Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT)

Solution-focused therapy (SFT) is a short-term talking therapy that spends less time on what’s wrong and more on what you want instead. With a therapist, you describe the future you’d prefer, notice times when the problem is smaller or absent, and build on strengths you already have.

Also called: solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT); solution-focused counselling; the solution-focused approach.

We don’t have a full article on SFT yet. Our guide to the types of counselling shows where it fits, and our CBT entry covers the most widely used structured therapy.

How it works

SFT was developed by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, in the US. Instead of digging into the causes of a problem, the therapist asks questions that point towards change:

• The miracle question: “Imagine the problem disappeared overnight. What’s the first thing you’d notice tomorrow?”
• Scaling questions: “From 0 to 10, where are you today? What would one point higher look like?”
• Exception questions: “When was the problem a bit smaller? What was different then?”

The answers become small, practical next steps. A 2025 summary of 25 research reviews found SFT helps across many problems, settings and cultures, with the strongest evidence for depression in adults, overall mental health and progress towards personal goals, and no sign of harm. The authors still call for more rigorous studies, including on how brief it needs to be.

In Nigeria

We found no Nigerian trials of SFT, so the evidence comes from elsewhere, though the 2025 summary found no difference in the strength of evidence between world regions. Because it asks what already helps you, it can draw on whatever supports matter in your life, including family, faith and friends. It’s also used in brief counselling, including in schools.

SFT vs CBT

Both are structured, practical and focused on the present. CBT looks closely at the problem: the thoughts and behaviours that keep it going, and how to change them. SFT spends little time on the problem and builds on exceptions and goals instead.

When to get help

SFT can suit you if you want practical, goal-focused help with stress, low mood, a relationship or a decision. Ask at your first session whether a therapist uses solution-focused methods; our guide to your first therapy session explains what happens. You can book a licensed therapist on Mytherapist.ng for general mental health and wellbeing, by video, voice or chat.

Read next

• Types of Counselling: 12 Kinds and Who Each Helps
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Brief therapy
• Family therapy

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This entry is awaiting clinical review. It’s based on published research and health guidelines, and we’ll update it once a clinician has reviewed it.