Solution Focused vs Family Therapy in Working with Case of George

INTRODUCTION
This paper uses the application, concepts and techniques from The Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and The Satir Model under Family Therapy in working with the case study of George.

Presenting Issues: • Marital problem due to disagreement regarding whether or not to have a child. This has led to a number of arguments. • Lack of effective communication in the marriage. • Lack of confidence and low self-esteem : feeling of hopelessness, “not being good enough” and “not worthy” • Disappointed with himself. • Becoming more irritable with people especially in social situations. • Having mood swings.

SOLUTION-FOCUSED BRIEF THERAPY (SFBT)
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is one of the more recently developed theories in modern counseling. SFBT approach believed in focusing on solutions rather than on problems. It aims to explore current resources and future hopes of the client rather than present problem solving. De Shazer (1988, 1991) suggests that it is not necessary to know the cause of the problem and to solve it and there is no necessary relationship between problems and solutions.

Applications of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy to the case of George
In SFBT, the clients are the experts in their own lives and De Shazer (1991) believes that clients can come up with solutions to their problems without any assessment of the nature of their problems. George is involved as a collaborator in the ongoing assessment and the therapist engages George in collaborative conversation centering about change and generating ideas for making changes in the future.

Prioriatising the Problems
Quick (2007) commented that Solution focused therapy is a therapy with a “focus.” It is not a therapy characterized by open-ended conversation with a great deal of free association. Clarifying and prioritizing client’s problem helps to guide the direction of the therapy and focus on the complaint that the client is hoping that the therapy will

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