Everything we do and don’t do has some effect on the world. We have a certain capacity to control our actions: we choose what we want to do and what we do (although sometimes this is imposed on some people), something that ultimately gives us the capacity to direct our own lives .

However, we must also bear in mind that our action and intervention in the world is limited: there are many elements that may or may not come together to bring about a given situation. In this sense, attributing causes to a particular event can be much more difficult than it seems. However, it is usual that at a mental level we try to give a quick explanation in which what happens has one or a few factors that generate it.

In some cases this attribution may be unrealistic and generate discomfort, and may even become a pattern where the causes of positive and negative events are considered rigidly and become a problem. Fortunately, through various techniques we can modify this pattern. One of them is the technique of reattribution , very much used by psychologists, which we are going to talk about here.

What is the reattribution technique?

The reattribution technique is a psychological intervention technique frequently used in clinical practice , either directly or as part of a more complex program or treatment (such as Beck’s cognitive therapy).

It is a cognitive technique that tries to work on the attribution of the causes of the patients and is characterized by helping the patient to assess what may be the cause of a given situation in order to discuss and modify his or her beliefs regarding such causality, redirecting the attribution made by the patient towards a more realistic, objective and functional perspective .

Where are you from?

The technique of reattribution is based on the idea of a locus of control, that is to say, the fact that when analysing a given situation we tend to give the existence of this situation specific causes which may be either internal (that is to say, the person himself is responsible for it) or external (the environment, other people or abstract elements such as chance), global or specific, stable (the cause is permanent) or unstable (the cause is variable).

The performance of this attribution allows us to try to give a cause to what is happening , but sometimes the result of this attribution is unrealistic and dysfunctional and can generate anxiety, distress, sadness or discomfort among other possible effects. It is at this point that the reattribution technique is useful.

What is your objective?

The use of this reattribution technique has as its main objective to contribute to the patient’s ability to modify his or her locus of control, that is to say, to be able to modify the attribution of causes that he or she makes for positive and negative events. In this sense, we work by making the person value the different factors that may be influencing or participating in a certain event, situation and problem.

Thus, the aim is to reduce or eliminate cognitive biases linked to a given attribution of the causes of a situation.

This technique allows the person to gradually appreciate that there are a large number of factors that can influence whether certain situations or problems occur or are resolved in a certain way, so that in the case of negative events the subject does not exclusively attribute responsibility for the result and blames himself in the case of negative events, or that he does not only attribute successes and positive results to luck.

There are different variants of this technique, often specializing in different types of problems. To give an example, we can find Goldberg’s symptom reattribution technique, which focuses on attributing physical symptoms to psychic causes in cases of disorders such as somatization.

When is it used in therapy?

The reattribution technique is applicable to a large number of situations in which the person tends to maintain a rigid locus of control , unrealistic, biased or dysfunctional. In this sense we can be talking about both clinical and non-clinical problems, although it is much better known to use it in the former.

Below are some of the problems in which it is often used.

1. Depression

Among the various disorders in which it is often used, mood disorders are particularly noteworthy. One of the most frequent is major depression, in which we can generally find the presence of cognitive biases that make the interpretation of oneself, the world and the future negative and aversive.

At the level of internal control locus, negative events are stable and global, while successes and positive events are often associated with external, unspecific and unstable causes (such as luck).

2. Anxiety-related disorders

Anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder, are another type of problem that can be treated with the reattribution technique.

Specifically, what can be treated in this way is the anticipation of crises of distress and the attribution of certain symptoms to not necessarily dangerous causes. An example can be found in tachycardia and increased cardiorespiratory rate.

The anxiety of a generalized anxiety disorder can also benefit from the use of this technique by helping to objectify the possible causes of their discomfort and trying to encourage a more objective view of the situations they have experienced.

3. Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder

In addition to mood disorders, another type of situation where this type of technique may be useful is in the context of acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. Although these disorders already have different methodologies that allow them to be treated effectively, variants of the reattribution technique can be considered in the case of people who attribute guilt for the traumatic event in question.

This is the case of people who have the so-called “Survivor’s Syndrome”, people who have overcome an illness that has killed many others and feel guilty or immersed in it, people who survive a traffic accident in which one or the rest of the people have died, people who have lived through a war (both civilians and military) or cases such as people who have suffered rape or sexual abuse and blame themselves for it.

4. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

One of the main characteristics that many subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder share is a very high level of doubt and a tendency to feel guilty for their obsessive thoughts, or else they have anxiety about the responsibility they would feel if the content of their thought became a reality .

For example, a person who has obsessive thoughts of contagion and rituals around cleanliness because of them will tend to feel guilty if he does not perform the rituals and make sure everything is properly disinfected, or he might feel responsible if someone in his environment becomes ill.

In this sense, the technique of reattribution can be useful as a way for the subject to try to see the situation in a more objective way and appreciate that there are various variables that could explain the reason for his distress and that would not have to do with his own performance. The aim would be to reduce the tendency to attribute responsibility or blame for those situations whose evoking generates anxiety.

5. Somatization disorder

Somatization disorder, along with other somatoform problems , is one of the disorders that can benefit from this type of technique. In this case, the technique of reattribution can be used to help the patient identify the possible psychological causes of the ailment that he feels on a physical level.

6. Hypochondria

Although the approach to hypochondria requires a more profound treatment, variants of the reattribution technique can also be used so that those suffering from it learn to assess the possible causes of their discomfort without associating them with a physical illness .

However, we must be very careful that the possible causes that the subject cites are not diseases but those elements that generate the feeling of being sick and what factors may be involved.

7. Adaptive disorder and other problems

Dismissals, separations, divorces, couple or family problems, harassment at work or at school… all of these can generate a great level of stress and discomfort that is beyond the person’s control and generate a great deal of suffering, without this leading to the person meeting the criteria for being considered a sufferer of depression or an anxiety disorder. These are cases in which the symptoms of these two types of disorder can appear, and which usually appear in a reactive manner to a situation (without which the symptoms would not be present).

We are talking about the adaptive disorder, which can also benefit from the reattribution technique in those cases where the problem raises or generates an interpretation or attribution of causes that are dysfunctional to the person.

Furthermore, even if a disorder as such does not appear, it is also possible to work with this technique in a preventive way, especially with populations with rigid beliefs, hyperresponsibility or low self-esteem.

Bibliographic references:

  • Beck A.T., Rush A.J., Shaw B.F. & Emery, G. (1979) Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Burns, D.D. (1990). Feeling good. Barcelona: Paidós.
  • Guzmán, R.E. (2011). Somatization disorder: its approach in Primary Care. Revista Clínica de Medicina de Familia, 14 (3).