Brief psychotherapy

Overview

Brief therapy differs from other schools of therapy in that it emphasizes (1) a focus on a specific problem and (2) direct intervention. In brief therapy, the therapist takes responsibility for working more pro-actively with the client in order to treat clinical and subjective conditions faster. It also emphasizes precise observation, utilization of natural resources, and a temporary suspension of disbelief to consider new perspectives and multiple viewpoints.

Rather than the formal analysis of historical causes of distress, the primary approach of brief therapy is to help the client to view the present from a wider context and to utilize more functional understandings (not necessarily at a conscious level). By becoming aware of these new understandings, successful clients will de facto undergo spontaneous and generative change.

Brief therapy is often highly strategic, exploratory, and solution-based rather than problem-oriented. It is less concerned with how a problem arose than with the current factors sustaining it and preventing change. Brief therapists do not adhere to one "correct" approach, but rather accept that there being many paths, any of them may or may not, in combination, turn out to be ultimately beneficial.

Founding proponents

Milton Erickson was a practitioner of brief therapy, using clinical hypnosis as his primary tool. To a great extent, he developed this himself. His approach was popularized by Jay Haley, in the book Uncommon therapy: The psychiatric techniques of Milton Erickson M.D.

Richard Bandler, the co-founder of neuro-linguistic programming, is another firm proponent of brief therapy. After many years of studying Erickson's therapeutic work, he wrote:Bandler, Richard. Time for a Change. Cupertino, Calif.: Meta Publications, 1993. 20.

Notable therapists

• Nicholas Cummings (brief therapy, focused therapy)
• Milton H. Erickson (hypnotherapy, strategic therapy, brief therapy)
• Giorgio Nardone (brief therapy, strategic therapy)
• Steve de Shazer (solution focused brief therapy)
• Paul Watzlawick (Brief therapy, systems theory)

References

References

1. Bandler, Richard. Time for a Change. Cupertino, Calif.: Meta Publications, 1993. 20. Print.
2. Haley, Jay. ''Uncommon Therapy; the Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.'' New York: Norton, 1973. 24.{{ISBN?