TSR Therapy

"If something works, do more of it. If something doesn't work, do something else. If something isn't broken, don't fix it."

Steve de Shazer

Terapia TSR (Solution Focused Brief Therapy)

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short-term therapy approach. It focuses on achieving client goals without delving into their past or analyzing the reasons for their current life situation. The fundamental premise of the solution-focused approach is that the client possesses the necessary resources to achieve their goals. This type of therapy emphasizes strengths and resources rather than analyzing deficits and the origins of various problems in the client’s history.

The model of solution-focused therapy assumes that the client is the expert in their own life and has the essential tools, knowledge, strengths, and resources to tackle their problem and achieve their goal. A collaborative relationship is established between the client and therapist, where the therapist supports and assists in finding the right path. In the SFBT approach, the egalitarian nature of the relationship adds to the client’s self-assurance and strengthens the person undergoing therapy.

Another important principle is the absence of “client pathology.” Therefore, the person receiving support is referred to as a client, not a patient (someone ill with deficits).

This approach allows for both individual and group therapy sessions. Sessions can take place either in-person at an office or remotely through online psychotherapy.

Key principles of Solution-Focused Therapy

Solution-Focused Therapy operates on the following basic principles:

1. The client is the expert in their own life and only needs support.
2. Focus on positives, the present, and the future rather than failures and a difficult past.
3. Building a vision for the future and setting specific goals and possibilities.
4. Paying attention to how the problematic reality may contain elements suggesting a solution to the problem.
5. Small changes can lead to big changes.
6. Viewing the problem from multiple perspectives.

The Solution-Focused Model assumes that focusing solely on problems is not an effective way to solve them. Instead, it directs attention to clients’ default patterns of solutions. It evaluates these patterns for effectiveness and modifies or replaces them with effective methods for solving various problems.

Principles of Solution-Focused Therapy (Core Philosophy)

The core philosophy of Solution-Focused Therapy, followed by therapists using this approach, is based on three fundamental principles:

If something works, do more of it.
If something doesn’t work, stop doing it. Do something else.
If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

These principles stem from the recognition that every individual is unique, thus therapy should focus on what is right for each specific client. According to the first principle of the core philosophy of Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT), if a particular therapeutic approach works for a client, regardless of the reasons, it is effective and worth continuing. The second principle states that if something is not effective for a client, persisting with the same pattern is futile; instead, alternative solutions and approaches should be sought. According to the third principle, there is no need to complicate or fix something forcefully.

These three principles of the core philosophy may seem obvious. However, in everyday life and with many other therapeutic approaches, they are often not applied. They constitute one of the pillars contributing to the effectiveness of this approach.

The origins of this therapeutic approach date back to the 1970s. It was developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, who drew inspiration from the work of M. H. Erickson and developed the principles of this innovative approach at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, USA. They also based their approach on methods used at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, USA.

De Shazer and Berg recognized the potential for faster relief of negative symptoms through a new form of therapy that emphasized rapid, specific resolution rather than continuous discussion about the problem itself.

Duration of Therapy

This is a short-term therapy approach where problem resolution typically occurs in a relatively brief period—up to 10 sessions. The goal of this type of therapy is to quickly identify and implement a solution to minimize the time spent in therapy and the time spent struggling and suffering.

The scientific effectiveness of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), also known as TSR (Therapy Skoncentrowana na Rozwiązaniach), in aiding individuals facing psychological difficulties has been affirmed by numerous institutions and studies. Interventions based on SFBT are considered effective and have been validated in multiple research studies, showing comparable or even superior outcomes to those achieved through other therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), systemic therapy, and Gestalt therapy. Research indicates that the effects of therapy using SFBT are comparable and sometimes even better than those achieved with other models, often requiring fewer therapy sessions on average (Gingerich et al., 2012; Trepper et al., 2012).

Moreover, SFBT emphasizes a collaborative partnership between therapist and client, with the client being viewed as an expert in their own life. This mutual cooperation makes the therapeutic process more neutral, gentle in perception, and less burdensome for both the client and the therapist (Medina et al., 2014). The fundamental premise of SFBT is grounded in empirical analysis of its applied interventions, a feature that has been integral since its inception in the early 1980s by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, and their team. This evidence-based approach distinguishes SFBT from many other therapeutic models that were primarily theoretical at their inception.

Based on ten meta-analyses, numerous empirical studies, and systematic reviews, the effectiveness of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) has been confirmed across various populations and specific issues reported by clients seeking therapy. Specifically:

1. Children and Adolescents:
– SFBT has shown effectiveness in addressing behavioral problems among children and adolescents (Carr et al., 2017; Gong & Xu, 2015; Gong & Hsu, 2017).
– It has been effective in externalizing behavioral problems, including conduct disorders and conflict management (Kim, 2008; Stams et al., 2006).

2. Adults:
– In adult populations, SFBT has demonstrated effectiveness in treating depression, anxiety, and enhancing self-esteem (Gong & Xu, 2015; Kim, 2008; Schmit & Schmit, 2016; Habibi et al., 2016).
– It has been effective in treating social phobias (Atecs & Genccdougan, 2017).
– It has shown efficacy in marital relationships (Dorche et al., 2017).
– SFBT has also been effective in addressing addictions (Kim, Brook & Akin, 2018; Smock et al., 2008).

3. Other Areas:
– SFBT has proven effective in domestic violence interventions (McCollum et al., 2011).
– It has been beneficial in providing support for health-related issues (Zhang et al., 2018).
– SFBT has contributed to restoring agency among burn victims (Wang et al., 2016).
– It has been effective in treating stroke patients (Puchalska, 2015).

Moreover, recent research (Kim et al., 2018) has indicated that SFBT is equally effective in working with families experiencing trauma and substance abuse issues, comparable to other evidence-based therapy models.

These findings underscore the robustness of SFBT across diverse therapeutic applications and underscore its efficacy in addressing a wide range of psychological and behavioral challenges.

Za: https://psttsr.pl/