Simple Therapy a step beyond SFBT Plamen Panayotov Solutions Brief Therapy and Counseling Centre Rousse Bulgaria

‘ Improvisation requires a profound process of assimilation verging on forgetting. ’ Paolo Pandolfo

What is the most useful definition of SFBT ? A psychotherapeutic approach A way of thinking A life philosophy A toolbox (Steve de Shazer)

How is this definition useful ? It allows for … -Discovering new tools -Trying them out in practice -Evaluating them -Sharing them with others -Adding them to the toolbox … thus developing the SFBT practice.

Solution Focus Question: Who needs to be solution-focused ? The therapist ? ( not necessarily ) The client ? ( preferably )

Question: Can we help clients become solution-focused without necessarily asking them SF questions ? The obvious answer : No. Paradoxically : Yes. If yes, how ?

Question:

to ask a certain question ( to use a particular tool ) ? Answer: You either guess, or you follow the client. Question: Which one is better ?

How do we follow clients ? by Listening to them and Observing their reactions

quoted Ludwig Wittgenstein:

DON'T THINK, BUT OBSERVE !

Question: Since the therapist is too busy Observing,

Who will do the Thinking ?

Obviously, the Client !

How are we going to help her do it

By including in most of our questions to clients: … what do you think … ?

Examples: ‘… what do you think you will notice after the miracle …’ ‘… where do you think you are on a scale from …’ ‘… what do you think s/he would say (see, notice) …’ ‘… what do you think the next step might be (look like) …’ ‘… when do you think it was a little bit better …’, etc.

the Thinking Tool / Question

The Basic Question ( Main Theme ) : What does the client want … -to talk about in her session ? -to be asked about ? -from our conversation ?

Thus we come to …

The Opening Questions : What do you think is the most useful question I can ask you as a beginning ? What do you think we need to talk about first ? What do you think we need to do first ?

Opening Questions

What do you think is the most common answer to the Opening Questions ? ? ?

Most clients reply with Laughter or at least a Smile

Insoo and Steve About Laughter video

How does this question/tool “What do you think is the most useful question I can ask you as a beginning ?” provoke laughter ?

By changing the focus from the client to the therapist and the conversation at hand. It’s implicit meaning is: I don’t know anything about your problem, about the possible solutions, but I don’t know also … what to ask you !

This turns the therapeutic situation Upside Down

When the client tells us the most useful question, we just … R e p e a t I t

Echoing - the Therapeutic Wheel

What happens if the client replies to the Opening Questions with : ‘ I don’t know. ’ This works as an invitation for us to use

The Classical SFBT Tools : Exceptions-finding Qs Miracle Question Scaling Questions Relationship Questions Coping Questions Compliments Tasks EARS

What happens if in response to the Opening Question the client asks W H Y her problem is there ?

Historically When talking about why problems exist used to say:

Shit A habit Happens.

Exercise Try to think of an exception to this ‘explanation’ : It happened first, and then became a habit.

The Final Cut of the Ockham’s razor : Everything happens first, and then becomes a habit.

Clearing the ‘why’ Questions

Instead of saying this to clients … we ask them the Why Clearing Questions: When did this habit happen for the first time ? How often does this habit happen lately ? When did this habit happen for the last time ? because of...

the Process: Most therapists reply with clever answers SFB Therapists reply with useful questions (a Jesuit habit) Clients come with their questions …

What do you think happens when the ‘why’ is cleared ? After answering one, two, or several echoing questions what usually happens is … A Miracle:

Clients BECOME Solution-Focused, and THEY ask …

The Awakening Question : What are we going to do about it ?

Then the therapist simply writes down their answers to the Awakening Question on … what, do you think ?

a Prescription

…

…

What does a Prescription contain ? From 1 to 5 (usually 3 - 4) self-prescribed tasks (answers to the Awakening Question) in client’s preferred order

Rp./ Pills A cigarette in the morning Verdi’s ‘Requiem’, page 107 of ‘War and Peace’, then talking to friends Buying a dog A walk in the park A cognac with the afternoon coffee Two-sided prescriptions Whatever clients prescribe to themselves

How does a Prescription work ? Written texts are usually more powerful than spoken words.

A Prescription works also as a Reminder

Handing SOMETHING to clients is better than ‘just talking’ to them.

What do you think needs to happen next ? We need to ask for a permission

to follow-up the client.

Follow-up Permission Quest If you let one of us ask you 6 months from now on the phone … How are things going on for you ? and Was our meeting(s) useful for you ? please write down your phone number.

How does it work ? From now on the client will have to change not only for herself, but also for the therapist. Her progress will be OBSERVED.

After the agreed upon TIME

Phone call by someone from the team

Follow-up Questions: How are things going on for you ? and Was our meeting 6 months ago useful for you ?

Feedback database DatePhone/ Client's Name(s) Client(s) Okay Client(s) Not Okay Therapy Useful Therapy Useless uuu xx vvv xx www xx xxx xx yyy xx zzz xx

How does it work ? -As an additional phone session -As a reminder -As a sign of engagement from the therapist -And …

As a tool for efficacy studies

Does Simple Therapy work ?

Reprise Therapeutic Improvisation requires a profound process of assimilation of therapeutic tools verging on forgetting them. after Paolo Pandolfo

for Questions & Comments

Don’t forget that the

is waiting for … Your new tools !!! So, Good Luck with discovering them with Your clients !

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