Solution-Focused Therapy

Solution Focused Therapy is a 50-year-old method which focuses on accomplishing the desired targets that would be reached at the end of the therapy process instead of focusing on the circumstances of the problems that has prompted the client to seek therapy. Traditional therapies focus mostly on the past, the events and relationships experienced in the past. Whereas Solution Focused Therapy focuses on clarifying the targets and on the same problems that the client was able to cope with in the past. In short, in this therapy, what is important is is not the client’s past, but his/her present condition and his/her future.

The therapist tells the client to think of the future that s/he wants to realize and from that stage on, the therapist and the client work together to accomplish this desired future mostly in baby steps, but sometimes by making big changes. The solution is already present in the client’s personal resources. Instead of putting emphasis on what caused the problem, the emphasis is put on how to overcome it.

The therapists who practice Solution Focused Therapy believe that change is continuous in human life. Therefore, the therapist is able to present the client sturdy targets in order to attain the desired future. At this point the task of the therapist is to guide the client to the desired future and to facilitate the realization of his/her targets.

This therapy is based on three questions. The first: What are your expectations from this therapy? The second: In case these expectations are realized, what changes will occur in your life on daily basis? The last: What are the steps you have taken in order to realize these expectations? When these questions are answered by the client constructively, significant changes will follow. The aim of the therapist is to pose these questions in such a way that will encourage and stimulate the client to find his/her own answers.