Solution-focused assumptions

In many books, if not all, about the solution-focused approach a list of basic assumptions, underlying the approach can be found. These lists of assumptions overlap of course but also vary to some extent and have some unique features each time. Here are a few lists I found in some classic books on the solution-focused approach. I am curious what you think about these descriptions.

Becoming Solution-Focused in Brief Therapy - John Walter & Jane Peller (1992)

1.      Focusing on the positive, on the solution, and on the future facilitates change in the desired direction. Therefore, focus on solution-oriented talk rather than on problem oriented talk.  2.      Exceptions to every problem can be created by therapist and clients, which can be used to build solutions.  3.      Change is occuring all the time.  4.      Small changing leads to larger changing. 5.      Clients are always cooperating. They are showing us how they think change takes place. As we understand their thinking and act accordingly, cooperation is inevitable.  6.      People have all they need to solve their problems. 7.      Meaning and experience are interactionally constructed.  8.      Actions and descriptions are circular. 9.      The meaning of the message is the response you receive.  10.  Therapy is a goal or solution-focused endeavor, with the client as expert.  11.  Any change in how clients describe a goal (solution) and/or what they do affects future interactions with all others involved.  12.  The members in a treatment group are those who share a goal and state their desire to do something about making it happen.

Beyond Technique - Eve Lipchik (2002)

1.      Every client is unique. 2.      Clients have the inherent strength and resources to help themselves. 3.      Nothing is all negative. 4.      There is no such thing as resistance. 5.      You can not change clients; they can only change themselves. 6.      SFT goes slowly. 7.      There is no cause and effect.  8.      Solutions do not necessarily have anything to do with the problem. 9.      Emotions are part of every problem and every solution.  10.  Change is constant and inevitable; a small change can lead to bigger changes. 11.  One can't change the past so one should concentrate on the future.

The Solutions Focus - Jackson and McKergow (2002)

1.      Change is happening all the time. Our job is to identify and amplify useful change.  2.      There is no one "right" way of looking at things: different views may fit the facts just as well. 3.      Detailed understanding of the "problem" is usually of little help in arriving at the solution. 4.      No "problem" happens all the time. The direct route lies in identifying what is going on when it does not happen.  5.      Clues to the solution are right there in front of you: you just need to recognize them.  6.      Small changes in the right direction can be amplified to great effect.  7.      It is important to stay solution-focused, not solution-forced.

More than miracles - de Shazer, Dolan et al (2007)

1.      If it isn't broken, don't fix it. 2.      If it works, do more of it.  3.      If it's not working, do something different. 4.      Small steps can lead to big changes. 5.      The solutions is not necessarily directly related to the problem.  6.      The language for solution-development is different from that needed to describe a problem.  7.      No problem happens all the time; there are always exceptions that can be utilized.  8.      The future is both created and negotiable.

Handbook of Solution-focused brief Therapy - Thorana Nelson and Frank Thomas (2007)

1.      Change is constant and inevitable; just as one cannot not communicate, one cannot not change.  2.      If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Once you know what works, do more of it! If it doesn't work, then don't do it again-do something different! 3.      Clients come to us with resources and strengths, both personal and contextual. Our job is to create a milieu in which these become important and are identified.  4.      There is not necessarily a logical relationship between the problem and the solution. The therapist's role is not to diagnose and repair but to identify and amplify potential solutions. 5.      A focus on the possible and changeable is more helpful than a focus on the overwhelming and intractable.  6.      A small change can lead to bigger change.  7.      Therapy is client-centered-the client is the expert on his or her experience.