BRIEF SOL 2014

Interactional DescriptionChris Iveson

BRIEF7-8 Newbury Street

London EC1A 7HU

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The Big Bang

According to Steve Shazer the Solution Focused Brief Therapy began in 1982 (BFTC’s logo was Solutions since 1982) it was a few more years before the fragments began to coalesce but by 1990 the early universe looked something like this:

ProblemExceptionsMiracleScaleComplimentsTasks

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Our Solar System

By 1995 Steve de Shazer had re-described SFBT as

The Miracle Question and its Scale1. Problem (that brings you here)

2. Miracle (life without the problem)

3. Scale (how much of the miracle is already happening)

4. Compliments (to emphasise achievement)

5. Task (to promote further change)brief.org.uk

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A Problem!

Steve de Shazer was once asked at a BRIEF conference:“Doesn’t the word ‘solution’ imply the existence of a problem and therefore is their any real difference between problem- and solution-focused therapies”Steve replied:“That is what we are struggling with!”(In Putting Difference to Work de Shazer writes the ‘p’ word as problem - crossed through to show it was problematic but he did not know how to resolve the problem.

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The Preferred Future

de Shazer’s idea of “well-formed goals” are often cited as a feature of SFBT. However, in his work he did not seem to be aiming at specific goals but rather describing a whole inter-related set of possibilities – “the day after the miracle”

We began to describe the ‘miracle’ not in terms of a set of specific goals which we needed to help the client achieve but rather as a possible multi-faceted future that the client would prefer to the one they seemed to be heading towards.

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More tinkeringsNo problem

Asking the client about the problem had two origins1. To gain access to exceptions (to the more usual problem behaviours)2. Because ‘the client’s need to air their problems’ has always been a sacred cow in the world of therapy. de Shazer’s argued that all such assumptions should be tested and so we decided to test this one and see if clients minded not being asked about the problem. Eventually came up with our version of the taxi driver’s question:

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Amsterdam20-21 April 2010 Chris Iveson

BRIEF7-8 Newbury StreetLondon EC1A 7HUbrief.org.uk

One of the biggest changesBest hopesWe began starting the session with: “What are your best hopes from our meeting?” (our version of “Where to?”) instead of “What brings you here?” (or “Where from?”)This took the ‘problem’ and therefore the ‘solution’ out of Solution Focused Brief Therapy.

Though the therapist will listen carefully to whatever the client decides to tell them they no longer have to ask or initiate any curiosity about the problem.

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Who needs homework?Task-free therapyIt did not take a researcher to notice that clients’ lives improved (or didn’t) whether or not they completed tasks.

We tested this out and discovered that if tasks had any effect at all it was to make the therapy take longer.

Giving up tasks created a great space in the therapeutic encounter. What do you find yourself focusing on if you are no longer thinking about and planning for a task?

This led to two developments:

1. Lists2. Creative descriptions

Both of which were to become associated with single-session change

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A Secret WeaponListsAs often happens lists were an accidental discovery born out of a difficult moment in therapy.We discovered that asking clients to list their skills in relation to problem area or to improve performance could have a dramatic and lasting effect. In what ways are you a good parent? x 50 What are you good at in your job? x 100 Tell me 20 ways you have behaved well in school today.

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Emotion!Creative descriptionAs we got more meticulous with our preferred future questioning we became more aware of the ways family members (in particular) enact their emotional lives: the way a parent wakes a child; the way a child gives a goodbye hug; the way partners greet each other. These events are very influenced by ‘miracles’ and what we found when we lingered on them is that in describing such emotional behaviour the clients began to experience the emotions, even when they thought they had lost the capacity to do so.

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Nothing new……and something differentAll this is to be found in de Shazer’s writings and in his tapes – there is nothing new.However, these ideas and practices were mixed in with a lot of other ideas and practices so were never able to ‘fill the page’.So what is different is that by concentrating solely on these two activities, both introduced by de Shazer and colleagues, single-session therapy becomes closer to the norm.

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The Connie Factor“Resource Talk”Elliott Connie (SF couples therapist) introduced a few minutes of “resource talk” between ‘best hopes’ and ‘miracle’ questions. (“Tell me something about yourself?”, “What do you do for fun?”, “How did you two meet?”)Client and therapist are then able to listen to this with the hoped-for future in mind.When it comes to the miracle question clients tend to answer with more hope and belief in the possibility of change – a step towards a single session.

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It is not…...about finding solutions

... or about planning for the future.

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It is…

...about CREATING the context within which solutions will emerge

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RELATIONSHIPS

The most powerful CONTEXT for any human activity is the RELATIONSHIP context

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The relationship context

The Solution Focused approach to a problem is to trust that the client has the means to solve it and then set about creating the relationship context from which the client’s own resolution will evolve

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An example

COACH What are your best hopes from this session?

CLIENT I am very worried about tomorrow’s board meeting –

I’m not sure I can handle all the issues I really need to do well – I need some strategies!

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Being at your best

COACH Let’s imagine you wake up tomorrow and not only are you confident in your strategies but you are also at your best, ready for whatever the day brings.What might be the first thing you notice as you wake up that begins to tell you that this is a day when you are at your best?

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BRIEF. . . the story continues with further descriptions at various meeting points along the way:Coming through the door, interactions with eg security, people in the lift, receptionist, particular colleagues (by name). Then routines like starting computer, coffee, first phone call etc.

The Board!!!!

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There is no need to either come up with strategies or to continue the description into the boardroom – the description is intended to provide the context within which the client will work it out for himself.