Solution-focused (brief) therapy (SFBT)[1][2] is a goal-directed collaborative approach to psychotherapeutic change that is conducted through direct observation of clients' responses to a series of precisely constructed questions.
[3] Based upon social constructivist thinking and Wittgensteinian philosophy,[3] SFBT focuses on addressing what clients want to achieve without exploring the history and provenance of problem(s).
The initial group included married partners, Steve de Shazer and Insoo Berg, and Jim Derks, Elam Nunnally, Judith Tietyen, Don Norman,[10] Marilyn La Court and Eve Lipchik.
Steve de Shazer and Berg, primary developers of the approach, co-authored an update of SFBT in 2007,[3] shortly before their deaths.
[7] The solution-focused approach was developed inductively rather than deductively;[7] Berg, de Shazer and their team[11] spent thousands of hours carefully observing live and recorded therapy sessions.
In most traditional psychotherapeutic approaches starting with Freud, practitioners assumed that it was necessary to make an extensive analysis of the history and cause of their clients' problems before attempting to develop any sort of solution.
Solution-focused therapists see the therapeutic change process radically differently[12] and informed by the observations of de Shazer,[13] which recognize that although "causes of problems may be extremely complex, their solutions do not necessarily need to be".
To do this, the practitioner must develop some information about the nature of problems that they will help resolve and ask questions about the client's symptoms.
The title SFBT, and the specific steps involved in its practice, are attributed to husband and wife Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, two American social workers, and their team at the Brief Family Therapy Center (BFTC) in Milwaukee, US.
Core members of this team were Jim Derks, Elam Nunnally, Marilyn LaCourt, and Eve Lipchik[26] as well as students Pat Bielke, Dave Pakenham, John Walter, Jane Peller, Elam Nunnally, Alex Molnar, and Michele Weiner-Davis.
[10] In 1978,[26] when the administration disallowed the one-way mirrors, de Shazer and Berg put together a team of practitioners and students and founded the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to continue their work.
[15] BFTC served as a research center to study, develop, and test techniques of psychotherapy to find those that are most efficient and effective with clients.
[32] In 1982 there was the watershed moment where the founders of SFBT, Berg, de Shazer, and their team transformed their brief therapy practice to become solution-focused.
[20][22] Their work in the early 1980s built on that of a number of other innovators, among them Milton Erickson and the group at the MRI[33] – Gregory Bateson, Donald deAvila Jackson, Paul Watzlawick, John Weakland, Virginia Satir, Jay Haley, Richard Fisch, Janet Beavin Bavelas and others.
[35][7] In SFBT, practitioners employ conversational skills to facilitate a discussion focused on solutions, as opposed to dwelling on problems.
[4][36] The questions themselves serve as the intervention, directing clients toward a mindset that fosters positive change and reduces negative emotions.
[2] To devise effective solutions, they examine clients' life experiences for "exceptions," or moments when some aspect of their goal was already happening to some extent.
SFBT questions prompt clients to discuss their preferred future and describe what would be different when the problem is solved or managed.
[41][42] Clients are asked to provide details about times when the problem was less severe or absent and to identify behaviors that work for them.
[51] Central to SFBT is the belief that clients are the experts in their lives and possess the knowledge necessary to achieve their goals.
[56] Conversely, new SFBT trainees may struggle with being overly optimistic and not genuinely validating clients' pain.
[56] This may be because concentrating on newly learned SFBT skills and techniques takes focus away from being present with the client.
[18][60][61][62][63][64] SFBT has a robust, broad, and growing evidence base and is recommended for use when deemed a good fit for the client and their problem.
[65][66] SFBT has been examined in two meta-analyses and is supported as evidenced-based by numerous federal and state agencies and institutions, such as SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs & Practices (NREPP).
[115][116][117][118][119][120] It has been shown to be effective in helping increase self-esteem,[121] hope,[107][122] good behavior, and social competence[123] among adolescents[124] and children.
[126][127][128][129] Workers with child protective services report in a qualitative study that SFBT training and supervision was helpful for them to work in a more cooperative and strength-based way and improved the overall mood and atmosphere of their encounters.