If there is any kind of magical element to counseling, Solution-Focused therapy might be it. The effect comes from using language to shape attention, and attention in turn to open possibilities.
A Solution-Focused therapy doesn’t spend a lot of time on problems. Yes, people come to counseling with problems. Some are personal. Some are marital. Some involve the kids or the extended family. Work or school. Everyone wants to talk about problems, thinking it’s important to get to the root of them, understand the cause, the why, how it can be fixed. All of that is perfectly understandable. And there is usually space for that at the beginning of the work. But a Solution-Focused therapist is not primarily oriented toward staying there.
Solution-Focused therapy is, rather, about exceptions to the problem, or times when the problem was not a problem, and what that looked like. Talking about when there was no problem serves to remind us that it wasn’t always like this, and it doesn’t have to continue like this. It also identifies what's already working, even in small ways, and where the problem loosens its grip. And perhaps most importantly, it helps us begin to envision a future without the problem. To define that future. To spell out in detail what that might look like.
Therein lies the magic.
But if you think about it, it’s not really magic at all. How, for example, does something like a bridge come into existence? Well, we first notice a problem. The problem is I can’t walk from this side of the river to that side without going under. Now, I could dig down into why that is, spend a lot of time pondering how that came to be, how it makes me feel, how powerless I am to cross that water. In fact, I could spend a whole lot of time doing that. Hours. Weeks. Months.
But no matter how much time I spend doing that, I will never get across that water without using my imagination. Without beginning to picture a different arrangement of things. So if I begin by thinking of exceptions, of times when the problem was not a problem, I might think of times when I was able to walk on smooth, dry surfaces without sinking. And how nice that was. And if I envision a future where I’m walking on smooth, dry surfaces, it might occur to me that I could build one that stretches from this side of the river to that one.
And here’s where the shift comes in. I now have a thought in my head that I didn’t have before. I can put words to that thought. I can let others put their words to it. We can talk about how to make this happen, this bridge idea. We can talk about what help is needed, what materials, or where to get instructions on building such a thing. Suddenly, the possibilities feel more available. I’m no longer organized around a problem; I’m beginning to orient toward a solution.
That is pretty much what Solution-Focused therapy is all about. A somewhat simplified description, perhaps, but one that points to its practical power all the same. A Solution-Focused therapist can help with a range of mental, emotional, or relational concerns, including:
Anxiety
Depression
Low self-esteem
Relationship trouble
Substance abuse/addiction
Crisis/emergency intervention
Personal stress or work-related stress
If you’d like to explore a Solution-Focused approach to counseling for yourself, your romantic relationship, or your family, please reach out.
Improve accuracy for documents and research
Upgrade to Plus and use the latest Thinking model to synthesize documents, research, files, and complex information.