Creating Therapeutic Stories Utilizing a Solution-Focused Case Conceptualization

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is one of the most popular and utilized models of psychotherapy. One of the draws of SFBT is its use of clearly defined questions and interventions. Individually, these tools are useful; however, when woven together, they help to create, through an SFBT case conceptualization, a therapeutic story that promotes clients achieving their goals. In this article, we present how a therapist's case conceptualization informs their development of a therapeutic story. We then introduce recursive frame analysis and how it has been used as a generative model for session construction. The article then applies these ideas to SFBT, explaining how therapists construct therapeutic stories utilizing a solution-focused case conceptualization. Lastly, we provide two case examples demonstrating how we have co-created therapeutic stories with our clients that have led them to reach their treatment goals.