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Take-home MessagesSolution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a therapeutic approach that emphasizes clients’ strengths and resources to create positive change, focusing on present and future goals rather than past problems. It’s brief, goal-oriented, and emphasizes solutions rather than delving into underlying issues.The focus is on the client’s health rather than the problem, strengths rather than weaknesses or deficits, and skills, resources, and coping abilities that would help reach future goals.Clients describe what they want to happen in their lives (solutions) and how they will use personal resources to solve their problems.Clients are encouraged to believe that positive changes are always possible and are encouraged to increase the frequency of current useful behaviors.Research has shown SFBT effectively decreases marital issues and marital burnout in women (Sanai et al. 2015). Research on children has shown an improvement in classroom behavioral problems in children with special educational needs after 10 SFBT sessions (Franklin et al. 2001).
Take-home Messages
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a therapeutic approach that emphasizes clients’ strengths and resources to create positive change, focusing on present and future goals rather than past problems. It’s brief, goal-oriented, and emphasizes solutions rather than delving into underlying issues.The focus is on the client’s health rather than the problem, strengths rather than weaknesses or deficits, and skills, resources, and coping abilities that would help reach future goals.Clients describe what they want to happen in their lives (solutions) and how they will use personal resources to solve their problems.Clients are encouraged to believe that positive changes are always possible and are encouraged to increase the frequency of current useful behaviors.Research has shown SFBT effectively decreases marital issues and marital burnout in women (Sanai et al. 2015). Research on children has shown an improvement in classroom behavioral problems in children with special educational needs after 10 SFBT sessions (Franklin et al. 2001).
Solution-focused brief therapy is a goal-oriented, collaborative approach that focuses on identifying and building upon a person’s existing strengths and resources to create practical solutions for their current concerns.
What is Solution-Focused Therapy?
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), also referred to as Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT), is aform of psychotherapyor counseling.
This form of therapy focuses on solutions to problems or issues and discovering the resources and strengths a person has rather than focusing on the problem like moretraditional talking therapiesdo.
Thus, instead of analyzing how the issue arose or interpretations of it and why it is there and what it really means for the person, SFBT instead concentrates on the issue in the here and now and how to move forward with a solution for it (De Shazer, 1988; De Shazer & Dolan, 2012).
The reason for its creation was that De Shazer and Berg noticed that clients would often speak about their problems and issues, seeming unable to notice their own inner resources for overcoming these problems and focusing on the future.
They also noticed that the client’s problems or issues showed inconsistency in the way that sometimes they were present and other times they were not, as the person did have moments in life where they could function without the problems being there.
Thus it was important to think about and explore these exceptions when the problem is not affecting the person (Iveson, 2002).
What is Solution-Focused Therapy used for?
Solution-Focused Therapy is currently used for most emotional and mental health problems that other forms of counseling are used to treat, such as:
SFBT is best used when a client is trying to reach a particular goal or overcome a particular problem.
While it is not suitable to use as a treatment for major psychiatric conditions such as psychosis or schizophrenia, it could be used in combination with a more suitable psychiatric treatment/ therapy to help alleviate stress and bring awareness to the person’s strengths and internal resources.
Research has shown that after a one-year follow-up, SFBT was effective in reducing depression, anxiety, and mood-related disorders in adults (Maljanen, et al., 2012).
A study on substance abuse in adults showed SFBT to be just as effective as other forms of talking therapy (problem-focused therapies) in treating addiction and decreasing addiction severity and trauma symptoms (Kim, Brook, & Akin, 2018).
A literature review showed SFBT to be most effective on child behavioral problems when it was used as an early intervention before behavioral issues became very severe (Bond et al. 2013).
Solution-Focused Therapy Techniques
In a solution-focused therapy session, the practitioner and client will work collaboratively to set goals and find solutions together, to overcome the problem or issue.
The practitioner will ask questions to gain an understanding of the client’s strengths and inner resources that they might not have noticed before.
The practitioner will also use complimentary language to bring awareness to and to support the strengths that the client does have, to shift the client’s focus to a more solution-oriented, positive outlook, rather than ruminating on the problem, unaware of the strengths and abilities that they do have.
Sessions usually will last between 50 – 90 minutes, but can be as brief as 15 – 20 minutes, usually once per week, for around 6 – 12 weeks, but are also given as one-off, stand-alone sessions.
There are lots of techniques used in SFBT to shift the client’s awareness onto focusing on the future and on a solution.
These techniques include the miracle question, coping questions, exceptions to the problem, compliments, and using scales, which are explained in more detail below:
1. The Miracle Question
This is where the practitioner will ask the client to imagine that they have gone to sleep and when they wake up in the morning, their problems have vanished.
After this visualization, they will ask the client how they know that the problems or issues have gone and what is in particular that is different.
For example:
‘Imagine that when you next go to sleep, a miracle occurs during the night, so that when you wake up feeling refreshed, your problem has vanished. I want to ask you how do you know that your problem has gone? What is different about this morning? What is it that has disappeared or changed in your life?’
This question can help to identify and gain a greater understanding of what the problem is and how it is affecting the person and can provide motivation to want to move forward and overcome it after imagining what it could be like to wake up without it (De Shazer et al., 1986).
2. Coping Questions
Coping questions are questions that the practitioner will use to gain an understanding of how the person has managed to cope.
When someone has been suffering from depression or anxiety for a long time, it often begs the question of how they have continued in their life despite the potentially degrading or depleting effects of such mental and emotional health problems.
‘After everything you have been through, I am wondering what has helped you to cope and keep you afloat during all this?”;
‘I feel to ask you, what it is exactly that has helped you through this so far?’.
These questions cause the client to identify the resources they have available to them, including noticing the internal strength that has helped them make it thus far, which they might not have been consciously aware of before (De Shazer et al., 1986).
3. Exceptions to the Problems
Solution-focused therapy believes that there are exceptions or moments in a person’s life when the problem or issue is not present, or the problem is there; however, it does not cause any negative effects (De Shazer et al., 1986).
4. Compliments
This involves the practitioner actively listening to the client to identify and acknowledge their strengths and what they have done well, then reflecting them back to the client whilst also acknowledging how difficult it has been for them.
This offers encouragement and values the strengths that the client does have. The practitioner will use direct compliments (in reaction to what the client has said), for example, ‘that’s amazing to hear!’, ‘wow, that’s great.’
Indirect compliments are also used to encourage the client to notice and compliment themselves, such as coping questions or using an appreciatively toned voice to dive deeper into something highlighting the positive strengths of the client.
For example, ‘How did you manage that?!’ with a tone of amazement and happy facial expressions.
5. Scales
The practitioner will ask the client to rate the severity of their problem or issue on a scale from 1-10. This helps both the practitioner and client to visualize whereabouts they are with the problem or issue.
They can be used throughout sessions to compare where the client is now, in comparison to the first or second session, and also to rate how far from or near their ideal way of being or to complete their goal.
This can help both practitioner and client notice if something is still left to be done to reach a 9 or 10, and can then start exploring what that is.
Scaling helps to give clarity on the client’s feelings, it also helps to give sessions direction and highlights if something is holding back the client’s ability to solve the problem still or not.
Critical Evaluation
Advantages
Disadvantages
References
Bond, C., Woods, K., Humphrey, N., Symes, W., & Green, L. (2013).Practitioner review: The effectiveness of solution focused brief therapy with children and families: A systematic and critical evaluation of the literature from 1990–2010.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(7), 707-723.
De Shazer, S. (1988).Clues: Investigating solutions in brief therapy. New York: Norton & Co.
De Shazer, S., Berg, I. K., Lipchik, E., Nunnally, E., Molnar, A., Gingerich, W., & Weiner-Davis, M. (1986).Brief therapy: focused solution development. Family Process, 25(2): 207–221.
De Shazer, S., & Dolan, Y. (2012).More than miracles: The state of the art of solution-focused brief therapy. New York: Haworth Press
Franklin, C., Biever, J., Moore, K., Clemons, D., & Scamardo, M. (2001). The Effectiveness of Solution-Focused Therapy with Children in a School Setting.Research on Social Work Practice, 11(4): 411-434.
Iveson, C. (2002).Solution-focused brief therapy.Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 8(2), 149–157.
Kim, J, S., Brook, J., Akin, B, A. (2018).Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Substance-Using Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study.Research on Social Work Practice, 28(4), 452-462.
Maljanen, T., Paltta, P., Härkänen, T., Virtala, E., Lindfors, O., Laaksonen, M. A., Knekt, P., & Helsinki Psychotherapy Study Group. (2012). The cost-effectiveness of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and solution-focused therapy in the treatment of depressive and anxiety disorder during a one-year follow-up.Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics. 15(1), 13–23.
Sanai, B., Davarniya, R., Bakhtiari Said, B., & Shakarami, M. (2015). The effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) on reducing couple burnout and improvement of the quality of life of married women.Armaghane danesh, 20(5), 416-432.
Further InformationSolution-Focused Therapy Treatment Manual.De Shazer, S., & Berg, I. K. (1997). ‘What works?’Remarks on research aspects of solution‐focused brief therapy. Journal of Family therapy, 19(2), 121-124.Dermer, S. B., Hemesath, C. W., & Russell, C. S. (1998). A feminist critique of solution-focused therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy, 26(3), 239-250.Trepper, T. S., Dolan, Y., McCollum, E. E., & Nelson, T. (2006). Steve De Shazer and the future of solution‐focused therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 32(2), 133-139.De Shazer, S., Berg, I. K., Lipchik, E. V. E., Nunnally, E., Molnar, A., Gingerich, W., & Weiner‐Davis, M. (1986). Brief therapy: Focused solution development. Family process, 25(2), 207-221.
Further Information
Solution-Focused Therapy Treatment Manual.De Shazer, S., & Berg, I. K. (1997). ‘What works?’Remarks on research aspects of solution‐focused brief therapy. Journal of Family therapy, 19(2), 121-124.Dermer, S. B., Hemesath, C. W., & Russell, C. S. (1998). A feminist critique of solution-focused therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy, 26(3), 239-250.Trepper, T. S., Dolan, Y., McCollum, E. E., & Nelson, T. (2006). Steve De Shazer and the future of solution‐focused therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 32(2), 133-139.De Shazer, S., Berg, I. K., Lipchik, E. V. E., Nunnally, E., Molnar, A., Gingerich, W., & Weiner‐Davis, M. (1986). Brief therapy: Focused solution development. Family process, 25(2), 207-221.
Solution-Focused Therapy Treatment Manual.
De Shazer, S., & Berg, I. K. (1997). ‘What works?’Remarks on research aspects of solution‐focused brief therapy. Journal of Family therapy, 19(2), 121-124.
Dermer, S. B., Hemesath, C. W., & Russell, C. S. (1998). A feminist critique of solution-focused therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy, 26(3), 239-250.
Trepper, T. S., Dolan, Y., McCollum, E. E., & Nelson, T. (2006). Steve De Shazer and the future of solution‐focused therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 32(2), 133-139.
De Shazer, S., Berg, I. K., Lipchik, E. V. E., Nunnally, E., Molnar, A., Gingerich, W., & Weiner‐Davis, M. (1986). Brief therapy: Focused solution development. Family process, 25(2), 207-221.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Heather MurrayCounsellor & PsychotherapistsB.A.C.P., B.A.M.B.A
Heather Murray
Counsellor & Psychotherapists
B.A.C.P., B.A.M.B.A
