Emotions in Solution-Focused Therapy: A Re-examination

This article re‐examines whether and how emotions are an aspect of solution‐focused therapy. A major theme in the article focuses on the usual ways that therapists define and discuss emotions in solution‐focused and other therapies. We argue that these discussions are a source of much confusion abou...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Family process 2000-03, Vol.39 (1), p.5-23
Main Authors: Miller, Gale, de Shazer, Steve
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Client Relations
Counselling
Emotions
Family Therapy
Humans
Language
Language Usage
Psychological Theory
Psychotherapy
Solution focused method
Stress, Psychological - therapy
Treatment Methods
Wittgenstein, Ludwig Joseph Johann
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article re‐examines whether and how emotions are an aspect of solution‐focused therapy. A major theme in the article focuses on the usual ways that therapists define and discuss emotions in solution‐focused and other therapies. We argue that these discussions are a source of much confusion about emotions and about solution‐focused therapy, including the confusing idea that emotions are neglected in solution‐focused therapy. The second major theme describes an alternative approach to these issues, one that we believe better fits with the assumptions and concerns of solution‐focused therapy. The approach is based on Wittgenstein's writings about language games, private experience, and how emotions are rule‐following activities. Viewed from this perspective, solution‐focused therapists take account of their clients' emotions by helping clients to create new emotion rules to follow.
ISSN:0014-7370
1545-5300
DOI:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2000.39103.x