Simple Therapy

a step beyond SFBT

Plamen PanayotovSolutions 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 FocusQuestion:

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 !

http://brianmft.talkspot.com/aspx/templates/topmenuclassical.aspx/msgid/362961

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

Questionthe client asks

W H YW H Y her problem is there ?

HistoricallyWhen talking about why problems

exist

used to say:

Shit

A habit

Happens.http://en.solutions-centre-rousse-bulgaria.org/files/The_Vomiting_Girl.pdf

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 themthe 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 Therapistsreply 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 questionswhat 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 downtheir answers

to the Awakening Questionon…

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 clientsis 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 beOBSERVED.

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

Date Phone/e-mail

Client's Name(s)

Client(s)Okay

Client(s)Not Okay

Therapy Useful

Therapy Useless

uuu uuu uuu x x

vvv vvv vvv x x

www www www x x

xxx xxx xxx x x

yyy yyy yyy x x

zzz zzz zzz x x

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

TherapeuticImprovisation

requires a profound process of assimilation

of therapeutic tools verging onforgetting

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 !

Visit our web-site at

http://en.solutions-centre-rousse-bulgaria.org/