• P.A.

Dilinika Priyadarshani
• BAGD/16/4/6
Content
• What is this?
• History
• Basic philosophies
• How does it works?
• Techniques
The Miracle Question
Exception Question
Scaling Question
• For Whom?
• Conclusion
What is this?
Solution Focused Brief Therapy

• Focused on building a Resolution

• No Past  Focus on Now
• Use clients own strength
History
• Steve de Shazer(1940-2005) and Insoo
Kim Berg (1934-2007)
• 1980 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin-USA
• Brief family center
• O’Hanlon Beadle (1997)
Scaling, Miracle Questions,
Exception Finding and Problem Free Talk
Basic Philosophies
• The client’s frame is the correct one
• Highlighting on what can be changeable
and possible.
• The solution to the problem is within
the client’s world
• The person is not the problem
• Awareness on the part of the client is
NOT necessary for problem resolution
• Clients are NOT sturdy to therapy
• Change is constant
• Counselor do not need to know a lot
about the complaint to help resolve it
• There is no “one issue” causing the
problem
• Short term therapy
• Focus on possibilities and the future
How does it works?
Plan for 5 sessions
45 minutes each
If there is any improvement that can
see, Then increase gap between
sessions.
Techniques
• Focus on exclusions
• When was the problem smaller
• What helped you in the past
• What have other done to overcome this type of
problem
• Change or solution-focused on talk
• When the problem goes away…
• When therapy works, what will let you know you don’t
need it anymore?
• Strength building
• This is a somewhat special view of people
• Rather than focus on what is wrong – notice and identify
what is right
The Miracle Question
• Miller and Berg (1995)
• Followed the client’s suggestion and
asked, “Well … suppose that happened.…
What would be different?”
• Also,
Who would be most surprised?
What would others notice about you?
How would you behave/act differently?
Exception Question
• Identify client’s resources that they don't
even acknowledge
• Can be used even in most negative situations
• Genuine curiosity helps
• Genuine admiration for client helps
• Helps identify referred future
• Ensure client doesn't feel counselor is
contradicting them
• How do you cooperate with these
difficulties?
• What keeps you going?
• How do you manage day-to-day?
• Who is your greatest support?
• What do they do that is helpful?
• How did you get through that period?
• Who was your greatest support?
• How did they help?
Scaling Question
• The most flexible, simple, and popular
techniques
• The therapist asks the client to imagine
a scale ranging from 0 to 10.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NO YES

TASKS / SITUATIONS
– Scale things like:
• Happiness
• Sadness
• Problem resolution
– From scaling quiz,
• Clients usually become more
optimistic and hopeful and they find
new ways to take further steps
forward on the scale.
For whom?
• Families
• Couples
• Children
• Any one who want to change
Disadvantages
• Critics say it is too simplistic and does
not have enough empirical research to
support it.

• It may be contraindicated with

dependent clients.

• It may not adequately address clients

with serious mental issues.

• It may not develop the counselor/client

relationship in enough depth to be
therapeutic.
Conclusion
• The SFBT is a quite new approach
• The beginning of the 21st century messengers a
break with the effect of the last century
politically and socially as real- time
communications, together with a globalization &
ideas carried by computer technology have beaten
time and geographic-cultural distances between
countries.
• Different cultures, values and beliefs are brought
together through borrowed time and space.
• Ready for the cultural change in society, would be
dependent on whether any of them has the
potential for change.