Therapy is frequently miscast as requiring an enormous amount of time and financial commitment, but helpful, goal-oriented therapy can produce positive results after only a few sessions. Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) has been gaining momentum as a powerful therapeutic approach since its inception in the 1980s. By focusing on solutions instead of problems, it asks clients to set concrete goals and to draw upon strengths in their lives that can help bring about the desired change for a preferred future.

Addressing both researchers and practitioners, a distinguished cast of...