Let’s have a closer look at solution focused therapy, and how it differs from traditional psychotherapy techniques. The therapy I practice at Great Minds Clinic is actually called Solution Focused Brief Therapy, SFBT for short. Combined with hypnotherapy, this becomes solution focused hypnotherapy.
Find out more about Hypnotherapy for anxiety here. I am also currently offering a free initial consultation you can book here.
What benefits does that bring to my clients? To answer this, let’s step away from the whole solution focused approach for a second, and look at classical therapy.
Picture the stereotypical version of a therapy session, found in cartoons, sketch shows, TV dramas and so on. The therapist (who almost always bears a resemblance to Dr Freud) sits next to a patient, who’s invariably on a couch, and asks them about their childhoods, their mothers, their school days. And this focus on the past has become how we all view therapy, creating a widely accepted idea that we have to unpick our pasts to become mentally healthy today.
This doesn’t need to be the case. Stereotypes aside, traditional psychotherapy has a huge role to play, particularly when it comes to mental illness. However, most of my clients approach me not because they have a deep-seated psychological issue, but because they need an immediate solution to a problem. How helpful is it to look back when you actually want to move forward?
We can’t ignore the past
Of course, we can’t simply ignore the past, as our experiences form who we are, how we feel and think, and can sometimes affect how we behave. Sometimes it is helpful to talk about things that have happened. Talking can help us to gain a different perspective which can help us to move on. As a qualified integrative counsellor, I know how empowering it is to be listened to, to feel understood, and how that affects change too.
However, SFBT believes that by focusing on what we want in the future, rather than what happened in the past, we can achieve real and lasting change. Together, the client and I will look at this end goal, and put achievable steps into place to get there.
The solution focused approach is direct, focused and effective. Modern psychotherapy techniques mean that clients don’t need to spend years in therapy like in the old days of traditional psychoanalysis. By not dwelling on the past, we can concentrate on the future. Making a change can be a lot quicker than you’d imagine.
