1001 Solution Focused Questions gives both practical and thought-provoking ideas for all practitioners, not just solution-focused ones. Bannink is thorough, knowledgeable and accessible in her writing.
Bill O’Hanlon, USA
As always, Fredrike Bannink writes with clarity, calling on her wide knowledge of the field as a trainer and a practitioner. Having worked in other cultures gives her an unusual ability to express complex ideas in clean, simple language. The concept of 1001 questions is original and has a lot to recommend it as a tool for both beginners and experienced practitioners. The book also addresses the relation between solution-focused therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. It provides advice on dealing with impasse and failure, both from the perspective of the therapist and of the client.
Alasdair Macdonald, UK
With this clear and welll written book Fredrike Bannink makes the solution focused model clear to many readers.
Insoo Kim Berg, USA
This generous and appealing book offers a wide selection of well-constructed Solution-focused questions, engaging training exercises, and creative therapeutic strategies that therapists at all levels of experience and expertise are sure to find useful.
Yvonne Dolan, USA
Dr. Bannink is an effective and practical communicator. She listens very carefully and attentively, and when she makes a move she is fast and asks questions that direct the minds involved to focus on what is useful for what is wanted. Easy to say, hard to do! This book is full of practical wisdom that she cultivated over the years of solution building experiences with people.
Yasuteru Aoki, JAPAN
This book (originally published in Dutch) is intended to be a handbook for the solution-focused interviewing method. Living up to the title of her work, author and clinical psychologist Bannink literally does provide 1001 solution focused questions; these can be found in Chapter 10. However, Bannink delves much deeper than this simple list, offering the reader a brief history of solution focused work, a guide to identifying the various types of client motivation, and specific information on how to use solution focused interviewing in therapy sessions. Furthermore, Bannink includes a total of twenty-four exercises throughout the book. These are designed both as occasions for self-reflection and as opportunities to practice solution focused methods.
As noted, Bannink begins with an overview of solution focused interviewing. This includes a review of the most basic principles of the method, such as the idea that only a small change is needed and the importance of the client defining the goal of treatment, as well as a brief initial discussion of the basic types of questions employed by this method (e.g., exceptions, scaling questions). Bannink goes on to address the issue of motivation in solution focused treatment, describing the differences between customers, complainants, and visitors and discussing the solution focused questions appropriate to each type of client. (Note that the solution focused questions are actually listed throughout the book in addition to the complete list of 1001 questions provided in Chapter 10).
Bannink then leads the reader through the entire solution focused treatment process, breaking down the model session by session. She starts with the first session, offering detailed information on everything from how long this session should last to which solution focused questions should be used to conclude the session. Bannink’s guidelines are specific: in addition to a myriad of sample questions, she also provides case examples. From the initial session, she continues on to address subsequent appointments, homework assignments, and concluding the sessions (termination). She also incorporates use of related solution focused skills such as externalizing the problem, projecting into the future, and utilizing an interactional matrix (e.g., asking clients to reflect on how others might respond to the question).
Chapter 10, which offers the promised 1001 solution focused questions, organizes the questions under a total of nineteen sub-headings. Some of the questions are for general use, such as questions about goal formulation and questions about competences. Others cover either specific situations or specific clients, including (but not limited to) the following: questions for clients who have experienced traumatic events, questions for clients in cognitive therapy, questions for clients in a crisis situation, questions for children, questions for groups (couples, families), questions for increasing hope, and questions about relapse.
Solution focused interviewing can also be applied to situations outside of the therapy relationship. Bannink talks about working with other professionals, particularly treatment referrers, but describes how to conduct solution focused meetings and other business-related applications as well. In addition, she devotes a chapter to using solution focused work for reflecting on treatment/peer consultation. To conclude the book, Bannink runs through an entire solution focused therapy case example, from the initial appointment to the follow-up session several months later. Finally, she includes several very useful appendices which offer quick references to protocols for the first session, goal formulation, subsequent sessions, finding exceptions, formulating feedback, and externalizing the problem.
As a clinical psychologist myself, I have long been drawn to the solution focused method, including attending several workshops led by Bill O’Hanlon, a pioneer in Solution Oriented Therapy. However, as much as I like this approach in theory, I have frequently struggled with it in practice. But in reading Bannink’s book, I found that many of my own “sticking points” with solution focused interviewing were addressed for the first time – for example, how to intervene when a client persists in responding “I don’t know”.
In summary, for those looking to become skilled in this method, Bannink has created an invaluable instruction manual that is likely to become highlighted and dog-eared extensively over time (as my own copy already has).
Recensie Metapsychology, USA
An invaluable resource for conducting successful solution focused therapy. Drawing on nearly 30 years of clinical practice, Bannink compiles solution focused questions and protocols that are formulated to elicit the client’s expertise on the issue(s) that brought him or her to therapy. Categorized for general use and for use with specific types of clients – such as children, couples, and families, and those who have suffered trauma or who might benefit from medication – the questions demonstrate how the precise use of language is an important tool in solution focused interviewing. Exercises and homework suggestions invite self-reflection and experimentation with the solution focused model, while case studies illustrate the model’s effectiveness with a wide variety of clients.
1001 Solution Focused Questions equips clinicians with a toolbox full of ready-to-use approaches, so there’re prepared to provide support as clients find their own way to a better future.
Recensie W.W. Norton Publisher
Wow, this book is good!
If you think the Socratic method or Motivational Interviewing are excellent ways to guide people with questions, you are in for a real treat when you read this book.
The subtitle on the title page is “Handbook for Solution-Focused Interviewing”. That is more descriptive of the book. The 1001 questions, which are numbered, amount to less than 20% of the book.
She describes six types of useful questions and many ways to use them. The book is well written, thorough, complete and makes an excellent text for the learner or intermediate user of Solution-Focused Therapy (or interviewing as she calls it). I do not have enough background in the therapy to say it would be excellent for the very experienced in SFT. Although I would think so.
For example, her material on paraphrasing contains instruction to turn impossibilities into possibilities. She does this using verb tenses and avoids the conditional tense. E.g., “I can never ask a girl out” becomes “So far you have not managed to ask a girl out.”
Review Dean Bender, California USA, January 2011
A fine pick for any psychology library!
Fredrike Bannink’s 1001 Solution-Focused Questions invites professionals to help clients view problems in terms of what is going right, using this emphasis to visualize goals and solutions to build more positive approaches and relationships. Nearly 30 years of clinical practice contributes to a set of solution-focused questions that can be used to guide clients in their therapy issues, making for a fine pick for any psychology library!
Midwest Book Review, Oregon WI USA, February 2011