3 Solution Focused Therapy

Solution-
Focused
Therapy
-Faustino, Dianne
-Depusoy, Delsea Delight
Solution-Focused Therapy
• Solution-focused therapy was developed by Steve DeShazer based on the
work done by the Mental Research Institute (MRI; Bateson, Watzlawick,
Weakland, & Fisch) group in Palo Alto, California, and the ideas of Milton
Erickson toward the end of the 1970s.
• Insoo Kim Berg is considered to be the cofounder of SFT. DeShazer and Insoo
Kim Berg founded the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in
1978 and spent over 30 years working with individuals, couples, and families
facing a broad range of difficulties (De Jong & Kim Berg, 2002).
One important feature of the
development of SFT
It has been an inductive process of
“observing individual interviews and
simply paying attention to what was
most useful” (De Jong & Kim Berg,
2002, p. 11)
The team at the Brief Family Therapy Center realized that too much time
was devoted to talking about problems, and there was not enough
discussion of was helpful in terms of solutions.
They shared:
“We discovered that problems do not happen all the time; even the most chronic
problems have periods or times when the problem does not occur or is less
intense. By studying these times when problems is less severe or even
absent, we discovered that people do many positive things that they are not
fully aware of. By bringing these small successes to their awareness, and
helping them to repeat these successful things they do when the problem is
not there or less severe, their life becomes better and people become more
confident about themselves.” (Brief Family Therapy Center, n.d.)
• De Shazer and Kim Berg realized that there
is not necessarily a connection between a
problem and its solution when, in 1982, they
worked with a family that listed 27 different
problems.
• They just asked the family to observe “what
was happening in your life that you want to
continue to have happen.” The family
returned reporting that things were much
better. That began a shift in therapeutic
work from “problem solving” to “solution
building” (De Jong & Kim Berg, 2002).
Other practitioners and authors who have developed
variants of the solution-focused approach
 Bill O’Hanlon, who has created possibility therapy

(1997, 2003, 2005; O’Hanlon & Bertolino, 1998)
 Michelle Weiner Davis (1993, 1995, 2003)
 Eve Lipchik (2002)
 Scott Miller, Barry Duncan, and Mark Hubble
(Duncan & Miller, 2000; Hubble, Duncan, & Miller,
1999; Miller & Kim Berg, 1995)
 Jane Peller [AU: Add dates.]
 John Walter (Walter, J.L. & Peller, J.E.,1992,
2000).
● There is one general goal in SFT: to
Goals of Solution- build solutions.
Focused Therapy ● There are no pre-established

therapeutic objectives defined by the
therapist. Each client is different and
the therapist tries to empower him
or her to build solutions that fit his or
her unique experience and situation.
Assessment in Solution-Focused
Therapy
 There is no assessment in the traditional sense of
finding out what is wrong or arriving at a
diagnosis. Psychometric or psychological are not
used.
 There is no special assessment phase. The

investigation about what changes clients want to
in their lives begins in the first session and can
continue throughout the duration of therapy.
Assessment in Solution-Focused
Therapy
 Solution-focused interviews can be conducted with
individuals, couples, families, or groups. When the
therapist is finding out about exceptions and goals,
he or she usually asks questions about how other
important people in the client’s life have noticed or
would notice improvement or change.
Process of Solution-Focused
Therapy
 The therapist supports the client’s solution
building by asking them what they would like to
see change in their lives; by listening to the
directions in which clients want to go and
inquiring about exceptions to problems (DeJong
& Kim Berg, 2002).
Process of Solution-Focused
Therapy
 The solution-focused therapist is very actively
involved in the conversation, which is a joint
exploration of goals, exceptions, and solutions.
Believing that clients are experts in their own
life does not mean that the therapist takes on a
passive role. Kim Berg describes the therapist
in SFT as “leading from one step behind,” by
practicing the skills that allow the client to
provide information about his or her situation
and him- or herself (DeJong & Kim Berg, 2002).
Self-Disclosure in Solution-Focused Therapy
• Self-disclosure is not common in SFT. Insoo Kim Berg says that they “do
not recommend that you tell clients about your own experiences” (De Jong
& Kim Berg, 2002, p. 32). The rationale for this is that the best place to look
for solutions is in the client’s experience and ideas. Kim Berg (2002) adds:
“Self-disclosure is best understood to mean using your senses, critical thinking

capacities and thoughts as instruments in the solution building process. It does
not mean telling your clients that, for instance, you too broke curfew as a
teenager or you too were sexually abused.” (p. 33)
Therapeutic Rellationships in Solution-
Focused Therapy Berg and De Jong (2002)
3 different kinds of relationships
• customer type relationship

• complainant type relationship
• visitor type relationship
Strategies and ● Describing the problem
● Defining goals
Interventions in Self ● Exploring expectations
Focused Therapy ● Formulating and offering feedbacks.
• View of Medication in Solution-Focused Therapy
• Curative Factors in Solution-Focused Therapy
• Culture and Gender in Solution-Focused Therapy
• Adaptation of Solution-Focused Therapy to Specific
Problem Areas
“This is a quote, words full of wisdom
that someone important said and can
make the reader get inspired.”
—Someone Famous

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Solution-

 Bill O’Hanlon, who has created possibility therapy

Focused Therapy ● There are no pre-established

 There is no special assessment phase. The

“Self-disclosure is best understood to mean using your senses, critical thinking

• customer type relationship

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