My Approach

What is Strategic Psychotherapy?

 

Strategic psychotherapy is classed as brief therapy, and is solution focused. It focuses on the present
cognitive style that is distorted and is creating patterns that were learnt in the past and finding processes to create a better future. It’s mostly based on Milton Erickson’s work where the therapist controls the interview with strategic questions. It focuses on process not content. It is goal orientated with improvement in behaviour rather than just awareness.

 

The Key Characteristics of a Strategic Psychotherapy Approach.
Focuses on cognitive behaviour and future goals. Believe that the problem isn’t in the past and looks at coping strategies that were learnt in the past to create a better future. It is brief therapy unlike talk therapy that can take months and sometimes years to get results. By asking “how & what” questions help identify the processing gaps the client is unaware of. Establishes global thinking the client was unaware of and therefore the client gets a “ah ha” moment which leads to buried resources to help client create change.

 

The Relationship of Strategic Psychotherapy to a Range of other Therapies.
Other therapy’s focus on “why” a client is having the problem, this leads to speculation and theory rather than finding a solution. Depending on the therapy, they can have different reasons why a client is having a problem, but strategic psychotherapy asks, “how do they do that” and looks at cognitive thinking of past learnings and this gets the client out of global thinking and into specific processes to change the faulty patterns that were causing the problem. Strategic psychotherapy believes the client has the resources to change even though they cannot access them. Other therapies are past orientated and strategic psychotherapy is future orientated.

 

How Strategic Psychotherapy is used in Clinical Hypnosis
Where there is a faulty pattern or patterns that the client cannot access, suggestions using hypnosis amplifies the new patterns, or opens a gate way to connect to the process to change faulty patterns more quickly than just using talk therapy. Metaphors are the language of the subconscious mind and using hypnosis as a vehicle is the easiest way of delivering them. Hypnosis can help the client associate into a new pattern or dissociate from an unhealthy pattern more easily.