ABSTRACT
Conceptualizations Solution-Focused therapy is one of the most commonly used therapeutic approaches in the world. For trainees and practitioners, the SolutionFocused approach has considerable appeal because of its here-and-now focus, its theoretical simplicity, and its relative ease in learning and practicing it. For clients, this approach also has considerable appeal: it focuses on immediate concerns, it emphasizes solutions, and it is perceived to be very brief, i.e., 3-5 sessions. Such practitioners and clients view it as a welcome alternative to treatment approaches that explore early childhood dynamics and long-term therapies. Viewing Solution-Focused therapy as a brief and effective treatment approach, some managed care organizations readily reimburse for it and seem to favor accepting its practitioners to their provider panels. This chapter begins with a description and the basic premises of the Solution-Focused perspective. Next, it describes the factors involved in Solution-Focused assessment and provides some guidelines for summarizing this type of assessment. Then, it describes the process of developing and writing a Solution-Focused case conceptualization. This process is then applied to the fi ve cases introduced in Chapter 1.
