Brief Therapy Basics I

1
Brief Therapy Basics I

• How to be therapeutic without assuming too much...

2
CONSTRUCTS

• Constitute the singular manner in which each
  person makes distinctions and categorizes
  experiences, which has many consequences in the
  way we predict future facts.
• They are personal interpretations of reality
• No inferences are made about what is going on
  within the client's head

3
CONSTRUCTS IN THERAPY

• One construct cannot be judged as better or
  more real than another.
• They can only be judged as more or less useful or
  functional for certain purposes.

4
SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

• ...after the facts have been assigned to a
  global category (construct), future observations
  about them tend to be biased... ...after applying
  global tags, it might be hard to refute and
  discard them.

5
REALITY?

• Is it objective?
• Does it exist outside our perception?
• Is it exactly the same for everybody?
• Is it important to find?

6
REALITY IN BRIEF THERAPY

• In every fact that involves more than one person,
  there will be more than one reality.
• The only important reality or truth is the one
  that the client holds
• The reality of the therapist might be imposed in
  the client's, but this will not benefit the
  client and can be detrimental to him / her.

7
To consider the world of material objects,
emotions, relations, etc. as reality, is to live
mistaken and to consider them mere ilutions is
also a mistake, exactly as big - Buda
8
Emotions in Brief Therapy

• Client's emotional experiences must be validated
  (it is their reality)
• Regardless of how useful and cathartic emotional
  expressions can be, the main mechanism of change
  is the fundamental modification of constructs
  that allow clients to adapt their reality to a
  healthier way

9
How to use Emotions in B.T.

• Allowing their expression
• Encouraging the interpretations that lead us to
  development and satisfaction
• Recognizing the sentiment labels that lead to
  hopelessness and despair

10
Negotiating the Problem

• All great things have small beginnings
• Cicero

11
Who owns the problem?

• It is our ethical duty to work with the client's
  presenting problem
• Clients do not work on changes in which they are
  not interested (doesn't matter how necessary and
  desirable we might think they are)
• Focus on that which is susceptible to change

12
END