ABSTRACT
This intervention is an adaptation of the prediction interventions used in solution-focused therapy (de Shazer, 1988,1991). An elemental process of the solution-focused model is to track solutions and exceptions to the presenting problem. Clients are often able to point out exceptions or “good days” when their problems are not present or are not as severe. Some clients are able to hypothesize about why these days are better than others, although many clients are not and maintain that their exceptions are random. A prediction intervention is designed to promote client awareness of their own agency in their exceptions. In these assignments, clients are asked to predict each day whether the following day will be a symptom-free or symptom-reduced day, or whether it will be a symptomatic day. Predicting an outcome tends to create a self-ftilfilling prophecy because of the tendency for the client to behave in ways that increase the likelihood of the predicted outcome. Through an increase in symptom-free or symptom-reduced days, the client comes to understand that these exceptions are not random and that they have some control over their problems. This intervention also communicates the important message that the therapist believes the exception is predictable and thus controllable. This intervention can be framed as a guessing game for use with children.
