Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy

Join de Shazer behind the on-way mirror for a fascinating journey into the land of brief therapy where the emphasis is not on how problems arise but on how to solve them. His case examples read like well-written detective novels and his concept of skeleton key interventions is both provocative and promising. This is a book that is firmly grounded in the tradition of Milton Erickson but that extends Ericksons work into new areas. Highly recommended. —Bill OHanlon Editor Milton H.Erickson Foundation Newsletter De Shazers work is testimony to simplicity and parsimony in the therapeutic art of addressing the complex. The authors sense of delight curiosity and utter respect for the human condition and peoples capacity for creative problem-solving resound in rich case examples therapist repertoire and team cooperation. This book presents a teachable model whose outer edges remain open flexible and inviting. —Evan Imber Coppersmith Ph.D. University of CalgaryDe Shazer offers among other things an expansion of our horizons by an emphasis on solutions as counterweight to previous emphasis on the origins or the nature of problems an expansion of ones vision of cooperation in therapy as contrasted to resistance including ideas about how to work with those vague clients who are otherwise the bane of strategic therapists and some seminal thoughts on formula interventions. These last together with the recent work of Mara Selvini Palazzoli may well mark an important new step. —John H. Weakland Ch.E. Mental Research Institute Palo Alto