ABSTRACT
Most clients will be able to keep to the agreed working focus when the therapist helps them to do so. However, some clients find it more difficult to do so, and the therapist needs to interrupt them politely, respectfully and sometimes firmly. Given that time is at a premium in single-session therapy (SST), it is important that the therapist helps the client create a focus and to keep to it once it has been co-created. Normally, in SST, if the therapist adopts a problem focus, they will adopt a complementary solution focus. When the therapist has a problem with interrupting clients, many therapists have been trained to facilitate the client's self-exploration and have been warned against interrupting the client's 'flow'. If a therapist has an enduring reluctance to interrupting clients, it may be that they are not suited to single-session work.
