Solution Focused Brief Therapy

100 Key Points

by Harvey Ratner, Evan George, Chris Iveson

Solution Focused Brief 100 Key Points and Techniques provides a concise and jargon-free guide to the thinking and practice of this exciting approach, which enables people to make changes in their lives quickly and effectively. It This book is an invaluable resource for all therapists and counsellors, whether in training or practice. It will also be essential for any professional whose job it is to help people make changes in their lives, and will therefore be of interest to social workers, probation officers, psychiatric staff, doctors, and teachers, as well as those working in organisations as coaches and managers.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Counselling, Social Work

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2012

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a nice add-on to my CBT practice. It gives the therapist great practical advice how to use solution focused techniques in conversation with your client. Although this book taught me a lot, I think the '100 key points'-format isn't the best for a study-book. Also, the creators of this kind of therapy treat it like it's the holy grail of therapies, and we all know there ain't such a thing.

[Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biblia TSR serio

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes itself far too seriously (as do most books like it). It offers a solid explanation of the theory and practice behind solution focused brief therapy, but could be condensed into 1/4 its size. Some of the writing is ridiculous: "It is the task of the worker to determine the client's unique way of attempting to cooperate with the work and thus to discover the best way to cooperate with the client's way of attempting to cooperate (p.21)." In another section, the authors describe how a series of questions (a "resource audit") by a therapist literally cured a Holocaust Survivor's life-long depression (p. 53), and in yet another section, imply that a heroin addict was no longer an addict after one session of solution focused therapy (p.97).

The problem with books like this is that in trying to prove the effectiveness of the techniques or theories described, successes and achievements are inflated. Most, if not all, of the case examples are used to prove the effectiveness of the technique(s), and failures are discounted or simply ignored. Solution focused brief therapy certainly brings some unique perspectives and techniques to the table, but the truth is that it doesn't always work: there really are no miracle cures. People and problems are complex, and require multi-faceted interventions and approaches.

I wish our culture didn't demand the need to find "the answers" but instead valued nuance and subtlety. A little humility in the writing would have greatly increased my receptiveness to this book.

[Jayde Marie]

Third textbook of the lockdown reading. It's been a really interesting time to read this book, actually, as I am feeling anything but solution-focussed myself! I am doing quite a bit of delicious wallowing in my own despair at the moment, and so reading about how to move people away from talking about the problem has been personally challenging. I didn't totally buy the idea of solution-focussed therapy during our teaching on it, but this book has actually helped soften me to the idea. It is a really accessibly written book, and has the magical quality of short chapterS which I love, and so I have been able to digest the ideas quite easily. The chunks of therapy transcript are really helpful to exemplify how a certain technique or type of question might work, and I have found it quite easy to picture what solution-focussed work might look like 'in the room'. I feel like this book has given me as good as possible a sense of solution-focussed therapy as is possible from a book, and hopefully I'll be able to at some point use this foundation in practice.

[Tian Esterhuizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for anybody interested in expanding their therapeutic toolbox. With its roots in general systems theory, solution focused brief therapy is an interesting, refreshing, and evidences based way of engaging clients in a future oriented way. Using the individuals strengths and patterns to assist them in gaining the confidence to implement the small changes they are already capable of making.

[Ray Eary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book for new and experienced counselors on using Solution Focused Brief Therapy

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise look at SFBT. I was able to incorporate techniques with my clients immediately and saw incredible results.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to summarize the main aspects of SFBT. It does get repetitive at times and the last couple of sections were a bit droll, nut overall, a great resource.

[James Rye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Despite professional and serious content it is written in a relaxed and readable style. It has a 100 short chapters which introduce the reader to the key concept or technique, but never lets the material get bogged down.

The techniques described in the book are relevant, not just to therapists, but to anyone working to help others make changes in their lives - teachers, social workers, probabtion officers, psychiatric staff, mentors, managers, supervisors etc.

The many years of experience that the authors have in clinical practice and in training shine through. They explain the material clearly, and then face up to the objections that have been raised either by their students or the "difficult" clients they have worked with.

I found the book inspiring, and on the basis of reading it, have signed up to do 4 days training with the authors. Reading a book really can change your life.

[Wilhemina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book to be read slowly, preferably, one chapter at a time over a period of 100 days or so. The reason is that it takes time to incorporate the skills and techniques mentioned by the authors and one should really savour those skills because they do and will have a powerful effect over others as well as oneself. Highly recommend this book to educators, parents, counselors and therapists.