Solution focused brief therapy

Solution focused brief therapy is a kind of talking therapy, which focuses on the client’s solutions rather than their problems. The therapist uses respectful curiosity to invite the client/s to envisage their preferred future and then therapist and client start working towards it in small incremental steps. To support this, questions are asked about the client’s story, strengths and resources, and about exceptions to the problem. Scaling is also used as a tool to measure progress. Basically solution focused therapists believe that if a person has the capacity to describe something as a problem that person also has the capacity to describe what better means in his/her everyday life and that since they are able to describe that they also have the resources needed to make it happen.

Typical questions in a solution focused interview are:

The Miracle Question

Scaling Questions

Exception Finding Questions

Coping Questions

Questions about the Client's Resources

A central idea of the solution focused approach is that people get stuck with their problems because they see them as unsolvable. Solution focused workers help people to find ways of viewing their situation which make change more likely to happen and in which their problem(s) are solvable.

History of Solution Focused Brief Therapy

Solution Focused Brief Therapy was developed by Insoo Kim Berg, Steve de Shazer and others. The approach is now used in many different fields from social work to business consulting.

References

• B.Cade and W.H. O’Hanlon: A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy. W.W. Norton & Co 1993.
• S.de Shazer: Clues; Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy. W.W. Norton & Co 1988
• E.George, C.Iveson, H. Ratner; Problem to solution; brief therapy with individuals and families. BT Press, 1990.
• M.A. Hubble, B.L. Duncan, S.D. Miller; The Heart and Soul of Change; what works in therapy. American Psychological Association, 1999.
• S.D. Miller, M.A. Hubble, B.L. Duncan; Handbook of Solution-focused brief therapy. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996.
• B.O’Connell; Solution Focused Therapy. Sage, 1998.
• B.O’Hanlon and S. Beadle; A Field Guide to PossibilityLand: possibility therapy methods. BT Press 1996.
• M.Talmon; Single Session Therapy; maximizing the effect of the first (and often only) therapeutic encounter. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990.
• Peter De Jong, Insoo Kim Berg Interviewing for Solutions Brooks Cole Publishers, 2nd edition 2002
• P.Ziegler and T. Hiller: Recreating Partnership: A Solution-Oriented, Collaborative Approach to Couples Therapy. W.W. Norton 2001.

External links

• Founder's Website
• The Brief Therapy Practice
• The United Kingdom Association for Solution Focused Practitioners
• Yorkshire Solution Focused Brief Therapy Group
• Talkingcure
• Solutions Focus in Organizations
• Solution Focused Consulting / Resource Page
• Recreating Partnership Couples Therapy
• solution focused discussion group
• solutions in organisations mailing list