Sundman / Schwab / Wolf Theory of Solution-Focused Practice

Version 2020
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-7526-1494-7
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 124 Seiten

This book is the result of a collaboration between a number of authors working as a European Brief Therapy Association (EBTA) task-group. This is the 2020 state of the art version of understanding and learning Solution-Focused Practice. It is applicable to various fields of practice, such as therapy, coaching, supervision, social change, educational work, leadership, and other contexts where a detailed understanding of how to manage and promote change in social systems and communities is intended. The book presents a coherent theory of solution-focused practice for those who want to understand the rationale, together with a comprehensive description of solution-focused practice that can be used in daily practice or training and for developmental purposes. Theory here is defined as a process theory describing how the solution-focused practice is done, together with explanations of how and why the change process is initiated. This book is also a statement of what solution-focused practice is and what are the sound reasons to use it.

Peter Sundman, BA, social worker, clinical supervisor, coach, licensed Solution Focused psychotherapy trainer, consultant, coordinator of the TaitoBa House Solution Focused net-work.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sundman, Peter

Schwab, Matthias

Wolf, Ferdinand

Wheeler, John

Cabie, Marie-Christine

Hoorn, Svea van der

Pakrosnis, Rytis

Dierolf, Kirsten

Hjerth, Michael

Leseproben

II. Explanation: Why be solution-
focused?
Some say that descriptions of solution-focused practice, continuous inductive development together with the growing empirical evidence that solution-focused treatments are efficient and effective25, are enough of a reason to use solution-focused practice.26 Solution-focused practice is however not grounded on descriptions alone, clinical results, social acceptance or personal style, but on rigorous reasoning and certain assumptions and values. Choosing the solution-focused practice therefore is based on both theoretical reasons and certain ethical choices. This section will explore the reasoning in respect of three aspects of solution-focused practice as an activity of helping clients to change: a) the meaning of their situation, b) their self-perception and direction and c) everyday actions accordingly. The chapter ends with a summary of the main assumptions, values and beliefs of solution-focused practice. Changing meaning Solution-focused practice is partly a philosophical endeavour of talking about in what way it makes sense for the clients to conceptualize their experiences and how this may help to promote experiences of “feeling better” or “understanding better” – common requests that clients bring as their desired outcome when they start work with a practitioner. The solution-focused stance argues that language philosophy27 makes a strong case for the practice of being helpful to other people, because the use of language is a fundamental element of conversation. Understanding and explaining the meaning of meaning, therefore, is of major importance. This includes making sense of perceptions, feelings, thoughts and intentions. Meaningful sentences make a conceptual map of the world
Ludwig Wittgenstein and social constructionist philosophy is an important source of inspiration in conceptualizing the relation of language and what we call “reality”28. Wittgenstein claimed that the limits of our language determine the limits of our world, and that world and life are one.29 Language is thus not just a collection of words. It is the expression of a form of life.30 What commonly are called facts are not things, but they are verbal expressions of meaningful sentences. These facts show a picture of reality and together are a model of the world. Words and sentences do not however have a fixed sense or meaning. They get their meaning from the context of life events and they are used in relation to other persons. So, what one says makes sense because of one’s daily acting.31 Thus – as Wittgenstein put it – the world of the happy is quite another than that of the unhappy.32 Human experience is not simply given, but more like a conceptual map or network where sense and meaning varies according to when, where, and how one relates to others.33 Words, sentences, thoughts, and actions have varying references, denotations, connotations, implications, ambiguities, and contradictions.34 In this sense, the partly philosophical endeavour of solution-focused practice can be understood as a joint activity of world changing.35 The world is uncertain
Two implications of this understanding of meaning as a result of social interaction are to be mentioned. They also point to the next sections. The first implication is about how social interactions define rules. Because there are infinite ways to build sentences or even invent new words, thoughts and actions, it looks as if there are no possible foundations of language games and meaning.36 Radical constructivists do indeed claim this to be the case, while others point to the inherent self-contradiction of such claims.37 If there were no foundation of meaning, how would there be meaning at all? This question touches on the fundamental question of certainty and truth, and we humble ourselves to an observation in line with Wittgenstein. The picture of reality people have varies in extremes across cultures and times, and one has to be very careful with judging and comparing the incomparable. But, any form of life with all possible differences rests upon judgements that can be imagined as hinges around which the variable system of meaning rotates. Any form of life, and any meaningful conceptual network, rest upon judgements, which cannot be reasonably doubted within this form of life. Wittgenstein calls these fundamental sentences “hinges of our view of the world”. We do not explicitly learn these sentences, but we may discover them like an axis of rotation that is defined by the movement around it.38 Whether one agrees with what transcendental philosophers described as universal a priori concepts of knowledge39 or not, the important point is that these fundamental judgements are not a matter of empirical investigations. Our life shows, for example, our certainty that there is no plug at the bottom of the sea, although no one ever bothered to find any empirical evidence for it. Even more, this applies to our experience in general. We, for example, cannot do without the concept of causality when saying: “I see the sea”. There is, of course, no need to try to make these fundamental judgements of our meaningful view of life explicit. In general, they just show up, just like life itself.40 Support to pursue a purpose
When people experience stuckness in relation to a problem, or want to change, and do not find a way to go about creating this change, or experience failed attempts at change, they usually expresses the problematic experience as being stuck, uncertain, in discomfort, troubled, confused with themselves, others and/or the current life situation or not able to reach their goals. Feeling hopeless and out of control is common. This takes us to the second implication. When people seek help, it implies that they experience some kind of hindrance in pursuing a purpose. Something that should be, or could be, is not. The purpose of actions, hopes and intentions are called values.41 The client’s values at stake in any conversation are the backbone of the conversation. They are not necessarily talked about, but solution-focused practitioners should be aware of them and as described later, respect people’s choice of them. This also means that people have the capacity to determine their actions in relation to others and the world. This line of reasoning has some important theoretical consequences that are liked to the reasons, why solution-focused practice is chosen. In the wake of Wittgenstein's thinking, solution-focused practitioners make the claim that there is no reasonable scientific way of explaining meaning by causal chains. It is not that the causal nexus is taken for a random fantasy, but it just cannot explain semantic relations. Thus, solution-focused practitioners do not understand the interacting persons and the exchange of meaning as determined by causal forces, be it the physical law, social or economic power structures, brains, genes, or other things. There is no doubt that it makes sense to speak of them, but they do not determine the meaning of the words and any meaningful conversation either. The second argument from language philosophy that solution-focused practitioners take seriously is that personal perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, motives, values, states, scripts or any “inner entity or state” that we think determines our actions does not alone determine the meaning of the words we use and the actions we take, although most of us think they do. Instead, solution-focused practitioners rely on what might be called “creative interaction”, where meaning is created in life events between people and this is the basis for solution-focused change. This of course does not mean that such personal thoughts are irrelevant, but they do not have the exclusive controlling quality sometimes ascribed to them. Change as new meaning in everyday life
Meaning, in line of this argument, shows in the way people live their lives, how they connect to other people and handle life’s events and situations. Therefore, solution-focused practitioners pay attention to the detailed descriptions of people’s daily life to discover and create meaningful sentences and actions that allow the person to get what they think is good and useful for them and to go about with whatever made them seek professional help.42 The focus of the conversation is on the interaction between people. First, in-between the practitioner and the client, second, in-between the clients and significant other persons in their lifes, that will experience future behaviour. Quite often significant others and changes in the environment significantly contribute to the change, because the meaning in-between persons is necessarily a joint venture. Talk about forgotten, hidden, new or not yet considered utilizations of the words we use sets in motion a process of co-construction by persons in which altered or new meanings are generated.43 This is another important part of the solution-focused practice. Changing self-perception and direction Another aspect of solution-focused practice is to address clients’ requests to make changes in their lives. These changes can be about changing perception of self and their world, orient themselves, expanding possibilities, adapt to limitations, solve problems and/or...