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Archive for the ‘Psychology 101’ Category


Sep 04

Another Brief about Brief Therapy

By Jay Slupesky
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Psychology 101



Schooner, San Francisco Bay

Solution-Focused Therapy is a “brief” therapy.  What are the differences between brief therapies and other, more traditional psychotherapies? Well, obviously, the therapy is brief!  It could be as short as 5 or 6 sessions (which is why insurance companies love brief therapy). But there are other differences too. In brief therapies:

  • The focus is on the here-and-now. There is not a lot of time spent on the past (e.g. troubles from childhood).
  • Therapist and client collaborate to set concrete and achievable goals in the first session.
  • Therapist and client must form a good working relationship right away, rather than having it develop over time.
  • The therapist is active and involved, rather than being a passive listener.

The effectiveness of brief therapy seems to be relatively high, according to multiple research studies. I think this is due in part to the fact that the goals are made very clear at the beginning, and that by the end of the therapy, it is easy to determine or not those goals have been attained.



Sep 02

Be Brief but Beneficial

By Jay Slupesky
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Psychology 101



East Brother Light Station

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is a mode of psychotherapy that was developed in the 1980s. In a way, it turns traditional therapy upside down, because the therapist prefers to talk about solutions instead of talking about problems. In fact, in a strict solution-focused model, the problem is discussed in the first therapy session, but is never again brought up. From the second session onward, all conversations are about possible solutions. The therapist’s job is to help the client come up with possible solutions and then try them out.

Three maxims that guide the solution-focused process are:

  1. if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
  2. If it’s not working, try something (anything!) else.
  3. If it is working, do more of it!

I think maxim #2 can be applied to many troubled relationships. Many couples continue to repeat patterns of interaction that cause the same undesirable outcomes every time. In cases like this, it’s time to start trying out some new possible solutions.

By the way, insurance companies love Solution-Focused Brief Therapy because it is brief, and as a result, doesn’t cost them as much money as other types of therapy do.



Aug 22

You’re in Denial, and That is Final

By Jay Slupesky
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Psychology 101

Dino?The defense mechanism of denial is is mentioned often in everyday speech. For example, we might say “Fred is in denial” when talking about a man who has a weight problem but won’t admit it.  However, there is another defense mechanism, repression, which is usually a more accurate description of what we see in ourselves and others.

So what is the difference between denial and repression? If something was once known, but is now not being thought about, it is being repressed. So assuming that Fred really does know that he is overweight, but just avoiding thinking about it, he is using repression, not denial, to avoid the unpleasant reality of his large size.

In true denial, information is instantly disregarded. As an example, if Wilma’s doctor tells her she has terminal cancer with only a few months to live, she might say, “that can’t be true” and go on behaving as if she is in perfect health.

Now that you know the distinction between denial and repression, you’ve got a bedrock of knowledge about defense mechanisms.