- Assumptions for Solution Focused Therapy (TSR)
- For whom the therapy focused onsolutions (TSR)?
- Solution focused therapy not for everyone
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Solution Focused Therapy (TSR) is a therapeutic trend that consists in reaching a goal (solving a difficult situation) by searching for and making the client aware of his possibilities and strengths. In solution focused therapy, going back to the past is avoided, with most of the attention being focused on the present and the future.
TSR - Solution Focused Brief Therapy - SFBT - is a definition of one of the methods of the therapeutic approach. TSR in Poland has been used since the 1990s and is becoming more and more popular every year.
Therefore, more and more often you can see under the name of a specialist the signature: "TSR therapist" or "works in a solution-focused approach". What is TSR? When is it worth using the support of a specialist working in this trend and why is this approach becoming more and more popular?
Assumptions for Solution Focused Therapy (TSR)
Solution Focused Therapy (TSR) is based on change support techniques, but does not assume a specific strategy and sequence of actions - the therapist does not analyze and describe the reported problem, and the final effect of the therapy is not the solution of the problem itself, but the development of the best, most optimal way out of a given situation. It is the therapy participant (often referred to by the therapists as simply "the client") who decides which problems are solved and in what order.
It differs from other TSR methods in that the therapist does not play the role of an expert, who gives the client tips on how to solve the troubling problems, does not set goals that the person undergoing therapy should achieve in order to deal with difficulties she reported completely disappeared or decreased in severity. TSR does not make a diagnosis, it does not break down the problem into prime factors, and the customer's past is only occasionally returned. During therapy, the questions: "How should it be?", "Why is it not so?" This is done by focusing on "here and now" and on the futureparticipant of therapy. One returns to the past only to find the moments when the problem in question did not exist yet, was slightly smaller, or the client was able to cope with it at least to a minimal extent. Then you try to name the positive states and feelings from that period. The belief that change is inevitable and the realization that nothing lasts forever in life, according to the assumptions of TSR therapy, is to reassure the client that if everything has its beginning in time, there must have been a moment when the problem did not exist. At this point, the therapist's task is to extract a person's resources, skills, predispositions or effective action strategies. All this to make it easier to develop a strategy for reaching the expected future.
Searching for moments in life in which unwanted symptoms were less or completely absent and strengthening the mechanisms used by the client at that time, allows you to achieve therapeutic success.
The TSR approach is closest to the humanistic trend in the spirit of Milton Erikson, but it also draws largely from the effects achieved by systemic psychotherapy. The solution-focused therapeutic method was developed in the United States in the late 1970s by Steve de Shazer.
Despite their specific role, the therapist remains an expert in therapy, i.e. the way the conversation will be conducted and what therapeutic techniques will be used. It supports the person undergoing therapy in reaching the goal and in working out the optimal path, the most adequate to achieve the therapeutic goal. This is why the therapist avoids making a diagnosis in the traditional sense. During the process, it is based on the participant's perspective and perception. A specialist's task is to understand his world and the way he works. During the therapy, he tries to get as much information as possible from the person, which can bring him closer to solving the problem.
The therapist focuses on methods and behaviors that bring a beneficial effect from the client's perspective, during the conversation he brings out what helps him, tries to determine which strategies have constructively influenced solving other problems so far.
Worth knowingThe philosophy of Solution Focused Therapy is based on the following propositions: If something isn't broke, don't fix it. If it works, do more of it. If something doesn't work, don't do it again. Do something else.
The key to the TSR approach is simplicity in working with the client.
For whom the therapy focused onsolutions (TSR)?
Solution focused therapy is successfully practiced in many areas of psychological support. More and more centers and institutions dealing with therapy and broadly understood mental he alth appreciate the effectiveness of the method. Consider using therapy, including a solution focused approach, if you are experiencing:
- problems in the field of mental he alth,
- addiction or codependency,
- you experience or perpetrate violence,
- you have experienced a difficult situation, e.g. loss of a loved one, accident, job loss, relationship crisis, etc.,
- difficulties in relationship with your family or partner,
- parenting difficulties, etc.
TSR as a short-term therapy
No therapist is able to reliably declare at the first meeting how much time the therapy will take. Whether it will be 5, 15 or 50 meetings depends largely on the difficulty with which the client came forward and his current resources. The word "short-term" in relation to TSR means that the work is carried out as quickly as possible, in other words - as soon as the participant is able to work towards achieving the desired result. It happens that some clients will need several meetings in order to work out the necessary solution, and sometimes even a year. It is an individual matter.
Solution focused therapy not for everyone
It cannot be denied that supporters of more traditional trends often argue with the main assumptions of TSR, which avoids labeling the client. The way of working usually does not depend on an earlier diagnosis, but on the participant's individual resources and how much he is able to use them at a given moment. The diagnosis as such is not seen in terms of tools, on the contrary - it is considered unnecessary. The therapist does not follow a possible diagnosis, but what the client considers most important for him at a given moment.
The client plays a specific role in the therapeutic process. The TSR method assumes that he has all the resources to find the best way to deal with a difficulty. It is he or she who sets goals and areas for work, while assessing the effectiveness of the actions taken. Characteristic for this therapeutic trend is the complete acceptance of the participant's perspective and the simultaneous assumption that he is an expert in his case, and the therapist is only a tool that serves to achieve an important goal for him. The client constructssolution based on own resources and effective experiences.
It is worth remembering that solution-focused therapy (TSR) is not the only panacea for everything, it is only one of the possibilities of working on improving the quality of life, dealing with various types of difficulties. When considering therapy, I encourage you to get to know the current in which a given specialist works, so that the choice of the person whom we entrust our trust to would be a conscious choice.