Defining and Describing Problems and Preferences Chapter 7 Defining and Describing Problems and Preferences By: Noah M.P. Spector and Shaofan Bu

Getting Inside the Story Without the client’s subjective experience, we have a recounting of “facts” alone What sorts of questions help gain an insider's view of the client’s experience? Instructions: Ask students to suggest questions which promote an “inside view” of the client’s experience. Invite students to draw from the book.

Problem definitions How counselor and client come to an agreement about the purpose of their conversation. In order for us to help, we to need to define the concern or problem Defining concerns leads us into task-oriented territory and forms the basis for constructive collaboration.

Temperature Reading Does the client feel good, bad or indifferent towards an experience/ intervention?

Temperature Reading More than dry facts, a sense of the client's perspective on the experience. How do they see it? Without this the counselor and the client can be on divergent tracts.

Naming rights Prioritizing client’s account of what is problematic for them and what they would like. Allow the client to name and define their experiences When we don’t hear client’s goals, we tend to impose our goals on them.

Shifting definitions of a problem Even a seemingly straight forward complaint is complex, it has the potential to expand to a variety of discussions. Counseling conversations are non-static, flowing from moment to moment. Meanings of the problem change as we co-construct meaning Client and Counselor can come to see concerns in new light

Externalizing Problems

Problem as Identity X

Problems obscure other accounts about people “every story a form of censorship” Problem as Identity X Actions taken, Skills and abilities, Hopes, Purposes Intentions, Values

Separating person and problem through how we talk Anxiety ADHD Stress Restlessness Anger Etcetera…. X

Collaboratively Naming Problems When possible, better that the name for a problem is in client’s words (for the usual reasons….!) Personifying problem can help: When X sneaks up on you… When Y whispers in your ear…

Relative influence: Once you have shared language, you can talk about: 1. the problem’s impact on the client, and 2. the client’s impact on the problem—promoting sense of agency.

Separating person and problem First, learn about the problem: How is Distraction affecting your learning? What is Stress taking away from you? If the Discouragement had a voice, what would it be saying to you? What does Procrastination get you doing instead? ETC. X 

Second, expand the descriptions of exceptions: How have you managed to reduce the Distraction? What do you do that helps to shrink the Stress? What responses to Discouragement's message have you come up with? How have you managed to sabotage the Procrastination? ETC. X 

Problems and preferences: Two-sides of the same coin “helpful change is not merely the extinction of unwanted experience: it involves replacing problems with something different, something more in line with client preferences” p 217 Preference is the flipside of problem

Client preferences as a compass for the journey “An account of problems indicates where clients don’t want to travel, while an account of preferences points to where they do want to venture.” Client’s preference indicates the direction of therapy.

Invoking preferences through questions Descriptions of the problem hint at preferences. Preferences can be implicit and may not be well-developed. Use questions that draw preferences into the foreground. Try to discover an alternative to the problem experience. E.g. Do you have any images of where you’d like to be when this issue is behind you?

Describing preferred outcomes “When clients struggle to name what a preferred state of affairs might look like, questions tapping into their imagination can help them” If they were to look into a crystal ball how would they like to see their lives? “Letter from the future” The goal is to develop a rich description of a preferred outcome