The solution-focused brief therapy It is a type of therapy that does not require a large number of sessions. Normally, it does not exceed ten sessions - unlike the long therapies that used to be carried out in the past
It is a brief therapy modality developed in the Brief Family Therapy Center from Milwaukee by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and their team. Its theoretical premises and technical approaches are greatly influenced by the therapeutic work of authors such as Milton H. Erickson, as well as by the clinical approach developed at the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto (Fisch, Weakland & Segal, 1982).
Therefore, solution-focused brief therapy is born from the work of numerous therapists, including Harry Stack Sullivan and his hypnosis techniques and his vision of a trouble-free future..
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This new way of doing therapy is characterized, especially, by the following aspects:
As its name suggests, it is a type of therapy that does not require a large number of sessions. Normally, it does not exceed ten.
Another fundamental characteristic is that the therapist focuses on the here and now, solving all those problems that negatively affect the patient's life.
This does not mean that issues from the past are not discussed, simply that those problems that were important previously but do not affect the current life of the person are not of interest..
He is not interested in making a diagnosis ("obsessive neurosis", "anorexia nervosa", "ambiguity in parental roles", etc.). The important thing in this therapy is to bring to light the areas in which the patient has difficulties, seek solutions and apply them.
The therapist does not assume an expert position. This therapy does not focus on highlighting everything that the person, couple or family is doing improperly. Does not educate or correct patient flaws.
It can work with isolated individuals, couples or families, depending on the reason for demand and the specific needs of the patient.
For example, when it is estimated that a person around him is accentuating or maintaining his difficulties, he can be invited to come for a consultation so that he can help in the therapeutic process.
To carry out this therapy, the therapist is helped by a team or consultants with whom he analyzes the specific difficulties of the patient.
Brief therapy focused on solutions operationally defines the therapeutic objectives, which will mark the path that therapy should take and constitute an indicator of therapeutic success.
In other words, the therapeutic objectives are those that guide and help to evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy, ending it when these objectives have been achieved..
In solution-focused brief therapy, it is very common to ask the patient what his life would be like if he did not have the problems that have brought him to therapy.
They focus their attention on the patient being able to visualize this new life, without their current problem or problems, through the meticulous and detailed description. In this way, the person manages to imagine what their life would be like and the differences it would make with respect to their current situation.
Here we find a fundamental difference with respect to traditional therapies, in which they focused on extensively detailing the problem, highlighting the negative effects that they entailed, in a way that increased the perception of gravity and strengthened the patient's dependence on the therapist.
This method of proceeding has 3 fundamental advantages over previous therapies:
The procedures that are carried out in solution-focused brief therapy can be summarized in 5 fundamental points.
1. Session planning to be carried out and issuance of a subsequent hypothesis, based on the information collected.
two. Session introduction. It usually begins by establishing a comfortable relationship in which the patient is asked about his favorite activities, his strengths and other positive aspects that are in his life today.
3. Information extraction through circular questions. The team notes, in positive terms, everything that happens in the session, the behaviors carried out by the patient, etc..
4. There is a pause in which the information extracted is analyzed and the problem is redefined.
5. After the break that has been carried out, you start by praising the person, family or partner and changes are proposed to be made in the near future.
In a later session, we can check if they have carried out the proposed changes, which will indicate if the patient / s are engaging in therapy as they should..
This way of working resembles the setting of the School of Milan, although the therapeutic style is warmer and closer in the brief therapy focused on solutions..
This premise refers to the capacity that clients have to construct reality, to tell them to themselves and, most importantly, to be able to modify these constructions for other more useful ones, negotiating them within social interaction..
Following Wittgenstein, these constructions can be understood as “language games”, so that therapy would be considered a process in which
clients change their maladaptive language to one that is more solution-focused.
This therapy is not about discovering an absolute truth or reality, so techniques such as "reading between the lines" are not used. Therefore, the idea that there are different levels of depth (unconscious, repressed childhood trauma, etc.).
O'Hanlon (1994) also refers to this premise when he states that “the problem is not the person (or the family); the problem is the problem ".
The task of solution-focused brief therapy is not to look for hidden clues underneath what the clients say, but simply to help them talk or narrate the problem in such a way that they can find solutions, more positive and productive alternatives to the complaint..
From solution-focused brief therapy, no single model of a “healthy” person or “functional” family / couple is conceived. On the contrary, it is understood that there are multiple ways of acting and behaving, none of them being, a priori, superior to the others..
Therefore, it is not intended that clients follow a line of action established in advance (such as making the family increase their level of communication, or that the person mature).
Examples of objectives that are intended to be achieved with this therapy could be:
This premise refers to the belief that two people, faced with a similar complaint, can generate very different alternative solutions..
For example, in the case of two people who have received the same diagnosis by a psychiatrist, such as depression, in this therapy, one of them can solve their problems by leaning on their loved ones while the other decides to get more involved in work.
The opposite case can also be the case, in which two similar solutions can be carried out in two people with a very different diagnosis. As can be seen, in brief therapy focused on solutions, it is not necessary to know the problem in depth to be able to solve it, nor its frequency, nor the way in which it was generated..
It is enough to find solutions, detect customer resources (personal, social and professional), find ways to achieve it and maintain the achievements.
According to this last premise, clients can achieve their goals on their own - even if they currently need external help to guide them or remind them of their capabilities.-.
The way to find those resources that have been forgotten is through the conversation that, as we have already been commenting, does not focus on delving into the depths of the problems, but rather detecting and acting on them.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, while currently enjoying great popularity and scientific interest and support, continues to receive negative reviews.
Watzlawick (1992), for example, stated that it is a reductionist therapy of complex reality, since it does not focus on knowing the person and the environment in which they operate in depth. Therefore, it would be techniques that are carried out without the certainty that they are the most appropriate for the person in question..
Hoffman (1990), for his part, stated that it is about “colored lenses” through which we see what surrounds us. According to this author, as much as solution-focused brief therapy is dressed in the guise of objectivity, this theoretical model dictates what we can see and what not, what is more, they determine where to look and where not to look, what to talk about and what to do. what not, etc.
Other authors, for their part, have dismissed this way of doing therapy as "radical" or "blunt", since it is not usually complemented with other work methods.
We hope that this article has been interesting and has helped you to have a deeper and more objective vision of the characteristics of brief therapy focused on solutions..
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