Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma

by Adam S. Froerer (Editor), Jacqui Von Cziffra-Bergs (Editor), Elliott E. Connie (Editor)

The topic of trauma has been covered in many books, and there are many publications covering the use of SFBT in different settings and with varied client populations. However, the convergence of these topics has, to date, been covered only minutely. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma is a comprehensive overview of how Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) can be used as a treatment approach for working with clients managing various forms of trauma. It includes an overview of SFBT's basic tenets, a description of the current research supporting SFBT as an evidence-based practice, and a comparison of how SFBT clinicians may approach trauma cases differently than clinicians from other therapeutic approaches. The bulk of the text uniquely includes chapters contributed by skilled SFBT clinicians, with differing clinical expertise, sharing their knowledge and describing their strength-based, resiliency focus of applying SFBT in different traumatic circumstances. Practitioners and even Master's/doctoral students will find this text invaluable in learning how to best help traumatized clients develop a positive future and move toward healing and health.

Genres: Nonfiction

258 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2018

Reviews

[Holly Buhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

olution focused brief therapy with clients managing trauma: book notes Froerer
* the truth of trauma is created by how the client experiences and talks about the traumatic experience.
* Change can occur through a reconstruction of a new reality through client and clinician language.
* SFBT includes three components
- the mechanism of change does not take place within the client but rather in the therapeutic dialogue
- Observable communication - what is said and done in session
- A solid experiment basis in psycholinguistic research
* language is valuable
* We build a co-construction of the story by the questions we ask in session
* “What have you been doing to cope” - everyone does something - but often subtle
* The gallery view
- best hopes room
- Resource talk room
- Preferred future room
- Ending the session room
* You must know the client’s best hopes before moving on
* Our job is to walk our clients through the gallery and and help them identify what stands out to them.
* Be careful of providing the PFC withdrawal system - encourage positive emotions
* As SFBT builds hope and imposes patterns of positive effects - neural networks (plasticity) are adapting change
* With trauma asking strategic experiences to focus on how they escaped and lived through the experience is important for focusing on control and hope
* Of the client wants to share a story it is important to ONLY validate and acknowledge strengths and resources
* Reframe complaints into goals
* Strategic answers where the answer is yes “so you stayed calm and in control?”
* Repetition is key in changing the brain
* Focus is on building a relationship with the client and not the trauma
* Research on trauma recognizes that an individuals experience and interpretation is another key factor in determining trauma
* SFBT says that despite trauma everyone is inherently resilient and still have resources to draw on for coping
* The client already has everything they need to manage their trauma in a way that is right for them
* Clinicians rely on using only client exact language to discuss hopes and desires
* In brief therapy and in preaching the Gospel it must be assumed that people already know what is good and right for them.
* How the individual survived is the focus of the conversation
* SFBT only attends to the preferred future not the problematic past
* Knowing details can sometimes satisfy our needs - but harms the client
* The most important questions are the ones that bring awareness to the Client’s resources they hold
* “I don’t know” means “shut up I’m thinking.”
* Questions to discover strengths:
- what has been going well in your life?
- What are some things that you enjoy or are good at?
- What else do you like to do?
- Where did you become interested in this?
- Where did you learn the skills to do this?
- It seems like you’ve learned a great deal about…
- How did you figure out how to cope with your feelings like that?
- What I see about you is that you are good at…
* Amplify Ambivalence: what are their “good reasons” for continuing in drug use? - in this line of thought it helps guide to how drugs are ultimately unhelpful
* When asking questions to children change the language to playful and simplistic
* Turn external goals into internal goals
* Children are creative and have a natural way of bouncing back and adapting
* We must use the language of the client
* If denial is seen ask what they hope / others hope to see changed
* Work on smaller goals not “stopping drug use” altogether
* It is important to acknowledge the hard work that happens in the process of withdrawal
* In mental health radical acceptance is necessary