About Video Intervention Therapy (VIT)
Video Intervention Therapy (VIT) helps patients better to understand, and to change, how they interact with others.
With the therapist’s support, the patient looks at a video of herself interacting with someone else. What she, and the other, do with their bodies is reflected upon. What they say with words is also reflected upon. Body techniques may be also used to deepen the exploration.
Settings where VIT is currently practiced include psychiatric clinics, eating disorder clinics, substance abuse clinics, domestic violence programs, parent-infant therapy centers, support programs for parents who adopt, and autism treatment centers.
How long a video? Five to ten minutes is typical. Sometimes longer, for special purposes.
Where is the video filmed? It might be filmed in a therapist’s office, or in a treatment institution. More often, the patient herself arranges the filming at home.
Who is the other person in the video? It might be, e.g, a partner, a child, or a peer. It might be more than one other person: e.g., two parents together with their child.
What kinds of interaction are filmed? The possibilities are many. A couple discussing a selected topic, a parent and a child playing together, two children doing a joint activity – these are just a few examples.
Exactly who comes to the session to explore the video? This is open too. Perhaps the patient comes alone. Or perhaps the patient comes along with whoever else was in the interaction.
What kinds of professionals bring VIT into their work? VIT is an expanded form of cognitive-behavioral therapy. However, family therapists, couple therapists, psychoanalysts, and others, are also among those who use it.
VIT is easily integrated into different types of treatment program. Settings where it is currently used include psychiatric clinics, eating disorder clinics, substance abuse clinics, domestic violence programs, parent-infant therapy centers, support programs for parents who adopt, and autism treatment centers.
VIT can be easily combined with Body-Focused Therapy. Many therapists choose to combine the two.