B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

https://solutionfocused.net/what-is-solution-focused-therapy/#targetText=The%20questions
%20asked%20by%20SF,and%20the%20origin%20of%20problems.

What is Solution-Focused Therapy?

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), also called Solution-Focused Therapy, Solution-

Building Practice therapy was developed by Steve de Shazer (1940-2005), and Insoo Kim
Berg (1934-2007) and their colleagues beginning in the late 1970’s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
As the name suggests, SFBT is future-focused, goal-directed, and focuses on solutions, rather
than on the problems that brought clients to seek therapy.

The entire solution-focused approach was developed inductively in an inner city outpatient
mental health service setting in which clients were accepted without previous screening. The
developers of SFBT spent hundreds of hours observing therapy sessions over the course
several years, carefully noting the therapists’ questions, behaviors, and emotions that
occurred during the session and how the various activities of the therapists affected the clients
and the therapeutic outcome of the sessions. Questions and activities related to clients’ report
of progress were preserved and incorporated into the SFBT approach.

Since that early development, SFBT has not only become one of the leading schools of brief
therapy, it has become a major influence in such diverse fields as business, social policy,
education, and criminal justice services, child welfare, domestic violence offenders treatment.
Described as a practical, goal-driven model, a hallmark of SFBT is its emphasis on clear,
concise, realistic goal negotiations. The SFBT approach assumes that all clients have some
knowledge of what would make their life better, even though they may need some (at times,
considerable) help describing the details of their better life and that everyone who seeks help
already possesses at least the minimal skills necessary to create solutions.

Key Concepts and Tools

All therapy is a form of specialized conversations. With SFBT, the conversation is directed
toward developing and achieving the client’s vision of solutions. The following techniques
and questions help clarify those solutions and the means of achieving them.

Looking for previous solutions

B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

SF therapists have learned that most people have previously solved many, many problems
and probably have some ideas of how to solve the current problem. To help clients see these
potential solutions they may ask, “Are there times when this has been less of a problem?” or
“What did you (or others) do that was helpful?”

Looking for exceptions

Even when a client does not have a previous solution that can be repeated, most have recent
examples of exceptions to their problem. These are times when a problem could occur, but
does not. The difference between a previous solution and an exception is small, but
significant. A previous solution is something that the family has tried on their own that has
worked, but later discontinued. An exception is something that happens instead of the
problem, often spontaneously and without conscious intention. SF therapists may help clients
identify these exceptions by asking, “What is different about the times when this is less of a
problem?”

Present and future-focused questions vs. past-oriented focus

The questions asked by SF therapists are usually focused on the present or on the future. This
reflects the basic belief that problems are best solved by focusing on what is already working,
and how a client would like their life to be, rather than focusing on the past and the origin of
problems. For example, they may ask, “What will you be doing in the next week that would
indicate to you that you are continuing to make progress?”

Compliments

Compliments are another essential part of solution focused brief therapy. Validating what
clients are already doing well, and acknowledging how difficult their problems are
encourages the client to change while giving the message that the therapist has been listening
(i.e., understands) and cares. Compliments in therapy sessions can help to punctuate what the
client is doing that is working. In SF therapy, compliments are often conveyed in the form of
appreciatively toned questions of “How did you do that?” that invite the client to self-
compliment by virtue of answering the question.

Inviting the clients to do more of what is working.

B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

Once SF therapists have created a positive frame via compliments and then discovered some
previous solutions and exceptions to the problem, they gently invite the client to do more of
what has previously worked, or to try changes they have brought up which they would like to
try – frequently called “an experiment.”

Miracle Question (MQ)

This unusual sounding tool is a powerful in generating the first small steps of ‘solution states’
by helping clients to describe small, realistic, and doable steps they can take as soon as the
next day. The miracle question developed out of desperation with a suicidal woman with an
alcoholic husband and four “wild” children who gave her nothing but grief. She was
desperate for a solution, but that she might need a ‘miracle’ to get her life in order. Since the
development of this technique, the MQ has been tested numerous times in many different
cultures. The most recent version is as follows:

T: I am going to ask you a rather strange question . . . that requires some imagination on
your part . . . do you have good imagination?

C: I think so, I will try my best.

T: Good. The strange question is this; After we talk, you go home (go back to work), and
you still have lots of work to do yet for the rest of today (list usual tasks here). And it is time
to go to bed . . . and everybody in your household are sound asleep and the house is very
quiet . . . and in the middle of the night, there is a miracle and the problem that brought you to
talk to me about is all solved . But because this happens when you are sleeping, you have no
idea that there was a miracle and the problems is solved . . . so when you are slowly coming
out of your sound sleep . . .what would be the first small sign that will make you
wonder . . .there must’ve been a miracle . . .the problem is all gone! How would you
discover this?

C: I suppose I will feel like getting up and facing the day, instead of wanting to cover my
head under the blanket and just hide there.

T: Suppose you do, get up and face the day, what would be the small thing you would do that
you didn’t do this morning?
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

C: I suppose I will say good morning to my kids in a cheerful voice, instead of screaming at
them like I do now.

T: What would your children do in response to your cheerful “good morning?”

C: They will be surprised at first to hear me talk to them in a cheerful voice, and then they
will calm down, be relaxed. God, it’s been a long time that happened.

T: So, what would you do then that you did not do this morning?

C: I will crack a joke and put them in a better mood.

These small steps become the building block of an entirely different kind of day as clients
may begin to implement some of the behavioral changes they just envisioned. This is the
longest question asked in SFBT and it has a hypnotic quality to it. Most clients visibly
change in their demeanor and some even break out in smiles as they describe their solutions.
The next step is to identify the most recent times when the client has had small pieces of
miracles (called exceptions) and get them to repeat these forgotten experiences.

Scaling Questions

Scaling questions (SQ) can be used when there is not enough time to use the MQ and it is
also useful in helping clients to assess their own situations, track their own progress, or
evaluate how others might rate them on a scale of 0 to 10. It is used in many ways, including
with children and clients who are not verbal or who have impaired verbal skills. One can ask
about clients’ motivation, hopefulness, depression, confidence, and progress they made, or a
host of other topics that can be used to track their performance and what might be the next
small steps.

The couple in the following example sought help to decide whether their marriage can
survive or they should get divorced. They reported they have fought for 10 years of their 20
years of marriage and they could not fight anymore.

T: Since you two know your marriage better than anybody does, suppose I ask you this way.
On a number of 1 to 10, where 10 stands for you have every confidence that this marriage
will make it and 1 stands for the opposite, that we might just as well walk away right now and
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

it’s not going to work. What number would you give your marriage? (After a pause, the
husband speaks first.)

H: I would give it a 7. (the wife flinches as she hears this)

T: (To the wife) What about you? What number would you give it?

W: (she thinks about it a long time) I would say I am at 1.1.

T: (Surprised) So, what makes it a 1.1?

W: I guess it’s because we are both here tonight.

Coping Questions

This question is a powerful reminder that all clients engage in many useful things even in
times of overwhelming difficulties. Even in the midst of despair, many clients do manage to
get out of bed, get dressed, feed their children, and do many other things that require major
effort. Coping questions such as “How have you managed to carry on?” or “How have you
managed to prevent things from becoming worse?” open up a different way of looking at
client’s resiliency and determination.

Consultation Break and Invitation to Add Further Information

Solution focused therapists traditionally take a brief consultation break during the 2nd half of
each therapy session during which the therapist reflects carefully on what has occurred in the
session. Some time prior to the break, the client is asked “Is there anything that I did not ask
that you think it would be important for me to know?” During the break, the therapist or the
therapist and a team reflect carefully on all that has occurred in the session. Following that,
the client is complimented and usually offered a therapeutic message based on the client’s
stated goal. Usually this takes the form of an invitation for the client to observe and
experiment with behaviors that result in positive movement in the direction of the client’s
identified goal.

Research Findings
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

Even though it is an inductively developed model, from its earliest beginnings there has
been consistent interest in assessing SFBT’s effectiveness. Given the clinical philosophy
behind the SFBT approach, it is not surprising that the initial research efforts
relied primarily on client self reports. Since then, an increasing number of studies have been
generated, many with randomized comparison groups, such as that of Lindforss and
Magnusson who studied the effects of SFBT on the prison recidivism in Hageby Prison in
Stockholm, Sweden. Their randomized study compared those clients who received average
of five SFBT sessions and those who received their usual available services. Clients were
followed at 12 and 16 months after discharge from prison. The SFBT group consistently did
better than the control group.

A number of researchers have reviewed studies conducted in a variety of settings and

geographical locations, with a range of clients. Based on the reviews of these outcome
studies, Gingerich and Eisengrat concluded that the studies offered preliminary support that
the SFBT approach could be beneficial to clients. However, more microanalysis research into
the co-construction process in solution-focused conversation is needed to develop additional
understanding of how clients change through participating in these conversations.
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

https://www.unk.com/blog/solution-focused-questions-scaling-in-therapy/#targetText=The
%20power%20of%20scaling,longer%20feels%20limitless%20and%20uncontrollable.

Scaling Questions From Solution Focused Therapy

How to use scaling to break down black and white thinking (with video demonstration)

Scaling inspires hope by helping your client feel their situation is more manageable

Have you ever noticed that when one of your clients is in pain, they can tend to see
their world in ‘all or nothing’ terms? For instance, you may hear them say something like:

I am in complete agony! If only I was free of this pain!

I am so miserable! Why can I never be happy?

And this feeling that pain, whether physical or emotional, is all-encompassing and never-
ending can lead to hopelessness and helplessness.

But as therapists and counsellors, we are (usually) lucky enough not to be in the same state of
agony. So we’re able to understand that little in life is black and white.

From outside of our clients’ situations, we can see that no one is completely in pain or
completely pain-free all the time. And that even the most depressed person we’ve ever met
had days or moments when they felt better than other times.

So, sometimes we need to help our clients find the shades of grey so they can benefit from
and build on the more subtle improvements in their situation.

Fortunately, we have a simple but powerful solution-focused therapy technique at our

disposal to do just that.

It’s called ‘scaling’.

The power of scaling

 B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

Using scaling in therapy or counselling is a way to help your client break down their
perception of their situation into ‘grades’.

Doing this accomplishes three things:

1. We ‘put a fence’ around the experience so it no longer feels limitless and

uncontrollable. The client can begin to see it as more manageable and therefore more hopeful.
2. We engage the observing self and help the client step ‘outside’ their experience.
Scaling engages the ‘thinking brain’ and loosens the grip of the ’emotional brain’.
3. We break down expectations and therapy strategy into discrete steps, rendering them
more realistic and achievable.

Scaling (sometimes called grading) is effective in therapy because it switches the

conversation from being ‘about’ emotions to being ‘about’ numbers – and this in itself can
help people feel calmer.

4. Scaling switches the conversation from being 'about' emotions to being 'about'
numbers, helping people feel calmer.

Here are 3 solution focused questions which use scaling to help your clients find hope in
their situation.

1) “So on a scale of 1 to 10…?”

So, when working with a client who is experiencing severe prolonged pain, I might say:

Okay, so if 10 is the most unbearable agony possible and 1 is the most blissful comfort, what
number would you put yourself on right now?

You might notice here how we’ve instantly reframed ‘pain’ as ‘numbers’. (I’ve personally
found there’s usually no need to belabour this point – people instinctively understand how to
rate their pain and feelings.)

Of course, they might straightaway say, “10!” Or perhaps they’ll think about it for a bit and
judge that, well, they have actually felt worse pain than this, so they’ll grade their current
experience with, for example, an 8.
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

So now they have gone from being ‘in complete agony’ to being at 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

I might then ask how they are going to know when the discomfort level has decreased to a
7…

This approach can work equally well with problem states other than physical pain. And you
can set your scale up in either direction, depending on where you want to lay the emphasis or
whether you want to increase or decrease the perceived response:

If 1 is the most depressed you’ve ever felt and 10 is the happiest…?

Okay, if 10 is the most anxious and 1 is the most relaxed…?

2) Ask questions that precipitate change

Now, it’s not enough just to get these numbers. We can use these numbers to really help our
clients start to think more flexibly and feel hope in the immediate future.

Once we have started to break down the ‘all or nothing’ perception by using numbers, we can
ask questions that presuppose (and possibly even precipitate) positive change.

I recall asking a man in chronic pain to tell me how he would know when his pain had gone
down from a 7 to a 6. What difference would he notice?

He described the exact difference to me in great detail and actually found himself “slipping
down to a 5!” as he was speaking.

If someone tells me that on Tuesday they felt they were at 4 on a depression scale (where 10
was the happiest they could be), I might ask something like:

Think really carefully now. What prevented you from being a 3?

Or if someone tells me their motivation to quit smoking is at 8 when 10 indicates that they are
fully motivated and committed to stop, I might ask something like:

And what would you need to be different so you’re able to get up to that 10?
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

Careful targeting of such questions helps us find out what they’re already doing that helps
them cope better or what they need to do differently. We can then encourage those
behaviours. Similarly, we can ask what will it be like when they are at a 5 and so forth.

3) Don’t just ask questions about numbers

We can also keep in mind that scaling doesn’t have to be limited to numbers. For some
people, a more visual approach might work better.

You could write out numbers on a piece of paper to create a visual scale, but you can also
leave numbers behind altogether.

For instance, I keep a large picture of a staircase that I can use at a moment’s notice. I might
show my client the picture and say:

If the bottom of the staircase is ‘no motivation whatsoever’ and the top of the stairs is
‘unstoppable motivation’, can you point to the step you’re on right now?

Or if I don’t have pictures to hand, I might use hypnosis to get the person to visualize a path
or staircase and simply tell me where they are on it. I can then encourage them to
hypnotically explore the progressively positive steps forward.

I hope this helps you to see that scaling can be a simple yet formidable tool in therapy for
giving your clients a new perspective on their difficulties. With this tool in hand, clients often
feel a new sense of control and empowered to make changes they may never have believed
possible.
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

http://www.progressfocusedapproach.com/the-scaling-question/

The Scaling Question

Coert Visser, July 11, 2012 in: interventions, solution-focused, visualizing|Jump To

Comments
In 1965 the psychologist Hadley Cantril wrote an article in which he described an
intervention which he called The Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. This intervention can
be seen as a forerunner of the what is now one of the most popular techniques of coaches: the
scaling question. The scaling question became very popular with therapists and coaches
through the work of Insoo Kim Berg, Steve de Shazer and their colleagues of the Brief
Family Therapy Center, the originators of solution-focused brief therapy. They added
important new elements to the scaling question. During the last decade the intervention has
been refined further and its applications have become broader. Today, scaling questions are
among the most flexible and versatile techniques for coaches.

Description
A standard and complete application of scaling questions contains the following steps:
1. Explain the scaling question: this can be done as follows: Imagine a schale from 0 to
10. The 10 represents your desired situation [you may describe the 10-position on the
basis of what your client has said about what he or she wants to achieve]. The 0
represents the situation in which nothing of that desired situation has yet been achieved.

2. Ask about the current position: Where are you now on this scale?

3. Ask about what is already there: Focus on what is there between the 0-position and
the current position. Example questions: How did you manage to get to your current
position on the scale? What has helped to get there? What worked well? What else has
helped? Encourage the client and keep asking for more details until you get a lively
description of what the client has done that helped.

4. Ask about a past success: Ask about a situation in the past in which the client was
already a bit higher on the scale. Questions you can ask are: Have you already been
higher on the scale than your current position? What was the highest position you have
been at on the scale? What was different, then? What did you do differently? What
worked well? Encourage the client to calmly look for an example of a past success. Ask
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

about this situation in a curious tone until a lively description of what the client did that
worked in that situation.

5. Visualize one step higher: Invite the client to describe vividly what the situation will
be like when the client will be one step higher on the scale. Example questions are: What
will one step higher on the scale look like? How will you notice you will have reached
one step higher on the scale? What will be different then? What wil you be able to do
then?

6. Ask about a small step forward: Invite the client to name one step forward he or she
may take. Example questions: Has what we have discussed been helpful for you for
choosing a step forward? What might that step be? In what situation might you take that
step?

The picture below summarizes these steps:

B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

http://www.nwbttc.com/cq.html#targetText=A%20solution%2Dfocused%20therapist
%20is,all%20that%20is%20against%20them.

COPING QUESTIONS

Solution-focused therapy builds on the strengths and resources clients have to help them
develop solutions that uniquely fit them and their circumstances. This can be a particularly
difficult challenge when dealing with the exceptional circumstance of clients who present as
completely hopeless and helpless. They may see themselves as powerless over their situation
and complain extensively about how impossible that situation is. Oftentimes these people
have severe chronic medical problems and/or a personal history of severe abuse or mental
illness. As a therapist it is easy to become discouraged and hopeless about this kind of client
too.

Reassurance does not work with these clients. In fact, it is likely to have the opposite effect of
the one intended. The client is not reassured but typically makes even more hopeless and
desperate statements. She/he is picking up on the therapist´s sense of helplessness and as a
result may feel more out of control her/himself. All of a sudden it is the therapist’s job to
make the client feel better, not the client’s job. In any case, a sense of empowerment and self
confidence cannot be imposed from without, it must come from within.

Coping questions can solve this dilemma while cooperating with clients as well as accepting
their view of the problem. The therapist can begin to help clients see their strengths and
resources in trying circumstances and stay “behind” them rather than reassure them or take
over and try to impose a solution (which is unlikely to fit well or be long-lasting).

Coping questions ask about how clients somehow manage to keep going in spite of the
adversity they face. For example, someone who is suicidal obviously has not killed himself
yet. Someone living with chronic pain is enduring it somehow. In spite of a terrible
childhood, a client manages to get through the day and take care of her baby.

A solution-focused therapist is curious about this and coping questions are designed to
discover how clients manage to keep going in spite of all that is against them. Taking this
B08 Questioning techniques in solution focused counseling

approach helps clients discover resources and strengths they most likely did not know they
had. When used properly and with persistence the result is empowering and uplifting. It helps
shift their view of themselves in a positive, client-enhancing direction:

 “How did you manage to get up this morning (make it to this appointment, get
through yesterday, etc.)?”
 “How do you keep going day after day when there seems to be no hope?”
 “How is it (“What do you do so) that things are not worse?”
 “How come you have not killed yourself yet? What has held you back?” (if thinking
of suicide)
 “How did you learn to cope with such an awful situation, when you were still so
young? Did you have to do it all by yourself?” (talking about childhood abuse/trauma)
This type of question helps the therapist let clients lead in telling what they are capable of,
what is good about them and allows them to recognize strengths, resources and abilities they
oftentimes had not thought of themselves.
Once you get an answer to a coping question, the next task is to build on that answer, to
expand it. So pursue their response and ask questions like:
 “What did you do to get up this morning (keep going yesterday, stay alive today, get
through that period in your childhood, etc.)?”
 “What would it take for you to keep doing what you’ve been doing?”
 “Where did you learn to do that? Or did you figure it out by yourself?” (follow up
question: “How did you figure out this was a good way to do it?)”
Caution: When working with clients who present as powerless and hopeless, make sure
you’re not “the customer” for your own services, that you’re not the one who is most
bothered by the problem or want a solution more than the client. Instead, stay with
the client’s identified problem/goal. You might ask how the concern you have relates to
issue(s) the client has identified. Your work together has to be on the client’s goal to succeed.