All Brief Therapy is Not Created Equal

The role of psychological therapies in the inpatient unit has a long history and well-established utility (Geczy & Sultenfuss, 1994; Nielsen, 2015).

This chapter explores the role of brief psychological therapy in the inpatient setting. It argues that brief therapy has two distinct forms which are radically different in terms of the skills they require and the kinds of situations they contribute to addressing on the ward, but which are often treated as the same. Several case examples showing psychologist’s involvement in brief therapy in the inpatient setting will be used to demonstrate this distinction and the role of psychologists with brief psychotherapeutic interventions in the inpatient setting.