Solution-focused Brief Therapy: Six Coping-problem Questions

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy was developed by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and their colleagues at the beginning of the 1970s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Solution-focused brief therapy explored in this essay as future-focused, goal-directed, and focused on the solution psychotherapy approach. The solution-focused was an approach to accepted clients without previous screening. I never knew that there was a different way to help clients. I am learning a new thing every day. The approaches I have explored are using Roger's approach but knowing that there is a different approach to clients' help themselves. I might want to use Roger’s approach in the future but I like to also use Solution-Focused Brief Therapy because what this author said: “grounded in social constructivism theories and positive psychology, SFBT is a strength-based and patient-centered approach that focuses on patients’ resources.” I will like to help a client make sure that they can help each other once we are finished with our sessions.

Six Fundamental Questions of Solution-Focused Therapy

The six questions that are used to help the clients one of the six questions are pre-session change, exception questions, miracle questions, coping questions, scaling questions, and relationship questions.

An example of the pre-session change questions is “what changes have you noticed that have happened or started to happen since you called to make the appointment?” This question helps the clients make changes before they come to see a professional.

An example of an exception question is “when was the last time that you didn’t have this problem? When was the last time that you expected that you’d have the problem, but it did not happen? When was the last time that you thought you would lose your temper, but you didn’t? What was different about these times?” These questions help the clients shake the problem they are having.

An example of miracle questions is “suppose that one night (pause), while you are asleep, there is a miracle and the problem that brought you into therapy is solved (pause). However, because you are asleep you don't know that the miracle has already happened (pause). When you wake up in the morning, what will be different that will tell you that the miracle has taken place? What else?” These questions help the clients separate for their problems and give them a future vision of their life without the problem.

An example of coping questions is “how have you been able to keep going despite all the difficulties you’ve encountered? How are you able to get up despite being so depressed? A newly developed question is the “lemon question” that embraces personal pride and dignity in assisting clients to look for personal strengths in coping with difficult situation: Suppose you came to see, with a new clarity, that ______ [a normalized statement of the difficult life predicament in which the clients find themselves], what would you be most proud of as your response to that situation?”

These questions help the clients understand that they are coping with their problems. Scaling question is “on a 1-to-10 scale, with 1 being the worst the problem could be and 10 as the most desirable outcome, where would you put yourself on the scale? On a 1-to-10 scale with 1 being you don’t believe you can do anything to change the situation and 10 meaning you are determined to do something to change the problem, how would you put yourself on the scale? What would your wife say using the same scale?” These questions give the clients evaluate their problems and give them a clear indicator of their progress. The finally come relationship question examples are “who would be the first to notice changes in you? What would your friends notice that is different about you if you are more comfortable with the new college environment? How would your mother rate your motivation to do something different and helpful on a 1-to-10 scale?” These questions help the client understand the problem they are having with other people and it helps the client make goals and changes to make their relationship better.

Different homework assignments are used for clients when they are in therapy. Some clients are asking to “do more of what works.” Some clients are asked to focus on the stability of the pattern of the problem. Finally, the client is asking to interrupt their problem patterns and to do something different. For my client, the homework I will ask them to do is to interrupt their problem patterns and develop new solutions. I believe this will help them understand that they can do something different and get a better solution. Another activate will be to identify their behaviors to their problem and make sure they do better.

Conclusion

To everything in this world, there are disadvantages. For this type of therapy, the disadvantages are research. When doing outcome research therapist have to be able to have more numbers of the issue in the research design. One disadvantage is the therapist must listen to what the client said. Also, the therapist has to listen when the clients say that they are done than they are done. A therapist can’t ever take credit for the client doing better because the client made all the changes. One situation that might encourage me to explore another problem-solving approach is when the clients are not getting better because they are distracted by the problems they are having. In this case, the client can get upset and might get mad at me because they are not finding a way out. I might tell the client to find a different goal to overcome and make sure they see all the improvement even do is little.

References

• Lee, M. Y. (2017). Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.
• Lutz, A. (2019). What is Solution-Focused Therapy?
• Simon, J. K., & Berg, I. K. (n.d.). Solution-Focused Brief Therapy With Long-Term Problem.
• Zhang, A., Franklin, C., Currin-McCulloch, J., Park, S., & Kim, J. (2017). The effectiveness of strength-based, solution-focused brief therapy in medical settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.