ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with the emergence and development of this study, and of ecosystemic and solution-focused brief therapy. It discusses how brief therapy is related to the constructivist movement in therapy, and to more general postmodern developments in contemporary Western societies. The book concerns the practical side of ecosystemic and solution-focused brief therapy. It analyzes the concrete ways in which brief therapists, clients, and others interact with one another to define clients' troubles and to identify solutions to them. The book also deals with first meetings between ecosystemic brief therapists and clients. The final step in the ecosystemic brief therapy process involves the therapists giving advice to their clients. The book analyzes how therapists use the distinctive questions emphasized in solution-focused discourse to persuade clients that their lives are not as bad as they think, and that their lives get better in future.
