Solution Focused Therapy

FORGIVENESS or TRUTH: WHICH IS THE BEST REMEDY? by Carol P. Christ

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published in the Feminism and Religion project

What happened to you really was bad. This should not happen to any child. It should not have happened to you.
more What happened to you really was bad. This should not happen to any child. It should not have happened to you.

In our culture there is often a rush to forgiveness that precedes acknowledging the harm that has been done. When I was a child and my father yelled at me or withheld love, I was told by mother, “He really does love you. He just does not know how to show it.” She sometimes added, “Even though he will never say he is sorry, you should forgive your father, because he did not really mean what he said.”

Identifying pretreatment change before the first session

by Jeffrey Guterman

Guterman, J.T. (1998). Identifying pretreatment change before the first session. Journal of Mental Health Counseling,... more Guterman, J.T. (1998). Identifying pretreatment change before the first session. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 20, 370-374.

Solution-focused counseling for clients with religious and spiritual concerns

by Jeffrey Guterman

Guterman, J.T., & Leite, N. (2006). Solution-focused counseling for clients with religious and spiritual concerns.... more Guterman, J.T., & Leite, N. (2006). Solution-focused counseling for clients with religious and spiritual concerns. Counseling and Values, 51, 39-52.

Solution-focused therapy for families coping with suicide

by Jeffrey Guterman

de Castro, S., & Guterman, J.T. (2008). Solution-focused therapy for families coping with suicide. Journal of... more de Castro, S., & Guterman, J.T. (2008). Solution-focused therapy for families coping with suicide. Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, 34, 93-106.

A solution-focused approach to frotteurism

by Jeffrey Guterman

Guterman, J. T., Martin, C.V., & Rudes, J.(2011). A solution-focused approach to frotteurism. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 30, 59-72.

An examination of a solution-focused approach to university teaching development

by Marcia Devlin

Solution-focused work in individual academic development

by Marcia Devlin

A solution-focused model for improving individual university teaching

by Marcia Devlin

Language, complexity and narrative emergence: Lessons from Solution Focused practice

by Mark McKergow

Published as a chapter in Andrew Tait and Kurt Richardson (2011), Moving Forward with Complexity, Litchfield Park AZ: Emergent Publications, ISBN 978-0984216598

This paper examines the case for viewing conversations as emergent phenomena, and the practical consequences for... more This paper examines the case for viewing conversations as emergent phenomena, and the practical consequences for complexity practitioners and others engaged in ‘talking cures’.  Post-structural thinking from Wittgenstein onwards is connected to the school of Solution-Focused practice, which has made explicit use of these ideas in a practical, pragmatic and effective form of psychotherapy and coaching.  These fields can be connected by the idea of ‘narrative emergence’, which casts light on the ways in which new narratives are formed within apparently everyday conversations.   

The Grammar of Neuroscience: What can and cannot be said about brains and minds

by Mark McKergow

Publishing in InterAction, Vol 1 No 1 May 2009, co-authored with Kirsten Dierolf

While we are encouraged by the appearance of articles about neuroscience which support SF practice, we urge caution in... more While we are encouraged by the appearance of articles about neuroscience which support SF practice, we urge caution in interpreting these findings on three grounds. The different grammars of neuroscience (molecular grammar) and SF practice (people grammar) are not transposable, and according to Wittgenstein one cannot be reduced to the other. There is a risk of falling for the mereological fallacy - applying to a part (a brain) something which can only be applied to a whole (a person). Finally, the fundamentally social aspect of language calls into question our everyday assumptions about the links between mind, brain and language. Wittgenstein and others offer a way to say what can be said clearly, and to be as unmuddled as possible in our investigations and discussions.