Learning Solution-Focused Therapy: An Illustrated Guide PDF
Preview Learning Solution-Focused Therapy: An Illustrated Guide
LEARNING SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY An Illustrated Guide LEARNING SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY An Illustrated Guide By Anne Bodmer Lutz, B.S.N., M.D. Note: The author has worked to ensure that all information in this book is accurate at the time of publication and consistent with general psychiatric and medical standards. As medical research and practice continue to advance, however, therapeutic standards may change. Moreover, specific situations may require a specific therapeutic response not included in this book. For these reasons and because human and mechanical errors sometimes occur, we recommend that readers follow the advice of physicians directly involved in their care or the care of a member of their family. Books published by American Psychiatric Publishing (APP) represent the findings, conclusions, and views of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the policies and opinions of APP or the American Psychiatric Association. Disclosure of interests: The author has affirmed she has no commercial or financial interests that present or could appear to present a competing interest with regard to the content of this book. If ordering 25–99 copies of this or any other APP title, you are eligible for a 20% discount; please contact Customer Service at p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58562-452-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Psychotherapy, Brief--methods. 2. Professional-Patient Relations. WM 420.5.P5] RC480.5 616.89′14--dc23 2013024819 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record is available from the British Library. Contents About the Author Preface Acknowledgments Video Guide 1. Introduction to Solution-Focused Therapy 2. Beginning With Strengths and Resources 3. The Yes-Set 4. Language Skills in Solution-Focused Therapy 5. Scaling Questions and the Miracle Question 6. Solution-Focused Goal Negotiation 7. Other Useful Solution-Focused Questions 8. Solution-Focused Assessment 9. Solution-Focused Psychopharmacotherapy 10. Solution-Focused Therapy With Addiction 11. Solution-Focused Supervision 12. Solution-Focused Consultation 13. Conclusion Appendix: Rating Scales Mood Assessment Child Attention Profile Video Illustrations: www.appi.org/Lutz About the Author Anne Bodmer Lutz, M.D., is the Director of Training of the Institute for Solution- Focused Therapy. She is a board certified adult and child and adolescent psychiatrist and was a nurse prior to becoming a physician. She was trained by the founders of solution-focused therapy, Insoo Kim Berg and Steve De Shazer, and has provided training seminars with Insoo Kim Berg and Yvonne Dolan. Dr. Lutz is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester. She is also the medical director of a residential treatment center for adolescent girls suffering from addiction and co-occurring disorders that integrates solution-focused approaches within its treatment setting. She provides direct clinical supervision, teaching, and training to psychiatric residents and psychology interns, as well as workshops for community-based treatment organizations. She also has a private practice in which she sees children and families, providing solution-focused psychiatric treatment. Dr. Lutz has both worked and provided solution-focused trainings in a wide variety of treatment settings integrating solution-focused approaches, including community mental health centers, schools, youth violence prevention initiatives, adolescent addiction programs, child and family treatment settings, and psychopharmacotherapy. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. Preface Solution-focused brief therapy has been steadily growing in influence since the 1970s. It is an evidence-based practice that focuses on creating conversations that build solutions, in contrast to solving problems. This is a book about how to practice solution-focused therapy. My goal in writing this book is to provide an easy-to-use guide to learning the essentials of solution-focused therapy that will assist the reader in becoming competent in this treatment method. The book is written in an informal, conversational style. Chapter 1 begins by providing an overview of the assumptions and tenets used in solution-focused therapy as well as a case review and case illustration. Chapters 2–8 are organized around how an interview is conducted. The last chapters focus on how to apply this model in psychopharmacotherapy, addiction, supervision, and consultation. The first three chapters introduce skills used when commencing an interview, including beginning with strengths and resources, developing a yes-set, and maintaining meticulous use of language. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 present skills used when negotiating goals, amplifying ambivalence, and dealing with crisis. Chapter 8 presents solution- focused assessment techniques. These chapters combine didactic readings, solution- focused questions, case illustrations, learning exercises, and video illustrations. The case illustrations are filled with detailed explanations in order to help the reader learn how to practice this model of treatment. To help the reader, these explanations are in italics. Chapters 9 and 10 present ways to apply solution-focused techniques when prescribing medications and when treating patients suffering from addiction. Chapters 11 and 12 describe how to use solution-focused techniques when providing supervision and consultation. In these chapters and throughout the book, learning exercises, videos, and case illustrations are provided. The videos that accompany the book illustrate key features of solution-focused therapy. The video illustrations are brief vignettes that feature the work of volunteer clinicians who agreed to demonstrate commonly used solution-focused techniques. All case and video illustrations are based on amalgams and experience of treating people with similar problems. The genders, background information, and other data have been changed. The video and case illustrations are described more fully in the Video Guide beginning on page xiii. I would like to explain a few semantic issues and linguistic conventions used in this book. In dialog with patients, there are times when I use the terms suffering from and struggling with. My goal in using these phrases is not to represent patients as victims or as objects of pity, but rather to convey empathy, and to communicate that the patient’s identity exists apart from and beyond symptomatology. I also choose to use this language so that I talk “about” patients in the same manner that I talk “to” them, maintaining the eminently respectful stance of this treatment approach. In discussing techniques, I choose to use the words diagnosing strengths rather than identifying, discovering, or determining strengths. I think the word usage “diagnosing strengths” more accurately implies that this is a very different way of evaluating and “diagnosing” patients, and communicates the differences of this treatment approach more effectively. Thank you for choosing to read this book. I hope it will be useful for you, and that you and your patients will benefit from this treatment approach. I hope that the book can be useful to a wide audience as a way to teach solution-focused therapy to undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, and residents and to assist those working in medical practice settings, mental health agencies, and other social service agencies. Anne Bodmer Lutz, B.S.N., M.D.
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