CLUES, INVESTIGATING SOLUTIONS IN BRIEF THERAPY

Shazer, Steve de,
Clues, Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy,
ISBN 0-393-70054-2, Penguin Books

Clues, Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy How do solutions develop? This question leads de Shazer to a provocative discussion of all the solution-related things that client and therapist do during a session, which ultimately point to a task that says, "Now that yo know what works, do more of it." Once therapist and client are focused on investigating solutions rather than problems, therapy inevitably becomes brief-sometimes only one session. Engaging cases, often with surprising twists, illustrate this practice-based theory of brief therapy with a wide range of complaints. Some of these, such as drug addiction of severe marital discord, previously have been thought to be too 'difficult' for brief therapy. However, as de Shazer shows time and again, once therapist and client together discover "what works," obstacles in the pathway to solution disappear. An innovation is de Shazer's computer analysis of therapy sessions, which provides a map for analyzing situations and finding solutions. Pieces of the computer program are highlighted with individual cases, enabling the reader to move easily from the map to the territory and back again. Both theoretically stimulating and clinically sound, de Shazer's investigation turns up clues with the potential to revolutionize the way psychotherapy is thought about and practiced.