Chapter 4.Language Skills in Solution-Focused Therapy

Paying attention to how questions are constructed, incorporating the patient’s language and exact words, and using suppositional words are all essential skills to acquire in learning to speak the solution-focused therapy language. Language is an essential ingredient in any form of communication. Human systems are language meaning-generating systems(Anderson and Goolishian 1988). Every person has his or her own unique way of using words, talking, and communicating. In essence, we each have our own personal dialect. Common to all forms of therapy is the observation that the therapist and the patient are having a conversation—using language(de Shazer and Berg 1992). In solution-focused therapy, this requires speaking the dialect of the patients with whom we converse—quite a daunting task at first glance, but possible when you learn the skills needed to accomplish this undertaking. All the questions asked by a solution-focused therapist are designed to elicit the patient’s view of the problem and of the solution(Berg and de Shazer 1993), and this requires understanding and exploring what patients mean by the words and phrases they speak. It demands paying attention to idiosyncratic ways in which they use certain words, repeating their exact words within the formulation of questions and responses, and exploring what they mean by the particular words they speak. Meaning becomes a function of the relationship, and understanding is always a matter of negotiation between the participants. As Anderson and Goolishian state, “Meaning and understanding are developed by individuals in conversation with each other in their attempts to understand other persons and things, others’ words and action”(Anderson and Goolishian 1988).