My Approach

My approach

The origins of Solution-Focused Therapy can be traced back to the Theory of Communication, which developed as a result of the anthropological studies conducted by Gregory Bateson.

Models derived from cybernetics (Heinz von Foerster, Ernst von Glasersfeld) and Milton Erickson’s studies of hypnosis and suggestion were also important influences in the development of this approach.

In its current form, the manner in which Solution-Focused Strategic Therapy is formulated derives from a longstanding collaboration between Paul Watzlawick and the Italian therapist Giorgio Nardone.

This work led to an evolution of the approach resulting in a set of advanced therapeutic techniques, which have demonstrated their effectiveness and efficiency when applied to some of the most invalidating and persistent forms of pathology (panic, phobias, obsessions and compulsions, eating disorders, ‘presumed psychosis’, etc.)

The fundamental concept upon which the Solution-Focused Therapy approach is based is the conviction that psychic disorders are generated starting from a series of maladaptive perceptive, emotional and cognitive modalities assumed by an individual with respect to reality, thereby facilitating the emergence of dysfunctional reactions and behavior, which, instead of solving, perpetuates the problem from which he/she is suffering.

The maladaptive behavior is presented by a person in an attempt to solve it, but which nevertheless ends up by reinforcing and aggravating the problem. The characteristic peculiar to this therapeutic approach is thus a focus on ‘how’ a disorder is structured and self-perpetuates and not on ‘why’ it developed.

Either the work or the energy of the patient or the therapist are totally focused on the disorder “as it presents at the moment”, avoiding a lengthening of the therapeutic process.

Fundamentally, the ‘strategic’ method aims at modifying a patient’s perception of reality.

This result can be attained through a restructuring of the patient’s dysfunctional manner of perceiving the world and reacting in relation to reality.