Solution Focused Counselling - any experience?

[lisasimpson]

To cut a long story short after a 'mini crisis' when I told my husband last week "I've made a mistake having children and now i have to live with it" I went to the GP who said I have moderate depression. Although I'm not suffering what I would have thought was the obvious symptoms like teariness I have had several episodes of feeling overwhelmed, anxious, bitter, resentful and tired.

I have approached an independant organisation that my employer offers couselling through and was offered six sessions straight away. I was very nervous but relieved to finally be 'opening up' about some of this stuff that seems to be a recurrent pattern in my life. I was then a bit disappointed to be told at my initial session that the approach would be 'solution focused counselling' which "focuses on goals and the future rather than the past". Now as a trainee life coach I know all about this as it sounds very similar and not really what I was looking for. I'm concerned they're just going to trot out all the usual "what about hobbies" "give yourself more 'me' time" etc. when I really just want to talk about a whole range of stuff. Has anyone any experience of this and is this how counselling is going nowadays?

Can you go back and ask for someone who has a psychodynamic approach? It may be that there are reasons from your childhood/upbringing/family etc that are impacting on your behaviour/feelings etc. It certainly sounds as if it would benefit you esp as there are recurrent issues.

There is certainly more of a trend towards solution focused counselling and it can sometimes be seen as more of a 'quick fix'. CBT is also seen as v effective for dealing with mild depression, ocd's etc but I don't think it offers an holistic approach which sometimes is what is needed.

It is quite common to be offered fairly "basic" counselling - i.e. approximately 6 sessions, if the person who refers you thinks that you are just going through a temporary "blip" or struggling a bit. Sorry if I am not explaining this very well.

I am a CPN (Community Psychiatric Nurse) and all the staff in our team have had training in using a solution focussed approach, However ime it is only really useful for people trying to work through fairly minor problems/life stresses.

You say in the 2nd part of your post that you expected to be opening up about things that seem to have been a recurrent pattern in your life. Is it possible that the GP didn't realise this and thought you were just having a "mini crisis" as you described it initially, rather than something you wanted to explore more deeply?

Obviously I can't give you advice as that would be wrong and I only have a little bit of info to go on. All I will say is that if you were referred to us for crisis resolution type work, and it became clear there were more long-standing issues, we would probably discuss with you a referral to see a Psychologist.

thanks everyone, I thinks it's because it is being offered through my employer it is being paid by them and therefore it needs to be something they think they can fix in six weeks! I approached them before I went to my GP but she did offer it through the surgery aswell. I figured this would be the quicker option as having made the decision I didn't want to wait and get cold feet!

some of the recurent themes seem to be;

wanting to walk away from things at the first sign of trouble (job, relationship and now kids)

always comparing myself and my circumstances to others and thinking I could do/have better

anxiety when out of my comfort zone like holidays etc since I have had the kids

always worrying what others think about me.

Doesn't really sound something I think I can cover in six 'quick fix' sessions!

Lisa you will probably find that the 1st session is an assessment type session i.e. exploring what you are hoping to gain and what the person can realistically offer.

It may be worth attending that one session if you have the time to do so,and see what the counsellor suggests. S/he will probably have a good idea of what other options are available in your area. S/he may also give you some short term coping strategies to help you cope whilst you possibly are on a waiting list.

Hope this helps. Wishing you all the best.