Week 7 Case Study Discussion - Solution Focused/Narrative

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 1

Social Construction Models I: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Postmodernism

• Social Constructionism • The role of language and language systems

• Deconstruction

• A move away from hierarchy • Flattening of the therapeutic relationship

• Reduction of therapist’s “expert” status

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 2

Social Construction Models: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Reality Invented not Discovered • An epistemological shift

• Basic Characteristics of Social Constructionist Theories • Egalitarianism in therapeutic relationship

• Client as expert

• Assumptions about the problem are explored

• Goal of helping clients explore new meaning

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 3

Social Construction Models I: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) • Steve de Shazer & Insoo Berg

• Solution Talk • Therapeutic conversations

• Miracle questions

• Exception-finding questions

• Scaling questions

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 4

Social Construction Models I: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Solution-Oriented Brief Family Therapy • Leading Figures – O’Hanlon & Weiner-Davis

• Goal-Oriented (as defined by the client)

• Resistance not a useful concept

• Change is inevitable

• Only a small change is necessary

• Clients have the strengths and resources necessary to change.

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 5

Social Construction Models: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Solution-Oriented concepts (cont’d) • Problems are unsuccessful attempts to resolve

difficulties

• In-depth problem knowledge is not required

• Multiple perspectives

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 6

Social Construction Models: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Collaborative Language Systems Approach • Leading Figures – Goolishian, Anderson, & Hoffman.

• Problems as stories people have agreed to tell themselves

• Hermeneutics

Social Construction Models: Solution-Focused Therapy and Collaborative Therapy

• Reflecting Team Approach

• Listening-to-Each Other Process

• The Democratization of Therapy

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 7

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 8

Social Construction Models II: Narrative Therapy

• The Narrative Metaphor • We live our lives through the stories we construct

• Our lives as multi-storied

• The dominant discourse or story

• Poststructuralism and deconstructionism

• Thick and thin descriptions

• Self narratives and cultural narratives

Goldenberg/Goldenberg, Family Therapy, 8th

edition © Brooks/Cole Cengage 2013 9

Social Construction Models: Narrative Therapy

• Leading Figures - White & Epston • Self and cultural narratives

• Oppression and its role in problem development and maintenance

• Therapeutic Conversations • Externalizing the problem

• Therapeutic questions

• Unique outcomes

• Co-constructing alternative stories

• Therapeutic ceremonies and letters

• Forming supportive leagues