Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) emerged in the 1980s as a form of Brief Therapy and the research evidence for the effectiveness of this approach is impressive. Its core philosophy is very much based on the work of Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, in the USA, and SFBT (Solution-Focused Brief Therapy). Research began to find that clients made good progress by focusing on work around solutions, without having to spend a long time on analysing and focusing on problems in their history. Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy has brought together practical and well-researched strategies and is an effective approach that has become increasingly well-established.
The unique feature of Solution-Focused Therapy is that it focuses on the present and the future; on solutions, not problems, which is empowering and enables people to discover and begin an ongoing process of change in their lives, in a relatively short period of time/
It helps the client look at what they want to achieve... their preferred outcomes... desired future. It looks at the client's strengths. In a process of partnership, goals can be worked out and strategies planned to achieve them.
The first part of each session is about the client and therapist working together on these issues, in a very particular way. The final part of each session ends with hypnotherapy. Importantly, this is NOTHING to do what you may have seen with stage-hypnotists! They are about entertainment!
This is about therapy and, be reassured, the client is in control the whole time and can reject or ignore any part of what is being said. This is about the client... their hopes, goals, plans.... and developing in their mind the ability to achieve these.
Hypnosis reduces anxiety and it is done very simply through relaxation and visualisation. A client would be able to bring about full consciousness at any point.
There are two parts of our brain that SFH is particularly interested in – one, a vast intellectual resource, a positive and powerful problem-solving machine.... the pre-frontal cortex. The other, the primitive, vigilant alarm system for survival - the amygdala.
Anxiety, depression, fear and anger are all primitive survival mechanisms. Sometimes they are appropriate, sometimes not. Sometimes, the amygdala can't distinguish between a real threat and a perceived or imagined threat... and we set off the alarms just in case.
And, it’s not just the events of our lives which lead to anxiety, but the responses we have to them. Fortunately, these are governed by our brains in ways we know an increasing amount about, and we can change them.
As few as three or four sessions may be beneficial with SFH.