Westworld: William & The Empty Chair Technique

Published April 24, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys and Gal,

I was just listening to the Telegraph for this week and, after giving it some thought and diving back into my grad school years for Clinical Psychology, I realized that the type of exercise William underwent is an AR version of what therapists call the “Empty Chair Technique”.

The technique takes place with the client sitting across the “empty chair” which is meant to represent the focal point of the trauma or past experiences that you, as the client, are wanting to explore and confront. The therapist then directs you, the client, to visualize a specific person, or group of people, to occupy that empty chair. Once the visualization is set, the therapist should then guide you by asking questions that you’d answer while focusing on your visualization (i.e. what would you say to your 15 year old self regarding how you handled the abuse from your alcoholic father?, etc.).

This technique is actually very useful as a tool to assist clients in opening up, defining, and reconcile their unexplored emotions toward an entity they can separate from themselves. If done correctly, with complete buy in by the client, the technique can be powerful in that you ultimately “separate and see” this version of your trauma that you can grow from, create coping mechanisms, and overcome in order to move forward in a healthy way.

I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, but that AR therapy session with William is just a highly advanced (and very cool way) of implementing this technique. And if you’re wondering, yes….there are instances where the technique does result in the client physically lashing out at the empty chair….usually, if the therapist believes that might happen, they’ll place a pillow or dummy in the chair so the client can really go all out.

Don’t know if you’ll get a chance to read this but I just thought it would answer Big D’s question of whether or not he could do it. Yes, yes you can….but please make sure it’s with a professional 🙂

Happy viewing and thanks again for all you do. Have a good and safe weekend!

Daniel

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