Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy

Lipchik, E. (2002). Beyond Technique in Solution-Focused Therapy. New York: Guilford.

A fresh entrant in the solution-focused literature is Lipchik's book, aimed at the journeyman clinician, experienced in Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT). Her purpose is to help therapists answer the questions: How do I know I am being solution-focused? How can I be where the client is and focus on positives at the same time? To what do I respond, and what do I ignore? Can I do SFT with long-term clients? She answers these questions, and many others in this small volume. Her work will be useful to a broad audience including beginners to the SFT approach.

The organization of the book is clear and helpful. After a preface that justifies adding a new work to an already over-crowded SFT shelf, she restates the standard solution-focused canon. She convincingly situates SFT within the broader field of psychotherapy that has always paid important attention to a client's emotions and the therapeutic relationship.

She cites John Weakland's observation that what therapists do in workshops is to demonstrate the unique aspects of their work, often ignoring the fundamentals that most models share. She explains that perhaps that is why SFT has been misunderstood as a heartless, technique-laden approach that ignored the core-conditions of the therapeutic relationship. She suggests that in teaching and writing, solution-focused presenters and authors "expected people . . . to be skilled in establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance." She then describes the maintenance of the client-therapist relationship, the importance of emotions in solution-focused work, the therapeutic process and interventions. At one point, she muses that the recent focus on language, narrative and meanings has pulled some therapists away from a focus on process between people.

The chapters in the second part of the book illustrate the application of "solution-focused therapy with a heart" in couple therapy, family therapy, with involuntary clients, long-term cases, and crisis cases. Her extensive use of transcripts from her own, as well as her colleagues' sessions is invaluable in bringing her ideas to life. The chapter on involuntary clients contains an excellent section on clinical case management. Another chapter addresses the pragmatics of teamwork in a solution-focused environment. Not since the Milan team's work nearly 20 years ago has anyone addressed so clearly the structure and benefit of a therapeutic team.

There are a number of other gems in this small book: hints on structuring summation messages; the concept of "dual track thinking" that reminds us that the therapist is always processing on two levels; and a description on how "just listening" with a solution-focused ear is different than listening with a psychodynamic ear.

The book clearly is stronger in some areas than others. There seemed to be a disconnect between the first part of the book-"Theory and practice," and the second part "Applications." Her chapter on couple's therapy, for example, seems to depart from the spirit of early chapters by prescribing a more directive, one-up position for the therapist. The side trip into positivism in her discussion of the role of psychoeducation was also puzzling coming from a therapist who practices in a social-constructionist (radition. Her recommendation to explain developmental stages to couples as a "form of refraining" might startle therapists who have come to understand reframing as a more subtle shift in a client's perspective. Buttressing the legitimacy of this practice by pointing to the work of Minuchin and Whitaker seems oddly out of place in this context as well. This was especially disconcerting since one of the tag lines of the book: "Therapists can't change clients; clients can only change themselves" seems to imply much less instrumentalism on the part of the therapist.

Perhaps beyond the author's control were numerous distracting typographical errors. They seemed to be more frequent in the early pages of the book, but perhaps I had become less perturbed by them toward the end of the book.

Lipchik's book deserves a place on solution-focused therapists' bookshelves, regardless of their level of expertise. This book is an excellent introduction to the theory and practice of SFT for the beginner. It is also an outstanding refresher course for solution-focused therapists. She provides a carefully crafted description of the theory and illustrates it well in the second part of the book. She does an excellent job of deconstructing the reputation SFT has promoted by failing to respond to critics who find it a heartless technology that ignores the importance of the emotional relationship in therapy.

Monte Bobele, PhD, ABPP

Our Lady of the Lake University

Copyright American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Jan 2004
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