Karen Franklin, Ph.D.
Selected Topics:
Solution-focused therapy is an exciting trend in psychotherapy. It differs in some major ways from traditional psychotherapy, which is the type of therapy that is most often depicted in popular cultural images such as books and movies.Instead of focusing on people's problems and pathologies, the emphasis in solution-focused therapy is on strengths and solutions. Therapy is oriented toward the future, rather than the past. Therapy is often brief, sometimes ten sessions or fewer.
Solution-focused therapists believe that how they view a client's problems helps to shape that client's response to therapy. For example, diagnosing a person with a mental disorder can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As Jay Haley, a pioneer in strategic family therapy, put it:
"To label a child as 'delinquent' or as suffering from 'minimal brain dysfunction,' or to label an adult as an 'alcoholic' or a 'schizophrenic,' means that one is participating in the creation of a problem in such a way that change is made more difficult…. The way in which one labels a human dilemma can crystallize a problem and make it chronic."
Solution-focused therapists believe that clients have within them the resources and strengths to improve their lives in the desired direction. The therapist's job is to help the client get unstuck and speed up the desired change process.
In solution-focused therapy, clients define the desired goals. This leads to a collaborative, problem-solving relationship between therapist and client.
For further information:
"Clues: Investigating solutions in brief therapy," by Steve de Shazer, 1988.
"In search of solutions: A new direction in psychotherapy," by William O'Hanlon and Michele Weiner-Davis, 1989.
