone restraint therapy.

Children could not develop strength and the ability to deal with conflict, as noted by Jirina Prekop, on the contrary, they would have self-esteem problems and suffer from sometimes considerable contact disorders. A child psychologist who rejects restraint therapy describes her experience that children treated in this way often have great problems with closeness and distance in their friendships and later love relationships.

Some of those affected would take control of the personality of other children or young people or, on the contrary, would be impaired in their ability to bear being touched. In addition, a very negative relationship with one's own parents or other family members often remains.