Solution-focused therapy (SFT) was developed in the 1980s by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg in the USA. It focuses on what clients want to achieve through therapy rather than on the problem(s) that led them to seek help. In essence, the approach does not focus on the past, but instead, focuses on the present and future. 

There are a number of differences between SFT and traditional psychotherapy. Central assumptions are that the client will choose the goals for therapy and that they themselves have resources which they will bring to the sessions. Part of the solution-focused practitioner's task is therefore to discover whatever a person is already doing which might contribute to the resolution of the problem with which they have come.

SFT is not about obtaining a detailed personal history in the same way as other therapies. 'Problem talk' and speculation about motives or 'purposes' of symptoms are avoided. Expert 'jargon' is not used.

The Therapist invites the client to imagine their preferred future and then together they start to move towards it, sometimes through small steps and sometimes by making large changes, To encourage these changes questions are asked about the client's story, strengths and resources, and about exceptions to the problem.

Solution focused practitioners ask many questions about what life might be like if the problem was solved. As the answers to these questions gradually become clearer, both practitioner and client begin to get a picture of where they should be heading. The clearer this becomes the greater the possibility of it beginning to happen. By helping people identify the things that they wish to have changed in their life and to attend to those things that are currently happening that they wish to continue to happen, SFT Therapists help their clients to construct a concrete vision of a preferred future for themselves. 

The SFT Therapist helps the client to identify times in their current life that are closer to this future, and examines what is different on these occasions. By bringing these small successes to their attention, and helping them to repeat these successful things they do when the problem is not there or less severe, the therapist helps the client move towards the preferred future they have identified. 

Goals are defined in practical and recognisable ways. Talk about pre-session changes, exceptions, scaling tasks and the 'miracle question' keeps the focus of effective solutions. Like CBT, homework tasks are offered to continue the process of change between sessions. Individual, couples or families may be seen and joint sessions are not uncommon even where one individual may be the main focus. 

An important research finding is that SFT is equally effective for all social backgrounds whereas some other psychological therapies sometimes seem to favour the well-educated and affluent. In practice those with few resources are the ones often most in need of effective therapies. Another advantage is that results are usually achieved within 3 - 6 sessions. Research indicates that SFT is considered to be effective in 65-83% of cases in an average of 4 - 5 sessions.