BetterTalk UK: find an affordable online therapist
BetterTalk UK: find an affordable online therapist
SFT: EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFECTIVE
People seeking therapy may be bewildered by the vast range of approaches -- "I want to see a therapist, but should I choose psychoanalysis, CBT, integrative therapy, person-centred, humanistic...?" Every method has its strengths and advocates; some are open-ended and highly expensive.
The difference with SFT is simple: it emerged from the finding that for most presenting clients, it is possible to intervene more briefly (therefore more cheaply), employing a different, less problem-oriented approach, yet achieving comparable, or better results than other therapeutic approaches. It is therefore sometimes known as solution-focussed brief therapy (SFBT).
Whilst we advocate SFT, we recognize that CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) has a long tradition in the UK -- in fact, it dominates NHS short-term therapy. If you want, you can speak to a therapist at BetterTalk who is trained in CBT to the UK professional benchmark of BACP accreditation, and will discuss it with you (we do not provide SFT and CBT simultaneously).
So, what is CBT?
CBT explores the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. If our thoughts influence our emotions and actions, changing how we think will surely change how we feel and behave?
CBT has similarities to ancient philosophical approaches like stoicism: "You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”, wrote Marcus Aurelius. Like much ancient wisdom, this makes good common sense, and has stood the test of time. So, a CBT session will mean a therapist helping you to identify unhelpful, negative or distorting thoughts, and work towards developing more realistic and helpful thoughts and mindsets -- which should then influence your behaviour -- alongside coping skills to help you deal better with the sources of your difficulties.
We have italicized the word thoughts because CBT is a thought-based therapeutic approach -- unlike SFT.
SFT works differently from CBT to achieve comparable results, faster. While SFT doesn't deny that problems exist, it operates via the client's own capacities to envision the life they would rather be living -- it is a positive, future-focussed approach. We help you clarify a set of immediate goals, and we work alongside you to envision a problem-free version of yourself. Instead of asking you to ponder how to banish negative thoughts, or considering how you think you might achieve your goals, we work with you to help you reach those goals.
As SFT has become an influential therapeutic practice globally, many therapists from other psychological approaches now offer it, without undergoing the rigorous training that SFT requires. At BetterTalk, we decided to create a practice where every therapist is trained to a uniform high standard*. We have all completed the 18 month-long process to achieve BRIEF Advanced Certification, giving our clients a unique guarantee of solution-focused excellence.
WHAT IS THE LIKELY DURATION OF SOLUTION FOCUSED THERAPY?
Solution-Focused Therapy is typically of shorter duration than other approaches. Four to six sessions in a therapeutic sequence is fairly typical, though longer and shorter consultations occur -- your therapist will advise you on this, while the choice is always entirely with the client. Regularity is beneficial for therapy, so regular weekly meetings are preferable -- at least, initially. Thereafter, some clients like regular, spaced-out supportive sessions, e.g. monthly/bi-monthly. BetterTalk disagrees with the common practice of locking clients into long therapy contracts, which can be clinically unnecessary and financially burdensome. Instead, we offer flexible discount packages, which can be scheduled at your convenience. These may be repeated, or briefly extended, as you choose. When you move from shorter to longer packages, the price-per-session drops. "Cheap therapy" is hard to imagine -- and it might not even be a good thing; but at BetterTalk you know you'll find genuinely affordable online therapy.
DURATION OF PERSONAL DEVELPMENT/COACHING SEQUENCES
Long-term engagements are more common in the case of solution-focused personal development, coaching, career development etc., than for therapy. BetterTalk's packages make such regular support really cost-effective.
To summarize: studies provide strong evidence that SFT is an effective treatment for a wide variety of behavioural and psychological outcomes, uses fewer sessions than alternative approaches, and is therefore less costly...
Psychology Today points out that Solution-Focused Therapy is "one of the world's most widely used therapeutic treatments (De Shazer, 2007, Hsu, 2011) ...the efficacy, practicality, and optimistic nature of the treatment translate well across cultures, and... allows patients to maintain familial relations and personal dignity while addressing mental health issues." (Solution-Focused Brief Therapy | Psychology Today).
Today, solution focus is an important tool in organisations and educational settings (see BetterTalk Teams), while solution-focused brief therapy is a positive and future-focused psychological approach. As practiced by Better-Talk it is supportive, and highly empathetic. Many traditional therapies spend a long time analyzing problems and relating them to past life events, traumas etc; clients may be told they'll need years of agonising and expensive therapy before seeing even small signs of progress, and therapists can seem remote and obsessed by the client's past and diagnosis. SFBT, by contrast, focuses straightaway on your world now, on developing a sense of what a possible future could look like -- and on what abilities you possess that can straightaway help to shape that future. Most therapeutic approaches focus on problems, but SFBT only uses the problem as a means to help us envision a problem-free future.
We believe that you, the client, know how you want your life to be, and have a pretty good idea of certain changes that could improve your situation. True, everyone has established patterns of behaviour, habits, beliefs, assumptions etc., as well as external factors we can't control, and these may make positive change seem remote and unattainable. But the evolution of SFT has demonstrated that with support, a majority of clients can find ways to cut through the mental clutter that stops them progressing; they can quickly develop sharp and clear perspectives on how they want their lives to be. This process empowers the client, making what previously seemed impossible now appear far closer than they previously believed.
Research studies provide strong evidence that SFT is an effective treatment for a wide variety of behavioural and psychological issues, and quicker -- therefore cheaper -- than comparable therapies. SFT was originally developed by Steve de Shazer in the 1970s, alongside his wife Insoo Kim Berg, and others, who were rejecting psychoanalysis and seeking a faster, effective, and future-facing therapeutic approach.
Today, SFT is extensively "evidence-based" -- i.e., it has been scientifically studied and tested, resulting in evidence demonstrating its efficacy and supporting the techniques SFT-trained therapists employ. A 2013 review of 43 studies reviewed "all available controlled outcome studies of solution-focused brief therapy " and found that over 96% of the research found positive results, while 32 of the studies (74%) reported significant positive benefits. Importantly, where solution focused therapy was found to be comparable to other well-established treatments, it "used fewer sessions... The studies... provide strong evidence that SFBT is an effective treatment for a wide variety of behavioral and psychological outcomes and, in addition, it may be briefer and therefore less costly than alternative approaches."
For those who are interested, detailed academic research studies into the efficacy of SFT include the following two:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01926187.2022.2069175.
*Specialist therapists: BetterTalk is the only UK therapeutic provider where every therapist has been trained to Advanced Level at the prestigious BRIEF Centre for Solution Focused Practice in London, and is a member of the United Kingdom Association for Solution-Focused Practice (UKASFP).
Contact us today to schedule your first appointment and begin your future-focused journey.
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