Systemic and strategic therapy
Brief therapy is a particularly effective method of solving human problems.
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Based on the systemic approach, the Palo Alto school/model has led to a resolutely innovative management of human issues.
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The purpose of this approach is to interrupt attempts of a person to resolve his/her difficulties by repeating the same behaviours. For example, the person who, to fight his/her chronic insomnia will force themselves to sleep, take a sleeping pill, count, "not think about it", etc. In this case, the patient is striving to implement attempts in the same direction - based on a linear cause-and-effect logic, which basically aggravates the problem.
Brief therapy will try to induce the patient to make concrete experiences of change in their daily life, which will allow them to regain their freedom of action and change the nature of their relationship with their environment.
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How can the therapy work effectively, in the short term, with lasting results over time?
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The methodology of brief therapy basically brings order to the chaos that we may feel during times of crisis when problems are multiple or long lasting.
By focusing on solving the most acute problem when starting therapy, it allows people to regain control of their lives. The person or family, stronger and more confident, thus surpasses the other difficulties or problems more quickly, always with the help of a therapist, if proven necessary. The therapist considers everything that has been attempted in the past and failed to give conclusive results in order to stop (or even persist) in unproductive "solution attempts".
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The therapy progresses with well-defined objectives set by the patient and/or the family with the therapist’s help. The therapy is active, which means that the time spent talking about the presumed roots of the problem will be limited as we will rather analyse how the problem is maintained in the present. It will be essential to understand how the issues are blocked and how we can begin to untie the wires.
Believe in your resources
The patient, at the end of each session, is encouraged to put certain tasks instructed by the therapist into place and remain "in therapy" during everyday life.
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During the implementation of these tasks, people will have an experience (emotional and/or behavioural) that will allow them to gain a more comfortable position in the problematic situation. The therapist will be able to assess with the patient and/or the family the impact of the experiments implemented between sessions and tweak the requirements/prescriptions according to the objectives that were set.
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After a period of stable results, an appointment will be made to make sure that the patient has all the tools they need to avoid the resurgence of the problem.
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The therapy aims to eradicate the problem. In addition to allowing the person to break free of the symptom, therapy helps family members to understand the context of the problem and gives them the means to not be passively and fatalistically awaiting a relapse. It allows the family members and/or the patient to recognize the context of the problem’s appearance and/or control it and/or act effectively as soon as the problem begins.
Consultations are made only by appointment over the phone at 32 (0) 476 63 15 98, by email (mia@mianielsen.com) or via the contact form.
