Thoughts from a Therapist

Tag: Solution focused therapy

  • Michele Weiner Davis’s ‘Divorce Busting’ – a response

    Divorce busting is a short and very easy to read book that lays out a linear and pragmatic method for avoiding divorce. The book starts with a beautiful explanation of the author’s position for resolution rather than divorce. Of course she offers examples of exceptions such as when there is a serious safety concern involved in staying in the marriage. Michele is applying a brief solution-focused intervention specifically to the issue of avoiding divorce (I enjoyed the consistency in that her book is literally and figuratively brief and solution focused). Solution focused in based on the idea that if you get people to start solving and to stop over analyzing the problem they will be more likely to reach a resolution in the present and they will be more likely to seek out solutions or to put the majority of there perceptual energy towards solutions in the future. In short if you focus on problems – you live within problems… if you focus on solutions – you live within solutions.
    To find out more about Michele’s psychotherapy services or to purchase her literature you may visit her website at http://www.divorcebusting.com/ 
    The basic components of the Solution focused method
     If people start using solutions they will be rewarded naturally and the person will therefore engage in more solution-oriented behaviors. The idea is to get some momentum behind the process of solving.
    Successful treatment – resolution is created by adding solutions as opposed to removing problems.
    The goal is to help the client to focus on the positives that will arrive in their future as they focus their attention on solutions.
    I very much agree with the main tenants of Michele Weiner Davis’s brief solution focused model for couples thinking about divorce. I also believe that Michele did a very good job of offering a more practical solution to such a complex issue. I do not believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach and I am therefore thankful for the diversity of approaches that are at my disposal. There are certain people who have very pragmatic and logical personality types that could be considerably less resistant to this approach.
     Michele helps people to focus on solutions. She uses the solution-focused method which is based on the belief that people can get trapped in cycles of problematic thinking… this means that people are spending most of their cognitive and therefore perceptual energy on problems. The premise is that a greater understanding of a problem does not necessarily help in the creation of a solution… as such her method (or the solution focused method) suggests that therapy should focus on solutions as opposed to spending time: dissecting the specifics of the problem, investigating family history related to the problem, and/or investigating the emotional impact of the problem on the individuals in the system.
    Earlier in my career I worked as a vocational trainer with the goal helping individuals with developmental disabilities to develop new effective behaviors to be successful in the work place. I can absolutely relate to her ideas that you do not need awareness of the problem to learn a new vocational skill, you don’t really need to know what impact your family history has in the roadblocks to developing that skill, and it really doesn’t matter what your feelings are regarding your lack of accomplishment so far in developing that vocational skill. That being said I was a bit stuck (and yes I can get very cognitively stuck) on the fact that solution focused intervention can look very similar to behavioral intervention with a new name.
    I thought that Michele did an excellent job in explaining her position that divorce is not a solution. With divorce being so normalized in our culture I believe that it is important for a substantiated voice to call for people to look at things from another perspective such as what about the kids, why are 2nd marriages likely to fail as well, and do we all really believe that happiness is solely the result of external forces?
    I absolutely agree with her position of fixing yourself, and in relation to successful behavior in marriages, I have scene her point first hand. Gottman observed that house work is correlated to sex. Michele seems to have broadened the idea to if you want sex don’t bitch about sex … clean the house. Again this is behavioral intervention to a tee… don’t say what you do not want… say what it is that you do want or even better compliment what you do like that is already happening. Hopelessness seems correlated to the perception that one lacks control and I think that Michele does a good job in advocating that people stop blaming and start taking some personal responsibility.
    In my opinion, and it is just an opinion, the main operation component of Michele’s intervention in ‘Divorce Busting’ is what the behaviorist have termed behavioral momentum. Essentially when one reaps the benefit or rewards from an easy and very doable behavior they are more likely to continue seeking new behaviors to achieve that desired sense of reward. We all use behavioral intervention all the time. When I was employed in a school setting where part of my job was crisis management behavioral intervention tools were very important… I will absolutely defend there efficacy. But… every time a ‘new method’ can be broken down to a fancy form of behavioral intervention I notice significant internal resistance. I think this comes from a few sources…

    • Narcissistically I probably want for my work as a therapist to be more complicated than simple behavioral modification.

     

    • Spiritually I find myself insulted by the way the behaviorist simplify the human condition.

     

    • Lastly, my at times insubordinate nature can resent the fact that the managed care gravitates to the observable and measureable at the expense of other equally helpful interventions. (ex. happiness, acceptance, compasion and love etc are abstractions that can not be measured unless you break them down into observable behaviors – what does happiness or love look like?)

     
    Every time that I read about such specific therapy interventions my mind starts to travel to the idea of having a menu option of therapy. What if clients got to pick from the following headings: and intervention to think different, an intervention to feel different, and intervention to behave different, and an intervention to be different etc.
    I have no disagreement with Michele’s approach or with solution-focused interventions in general as they are a great means to create new observable patterns for more effective function in a relationship.  I guess I wish that society would allow itself to consider the fact that therapy can have many functions. Therapy could be used to make bad better, good better, to increase self-awareness, to find insight, to create meaning, or for the maintenance of good etc.
                The more I do family therapy the more I agree that people simply want you to help them get the system working again… humans want the quicker solution. To my dismay people are rarely asking you to help them reach transcendence, and it is my acceptance of this which will help me most as I continue my therapeutic development.

  • Solution Focused Therapy simplified

    Quick summary: Solution focused is based on the idea that if you get people to start solving and to stop over analyzing the problem they will be more likely to reach a resolution in the present and they will be more likely to seek out solutions or to put the majority of there perceptual energy towards solutions in the future. In short if you focus on problems – you live within problems… if you focus on solutions – you live within solutions. I have outlined techniques to help people to use this method.
     
    The basic components of the Solution focused method – theories and such…
     
    If people start using solutions they will be rewarded naturally and the person will therefore engage in more solution-oriented behaviors. The idea is to get some momentum behind the process of solving. 
     
    Postmodernism = we create our own reality.

    • This means that if you focus on problems then problems become your reality. If you choose to focus your attention (consciously and subconsciously) on isolating problems then you reality (which is your subjective perception) will be made up of problems. 
    • Solutions – with the help of the therapist, clients learn to focus on solutions. They will then look for solutions in their world as opposed to constantly looking for problems.

     
    Therapist directs the clients toward solutions – though postmodernism-based interventions are not inherently theories which suggest that a therapist is an expert, solution focused interventions require the therapist to be very active in directing all communication away problem saturated narrative and towards solution-saturated narratives.
    Systemic – this theory suggest that if you offer positive change or a solution into a family system then there will be a ripple effect in which other parts of the system will begin to focus on solutions.
    Strength based – This theory is far more concerned with investigating and accenting strengths and hopes then with diagnosing a problem.
    Successful treatment – resolution is created by adding solutions as opposed to removing problems.
    The goal is to help the client to focus on the positives that will arrive in their future as they focus their attention on solutions.
      
     
    Techniques – what a therapist can do to help people to live with a solution oriented mindset.
     
    Miracle question – the therapist asks, “When you wake up and everything is resolved what will you notice… what changes will be present… what solutions will be used?”

    • It is important for the therapist to model the use of definitive language by saying ‘will’ instead of ‘could’… this increases hope.
    • I also like the questions, “when you are all done with therapy and we say goodbye what will you notice that has entered into your life?”

     
    Scaling questions – the client is asked to rate their current circumstance on a scale of 1 – 10. Example, “how is your communication with your wife right now with one being perfectly bad and 10 being perfectly good?”

    • After a number is reported by the client the therapist will ask a solution oriented question such as, “what will be happening when we raise your number by just one point?”

    Deconstruction – break down the solution into more manageable parts. If the solution was “to have a clean house” then the therapist would help the clients to break down the necessary steps to do so (put away clothes, buy dish soap, assign chores etc).
    Coping Questions – these questions offer a space for the therapist to empathize with the client’s emotional reaction to the problem while gently redirecting the focus to a client’s strength or resilience.

    • Example “with all the pain you are holding from the passing of your mom how have you been so strong as to successfully care for the needs of your children?” or this could be phrased as a statement … “I am impressed with your motherly abilities in the face of the hardship that you are going through.” 

     
    Strength based questions – the therapist will have the clients list their own strength and the strengths of their family members. The therapist will ask what strengths can be used in assisting the defined solutions.
    Hope – hope is talked about openly. Ex. “what are you hopeful about?”
    Gently redirect clients back to solutions – when a client derails into a problem saturated narrative the therapist will say something like, “I can tell that this is difficult for you and you really want me to understand to effects of this problem, I can help you best if we can allow ourselves to focus on solutions… when things are just a little better what will you notice?” Some therapists are less concerned with being gentle and might say something like,” we are talking about problems again… what is a small step you will make towards a solution?”
     
    Encourage a focus away from the belief that problems have an external origin. “What can you do to help with the solution?”
    Internal focus – Encourage people to identify the changes that they can make as opposed to focusing on the changes that their partner or other family members could make. 
     
    Unique Outcomes – address hopelessness, which often arises from over-generalizations, with contrary examples. Ex. He never shows affection… the therapist would help the couple to find a time when affection was displayed. 
    Find what you are doing right and do it more.
    A deeper understanding of the problem is not necessary – change the focus to the solution. History, emotional impact of the problem etc are not particularly necessary in this approach.
    Validate solutions that exist.
    Acknowledge positive change.
    Encourage and utilize definitive language – ex “I will start to be more involved.” as opposed, “I could be or if I am to be more involved”
     
    “problem based thinking is the problem… solution based thinking is the solution”