Methods of Eliciting Solutions From Clients, Solution Focused Therapy, 

and Gestalt Therapy Two-Chair Approaches

Rubin Battino - Master Class Outline - No. 7

September 30, 2024   7 PM EDT

A. Introduction - Methods of Eliciting Solutions from Clients

I basically work as a single-session therapist using hypnosis. So, most of the time I see a client only once (it is their choice to see me more times). The stage is set for this because my clients know I work in this mode and that this is my expectation. My expectation then effectively becomes the expectation of my client. This is also helped by their knowledge that I do not look at the clock, and that all sessions are open-ended. Clients fill out a short intake form where they are asked to write a brief statement of concern(s) and what they want out of counseling. So, they tell me what has been bothering them and their expected result of seeing me. [My clients do not have problems, they have troubles, concerns and bothers which are much easier with which to work.] 

 If needed, I tell the client that my working definition if hypnosis is that whenever they are so focused on something that the world around them recedes that they are in some level of trance. I also give examples of every day trances (like not remembering if they stopped at a specific traffic light or stop sign on their way home, or being totally involved in some activity). 

In recent years I have been developing and adapting approaches where my clients tell me what and how to fix them. Earlier master classes this year were on the guided imagery approach, the exorcism approach, and the Rossi moving/mirroring hands approach. The first two directly elicit solutions from clients, and the third is a secret therapy approach where the client is guided through finding his/her own solutions.

In this master class we will start with a brief review of solution-focused therapy with emphasis on the Miracle Question. Then there will be a discussion of the many ways you can use the Gestalt Therapy two-chairs approach. Of course there will be a series of Erickson quotes and I will slide in some writing exercises developed by James Pennebaker. (Ending with some poetry and a meditation.)

B. Introduction- Solution Focused Therapy

Steve de Shazer and his wife Insoo Kim Berg of the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee (BFTCM) have made some major contributions to psychotherapy.  They are the primary promulgators of solution-oriented therapy, or solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) as it is now called.  Some useful references are: de Shazer (1985), de Shazer (1985), de Shazer (1988), Miller and Berg (1995), Miller, Hubble and Duncan (1996), and Berg and Dolan (2001).  The paradigmatic change that they proposed was to go from problem-oriented therapy to solution-oriented therapy.  That is, rather than engage the client in talking about his/her problems—which they can do endlessly—the conversation is steered to solutions and what has been going well in the client’s life.  They found, and they are good systematic researchers, that if the therapist’s orientation was to elicit “problem talk” by language and expectation, that the client would happily talk about problems, almost ad infinitum. The Weiner-Davis et al. (1987) paper cited that clients would report about useful changes and experiences in their lives (if asked to do so) between the time of their calling in for an appointment and the appointment itself. 

I have heard de Shazer talk about one of the major outcomes of the solution-oriented approach for therapists.  In effect, he asked if you as a therapist would rather spend your working days listening to all of the miseries that clients can pour out when discussing problems, or would you rather listen to the shorter positive happy list of things that were going well? 

And, once you have elicited examples of solutions in the client’s life, you can then ask:

What was different about that time?

What can you do to maximize those positive outcomes so that they occur  more frequently?

Are there any other things in your life that are going well?

How would you like your life to be different?

How would you know when these useful changes have occurred?

What would other people notice about you when these changes have occurred?

Expectation: Clients who were told that their difficulties would be helped by therapists in 5 sessions did productive work in the 4^th and 5^th sessions. Those told 10 sessions did productive work in the 9^th and 10^th sessions. The client’s expectation matters.

Time-Outs: At the BFTCM most therapists took time-outs of a few minutes at the end of a session. Useful for both therapists and clients.

Insoo Kim Berg’s “Wow!”: Insoo was famous for her “Wow!” at specific times during a session. This changes the session dynamics.

C. The Miracle Question

For those of you who are willing to experience the Miracle Question, you will have that experience now. So, get comfortable and close your eyes or just look off into the distance ...

D. Comments on the Miracle Question

Berg has told about how she learned about the ‘miracle question” intervention from a client who wondered about what would happen in her life if a miracle occurred.  In outline form the SFBT approach (paraphrased from Battino (2002, pp. 248-251) follows:

Initially you ask, “What needs to happen that will let you know that today’s session has been useful?”  This focuses the session towards the client’s choice.

“Since no trouble or concern happens all of the time, there must be exceptions, that is, times when things are pretty much okay.  Please tell me about some of these exceptions.”

The “miracle question” is then posed.  “Suppose that tonight while you are asleep that a miracle occurs, and the miracle is that what you to come to talk with me today is realistically solved and resolved.  This is a miracle.  When you wake up tomorrow morning, what will have changed in your life?  What will be different? How will you know that the miracle has occurred?”  For the next fifteen to thirty minutes lead the client through as much detail as you can rally about his/her life has been changed by the miracle.  For example, “What would your spouse / children / parents / coworkers / boss / relatives / friends notice in your actions, behavior, and demeanor that would let them know that you have changed?”  “If you were able to observe yourself somehow from outside, what would you notice that is different in the way you walk, stand, talk, behave after the miracle?” Emphasize different behaviors and not changes in emotion.

End of Session - the therapist summarizes what has transpired, particularly with respect to solutions discussed, as in how the client overcame the odds against change.  The client is complimented on what he/she has been doing.  Homework along the lines of continuing what has been working is assigned.

Next Session - begins with asking about what has changed for the better since the last session.

Participant Comments and Queries 

E. Some Erickson Quotes (Taken from Jane Parsons-Fein)

1. It isn’t the amount of time, it isn’t the theory of psychotherapy. It’s how you reach a personality by saying the right thing at the right time, and then leave it to the patient to do and to adjust.

2.  I don’t think you should mimic other’s ideas of psychotherapy, of Carl Roger’s books, Sigmund Freud’s, Adler’s, Stekel’s, or any one discipline. Each patient is unique, each problem is unique. Your phobia for something is unlike the phobia somebody else has for the same thing.

3. Every time you make a neurotic symptom inconvenient your patient is going to get rid of it. And you just say, “Yeah, but you don’t want to get rid of it too soon.”

4. Adults are only little children grown taller. [It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. Kay Thompson.]

5. I like to be as indirect as possible because by being indirect I never give the patient an opportunity to resist... And often a patient comes in very resistant. To help the patient, you give me your resistance very thoroughly and I intensify it. 

6. And all the patient does is to furnish a suitable climate for therapy. It’s the patient who does the therapy, not the therapist.

7. Don’t run counter to the patient’s psychotic ideas. Run parallel and always get the parallel to go your way. [Note: I have been working with a schizophrenic client who I have seen 30 times. Learned early from Erickson’s nude therapy case.]

G. How Questions, et al.

In Michael Yapko’s 5^th edition of “Trancework” he emphasizes how the query “how” initiates change. That is, “How do you or how did you do that.” “How do you manage to stay the same? NLP Example: “How are you depressing yourself (changes a noun to a verb—you can insert other difficulties for depression)?” In the NLP query you can change the italicized word for things like: panicking, obsessing, over-weighting, stressing, anxiety-ing, etc. 

H. Gestalt Therapy Two-Chair Approaches ( Perls, 1969;  Polster &  Polster, 1974)

In this approach the client is him/herself in one chair and in the other chair is the difficulty which they want to change or get rid of. It could be a parent (live or dead) with whom they need to resolve old issues. Or it could be a behavior which they want to get rid of or alter. It could be something like depression or anxiety or OCD or bruxism. This procedure allows the client to change the relationship with parts of themselves, or with significant issues or people in their lives. In my experience I and others who have used this approach have put just one person or characteristic in the second  chair.

If you are willing to experience a Gestalt Therapy Two-Chair approach. please sit in such a way that you can easily turn from side to side. When you are ready either close your eyes or look softly off into the distance. Exercise.

Comments: Use two chairs for this that are separate from the one that the client sits in. This can be considered to be a form of psychodrama, and the therapist guides each participant/entity in terms of what they say and their questions of the other entity. The word “entity” is deliberately chosen since you can put any person or thing or emotion, etc., in the second chair. Lots of possibilities. [I did this with a schizophrenic.]

Comments and Questions

I. Pennebaker Writing Activities (Pennebaker, 2004, “Writing to Heal”)

1. Stream of Consciousness Writing: Write in a stream of consciousness manner for ten minutes until about two writing pages are filled. As you write, simply track your thoughts and feelings as they occur. Just write what you are thinking about, what you are feeling, hearing, smelling, or noticing. [This is for you alone.]

2. Using Positive emotions words: For the next ten minutes, write continuously about a negative experience that happened to you. Describe what happened, how you felt then and now, and anything else that seems relevant. Use as many positive emotion words as you can while, at the same time, staying true to the experience. Write without stopping.

3. Writing Your Traumatic Story: For the next twenty minutes, work your traumatic experience into a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Describe how it affected you and others. What is the meaning of this event for you? In your writing, express your emotions freely, and be honest with yourself. Once you start, write for twenty minutes without stopping. If your story goes in a direction you didn’t anticipate, follow your heart. (You can write again tomorrow.)

4. Finding a Safe Place to Write: Write for at least ten minutes about an impprtant experience in your past. Before writing, focus on your feelings of security and peace linked to the place you are in. Think about how this past experience connects with who you are now. Explore your emotions and thought about this experience. 

Commentary: I have put these writing exercises in this presentation for you to read and possibly use with your clients. Pennebaker’s book contains more writing exercises. Note that in NLP terms writing provides a kinesthetic anchor for the experience. There is also a visual anchor in reading your own words as you write them and look at them later. 

J. If there is somehow more time, I will talk a bit about ambiguous function assignments.

K. Some Additional Comments

1. Pause Power - Clients need time to process what is going on in the hypnosis portion of the session. Add many pauses so that they can do this internal work. In essence, they drift off when a particular suggestion is significant to them, and then return to hearing you. 

2. Special Words or Phrases - The “magic” word that I like to use when doing hypnosis is “somehow.” That is, somehow these changes will occur: the client then fills in how this happens! Other good word are “and,” “when,” and “then.” In 

3. Expectation and the Placebo Effect - My expectation, and thus that of my clients, is that we will be able to resolve what troubles them in one session. Also, note that the Placebo Effect is always in the background in ALL therapy sessions, i.e., both clients and we expect change!

4. Mary Goulding’s Opening Query is “What are you willing to change today?” Followed by “Just let that question rattle around the back of your mind during this session.” This is a wonderful way to start a session.                                      Another opening query is, “What do you need now? Let that rattle around in the back of your mind.”

5. Importance of being passionate about being a therapist, and giving your clients your complete attention.

6. Importance of smiling and occasional humor.

7. “If what you are doing is not working, then do something different.” Steve DeShazer.

8. “If what you are doing is not working, then do something different that is  unusual or unexpected or surprising.” Rubin Battino

9. RB website: www.rubinbattino.com

L. Session 8: What is Really Important in Life? (Group exercise), End of Life Issues, Ceremonies & Rituals, NLP Fast Allergy Cure Variations.

M. Closing Healing Meditation 

THANK ROB AND ATTENDEES!