Religion and Spirituality in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Author/s: Yakup Özkapu

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.37898/spc.2022.7.2.176 

Year: 2022 Vol: 7 Number: 2

Abstract

Solution-focused brief therapy, developed in the late 1970s by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg with their colleagues, is a forward-looking approach to therapy that focuses on solutions rather than problems and aims to bring about a remarkable change in people’s lives in a short period of time. There are indications that the spiritual/religious dimension of people can be taken seriously in solution-focused brief therapy, which is based on the social constructivist approach in which knowledge is constructed through interaction with others and the postmodernist view that knowledge is a subjective phenomenon. The flexible and deeply respectful perspective that the approach takes, based on the client’s point of view and the therapist’s position, encourages gaining a comprehensive understanding of the client’s worldview. Based on its content, the client’s spirituality can be understood and integrated into the therapy rather than biasing it, thereby creating a favorable environment for intercultural and spiritual counseling practices. This paper examines solution-focused brief therapy, particularly its postmodernist philosophical foundations, assumptions, and principles, and the therapeutic process and techniques based on these in terms of spirituality.

Keywords
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) • Religion • Spirituality • Postmodernism • Social Constructivism

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