Description of Strategy

Termination is the ending of therapy. Ideally, it should provide the capstone of an intervention process that has alleviated the client's complaints: a summary of the skills that have been learned, a reminder and rehearsal of how these skills may be used in future situations to prevent a relapse of symptoms, an invitation to return if difficulties arise in future, and a good-bye. In practice, however, termination often does not come at a natural or successful ending of treatment. Some terminations are forced and occur because of external circumstances that may be beyond the control of either therapist or client. For example, insurance companies dictate termination by limiting number of sessions they will cover. Thus, termination must occur after a ...