Introduction
It is no secret that family therapy is a direction that mainly considers systemic connections and interpersonal relationships between spouses. The presented videos vividly demonstrate the therapist’s high-quality, competent, and correct work with the couple in the form of a conversation in order to change the models of family communication, problem-solving, and role distribution. The advantage of this session is that all family members can express their opinions and be heard openly. This paper is devoted to a complex and comprehensive analysis of two videos in which a couple and a therapist actively interact with each other to solve existing problems, old conflicts, and traumas in a safe space.
Therapeutic Relationship
In short-term psychotherapy, a specialist takes an auxiliary position, not an expert one. He does not teach the client how to live and what to do but helps to find a working solution. This approach assumes that a client is an expert in his own life, he knows better what is going on in it and what brought him to the point where he is. The therapist acts on the basis of this knowledge of the client, and not his own positions and views.
The therapist-client relationship in solution-focused therapies is one of the most essential and significant components of the psychotherapeutic process in terms of understanding the internal dynamics or supportive external environment in the videos. A sense of security and acceptance is the basis for productive and effective collaboration between the therapist and clients within the framework of the presented videos. Hence, trust and mutual understanding that allow one to touch on important topics are most evident in a relationship.
Assessing Individual and Family Strengths
There are several ways for a therapist to assess the strengths of an individual and a family. The strength-based approach is typically deemed as the most straightforward one, in the course of which a therapist asks direct questions to determine the core strengths of the specified stakeholders (Practice model, 2020). The offered framework contributes to increased clarity in the psychotherapy process. Furthermore, it enhances the efficacy of time management, allowing a therapist to obtain information faster. However, the offered approach to assessing family strengths, as well as those of an individual, may involve the presence of data lacking credibility and objectivity since it comes from the party that is actively involved in the therapy process.
Solution-focused Interventions
It should be noted that exceptions, scaling, and homework are solution-oriented activities. Firstly, exceptions are, for the most part, approaches necessary to identify rare occurrences in the current problem in the life of clients to detect previous successes and enhance their strengths. Secondly, scaling is a way of evaluating a goal on a scale from 1 to 10 in terms of clarifying details about how things are, where they will be, and when therapy will be “successful” (Practice model, 2020). Thirdly, homework allows clients to rehearse skills, work out specific behavioral strategies, restructure destructive beliefs, and much more. An exception is featured in the video quite clearly during the identification of the couple’s leisure activities. For instance, the specialist found that the couple could allocate some time for a card game, have fun, and talk to each other heart-to-heart, and the therapist, in turn, commended them for such an initiative (Kaltura, n.d.b). Consequently, a viewer sees an example of a scaling question when the therapist asks clients to rate the quality of their communication and relationships on a 10-point scale.
Goal Setting
Establishing attachment and building trusting relationships are the most important and meaningful goals for the couple from the video. Indeed, after the appearance of a child in the family, the spouses began to pay less attention to communicating. Thus, it is necessary to find the optimal solution for this problem and learn to enjoy the little things, to notice even minor details that will help the spouses to understand their true feelings and establish a dialogue. Consequently, during therapy sessions, the expert should strive to ensure that the spouses provide a sense of security and comfort in the family. Hence, all negative experiences should be changed into positive ones by supporting each other, especially in difficult moments.
Solution-Generating Questions
“What should the ideal relationship between you look like?” and “What will change in your life when you achieve your goals?” are two primary questions to ask clients. These questions were chosen based on the problem of the spouses and their goals to achieve harmony in the family after adopting the child. The proposed questions fit perfectly into this model because they allow the therapist to find the most acceptable and effective solution to difficulties and find the right approach for these spouses to minimize the number of sessions. Moreover, they allow one to focus on clients and their experiences.
Integration of the Recovery Model
The recovery concepts can be applied in solution-oriented therapy by building a trusting relationship between clients and the therapist. Without trust, there is no therapeutic alliance; there is not even the possibility of touching on any crucial topics and a speedy recovery in the relationship. In itself, the fact of the emergence of a relationship in the life of clients in which one does not need to be someone other, and in which one can count on care and sincerity, and sometimes – and for the first time to find out that this is possible — has a supportive and therapeutic effect. In brief, these concepts will allow one to focus on people’s inner experiences and understand past events to influence the present and the future in a better way. The therapist can discuss critical points regarding how patients’ lives could change to make crucial decisions.
Treatment Planning
To complete the initial tasks, it is necessary to correctly and accurately formulate all desires. In turn, the working phase tasks include presenting a miracle and convincing customers how important it is for them, even if it is small. In the future, changes should be identified with the help of specific, positive language. In particular, “Harrison’s Manual of Medicine” recommends appealing to steps based on complimenting, miracle questions, exceptions, scaling questions, and homework (Kasper et al., 2019). During the concluding phase, the task is to minimize the time spent on therapy, struggle, and suffering, each time discussing the progress made, making compliments and giving homework, and directing efforts in a positive direction because even a card game at night allowed a little closer to the spouses and this can already be described as a miracle, albeit small at first glance. Presently, the systemic hypothesis is that the customer requires active family support in order to overcome the key concerns.
Conclusion
Summing up, solution-focused therapy, in the example of a married couple, is one way to build a trusting relationship between clients and the therapist for further productive work. For the most part, this work is aimed at clients’ self-development, growth, and responsibility. During the analysis of two videos, it was found that complimenting, miracle questions, exceptions, scaling questions, and homework are some of the most common techniques for the successful work of a therapist with clients. Each of them helps to find the optimal solution and minimize the number of sessions within the framework of achieving happiness and miracles.
Plan
- Determining the goals that will end the therapy;
- Identifying changes to track positive or negative progression;
- Reviewing the homework assignment to find out the involvement of each of the couple;
- Summarizing the results of therapy and sharing impressions.
References
Kasper, D. L., Hauser, S. L., Fauci, A. S., Longo, D. L., Jameson, J. L., & Loscalzo, J. (2019). Harrison’s manual of medicine (20th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Kaltura. (n.d.a). SSBS_MFT-5105_week_05_solution_focused_therapy_I. Kaltura, Inc. Web.
Kaltura (n.d.b). SSBS_MFT-5105_week_05_Solution_Focused_Therapy_II. Kaltura, Inc. Web.
Practice model: Solution-focused approach. (2020). The Social Work Graduate. Web.