People have all they need to solve their problems. People have all they need to solve their problems.
Another way of stating “enhancing agency” is “co-creating with clients what seems out of control to them as in their control.” For many of our clients, solving a problem seems nearly impossible because everything about the problem seems out of their control. The problem seems to continue almost on its own and the solution seems out of reach because it is contingent on things that appear to clients as out of their control.
Anderson and Goolishian (1989) define “agency” as:
… a sense of competent action, the ability to think and feel that we have a way of doing. As far as we are concerned any therapy that would be thought of as successful, regardless of the outcome criteria or theory, results in what might be thought of as a sense of agency, a sense of being able to take action. It is not that the problem is solved but that it is now described in a way that does not stifle capacity to take action. Things may still be problematic, but we can act.
If we stay true to our assumption that clients have all they need to solve problems, we believe they have the freedom and responsibility to bring about the changes they want to make. Part of our goal, then, is to enhance their sense of responsibility and agency.
Our job as therapists is to remain curious and supportive about how clients will solve their own situation. Through our interaction with clients, we assume there will be change in the meaning ascribed to the situation which will allow them to do something different. By co-creating with clients a meaning of the problem or solution as being within their control, we acknowledge their resourcefulness and responsibility. The clients gain a sense of mastery and agency.
As we noted earlier, our questions contain presuppositions which form invitations to our clients to enter a different way of thinking. We as therapists are “curious” (cf. Cecchin, 1987) about how clients go about doing what they are doing or how they will create solutions. In our curiosity, we ask questions that reflect our assumption that clients are capable, that they are already solving the problem, that they are responsible for solving the problem, that they have the freedom to do what they want, and that they are the experts on what they want and will do.
The following examples are different ways of using presuppositions in our questions to facilitate the client becoming more aware of a sense of agency:
In the following example, the specific words in bold type in the questions highlight the presuppositions into which the counselor is inviting the client. The presuppositions are that the client has control and responsibility for her success.
School counselor: What is your goal in coming here, Marie? (Eliciting goal)
Marie: I would like to be doing my homework. But I just cannot seem to get it done.
Counselor: So are there times when you get some of the homework done now? (Exceptions frame)
Marie: Yes, but usually it is when I am interested in the work, or I am in a good mood. (She presents the situation as if her mood determines her actions or as if she cannot do her homework without some preceding interest in it.)
Counselor: How do you get yourself to be interested? I am sure there are other things you could be interested in, at that time. (The assumption is that she does something to get herself interested or cooperates with her interest.)
Marie: Well, I don’t know. I just get into it, and then it is okay.
Counselor: How do you decide to get into it? (The assumption is that she decides to do it.)
Marie: Well, I want to pass and I know I have to do something.
Counselor: (Sympathetically) Oh, you want to pass. That is important to you, to pass? (Supporting the ultimate goal for getting her homework done)
Marie: Yes, I do not want to repeat freshman year and I am tired of wasting time in class.
Counselor: So, you want to do more things like getting into the work so you can pass. Are there other things you are doing to help yourself pass? (Expanding the context)
Marie: Sometimes, when I am in a good mood. But I just wish I was as smart as my sister. Everything is easy for her.
Counselor: Yeah, I guess that might be easier. (Sympathetically) So how do you do it given that it does not come as easy for you? (Acknowledging her wish and again asking her the same exceptions-oriented question)
Marie: I just tell myself “I want to pass” and then I do it.
Counselor: But it does not sound easy at all and it sounds like you are not always in a mood where you feel like doing it. So, how do you decide to do it even though it is not always easy or you are not always interested at first? (Asking for the exception to when she is not “in the mood”)
Marie: Well, I just tell myself, I have other things that my sister does not have—and so I just do it and sometimes it gets easier.
Counselor: (With curious tone) Really? How do you do it and make it get easier?
Marie: Oh, I just stop thinking about the fact that I do not want to do it and then I get into it. (A description that implies more control and initiation on her part. This is in contrast to her previous statements that her doing homework was due to her being in the mood or interested first.)
Counselor: So, you shift your thinking and make it more interesting for yourself or at least get some done. That is great! I am impressed how you do that even when you are not in the mood or crazy about doing the work.
If you continued to do more of that—deciding to get into it because you want to pass—would you think you were more on track to getting more homework done and getting what you want from coming here? (Bridging the exceptions as the goal of therapy)
Marie: Yeah, I do feel better when I make myself do it and think I am going to pass.
Counselor: I can see that and you have been doing some more of that lately as you decided you wanted to pass and do something with your class time. How do you think you will keep doing this?
The counselor is patient and accepting of her responses and yet invites the client to new meanings by asking questions which presuppose her having control of the “exceptions.” By focusing on the exceptions when she was already doing homework, the counselor concentrated on her ability and responsibility for the changing.
This focusing on the exceptions with “responsibility” and “capability” presuppositions is a subtle deconstruction of the limits of her beliefs and an opening up of new meaning. The old belief may have been that she could work on her homework only if she was interested in it first. Later, she reversed that belief as she saw that as she moved herself to work on her homework, she developed interest. The belief that she had to feel something first before she could do what she wanted was reversed to a new belief—that she could gain a new feeling by taking action first.
Another belief the client held may have been that she had to be as smart as her sister in order to do what she wanted. At the same time that this was accepted, we asked how she does the exception, given that it is not as easy for her as it is for her sister. With a raised tone, the question means that we are that much more impressed that she does her work given that it is not as easy as it may be for her sister.
In the following example, the therapist focuses on the hypothetical solution and on the presupposition within that view.
Therapist: What is your goal in coming here? (Goal frame)
Anita: I want more confidence on job interviews.
Therapist: You want to be acting more confidently when you interview? (Changing the noun “confidence” to more of a process description)
Anita: Yes, right now I am always scared, and convinced that I am going to mess up the interview and not get the job. I think that deep down I do not like myself. Some people have told me that I have a fear of failure. Some others say I am afraid of success.
Therapist: So, when you are acting more confidently and handling the job interviews more the way you want to (hypothetical solution), are you thinking you will never be afraid and that you will always admire yourself? (Slightly challenging the notion that she has to feel something different first)
Anita: No, I think I will still feel scared and still have doubts about myself, but somehow I will get myself to go to the interview and think differently of myself.
Therapist: So, you will naturally (normalizing) still feel scared as you anticipate the interview, but you will be saying different things to yourself. Is that right? (Specifying the goal in more behavioral terms and different meaning. The meaning of feeling scared will be different.)
Anita: Yes, I will say things like, “I can get this job,” and then I will go after it.
Therapist: So, even though you are sometimes feeling scared and perhaps even excited (normalizing), you will be saying to yourself that you can get this job. How will you be doing that even though it will be normal to have doubts and fears? (Success is no longer conditional, it is presupposed. We are not asking if she will do it. We are assuming success and asking her to describe how she will be doing it, how she will put the words, the feelings, and movie together.)
Anita: I will just be telling myself that the fear and doubts are just temporary and I have gotten through other fears.
Therapist: That sounds like that has been more workable, but how will you do that? It sounds like it could be easy or tempting to tell yourself that feeling scared means that you are no good or not capable of handling the interview the way you want to.
Anita: Well, I know, but I just need to remind myself of the bigger view, that I have had other jobs and other interviews and that this is just one of the tough times. It will pass and I will get a job.
Therapist: So, if you were saying these things to yourself, maybe even when the interviews do not seem to lead immediately to a job, you would think you were on track to getting what you want from coming here? (Bridging the exceptions as the goal of therapy)
Anita: Yes, I just have to keep those thoughts in mind.
Therapist: So, how will you continue saying these more useful things to yourself? (Pursuing the exceptions as the goal of therapy)
In this example, Anita may be expecting that in the future she will never have doubts or fears or discouragements. To her, this expectation probably seems out of her control. By the therapist presenting an exaggerated future of both absolutely no fears and of admiration versus doubts for herself, the client can present times or examples that counter this exaggerated future solution and focus in more on her expectations. She can say that she will still feel afraid, but that she will say something different to herself. The client can make a new meaning for herself in the scared feeling. Toward the end of the interview, she thinks of the fear as more normal and sees that she just needs to keep the bigger picture in mind. She cannot directly do much about the scared feeling, but what she says to herself and what actions she takes she can directly change.
She has, in effect, created new meaning of her present as she adjusts her thinking about a hypothetical solution. With the new meaning, her feeling scared is not a problem and (her goal) she perceives as more within her control, what she will do in the interviews.
Other clients see their solutions as out of their control because they see them as involving someone else changing or changing first. Since they have no direct control over the behavior of someone else, their solution is out of their control.
How to facilitate these clients’ redefining their goals in a way that gives them control and responsibility will be discussed in Chapter Twelve.
Sometimes, the easiest and quickest route is to just ask directly how the client is going to keep change going. By asking directly how clients will do the changing, you invite them to accept the presupposition of their solving the problem or taking actions within their control. For example:
Therapist: So, it sounds like it has been frustrating for the two of you trying to get your son to stay in school. You have tried talking to him and it seems that he just ignores your arguments of why school is the best thing for him. What are you going to do? (Said with empathy for their frustration and at the same time presupposing that the responsibility for the solution is theirs and that they will do something)
Parents: We have tried talking to him until we are both blue in the face and none of that seems to work.
Therapist: I guess talking is not the way. What are you going to do? (Hypothetical solution frame, again with empathy and curiosity)
Parents: I guess we will just have to make him go. We were hoping that he would like school or at least be serious about his future.
Therapist: That would be nice, but I guess he is not there yet. How will you make him go?
Father: I hate to be so autocratic, but we will just have to take the car away for awhile.
Therapist: What do you think he will make of that?
Father: He will probably get pissed off and make life miserable, but I think it will make him go.
Therapist: This does not sound like an easy thing to do and it sounds like it goes against your more democratic ideals. How will you do this, even when he gets pissed off? (Hypothetical solution frame)
In this example, the parents had been hoping that the boy would want to go to school or do it on his own without consequences. They are now faced with his failure. The therapist facilitates their constructing solutions by presupposing that they will do it. These questions are expressed by the therapist with a great deal of empathy for how much these parents are frustrated and how much they do not like using consequences. For the father, consequences seem like an autocratic means that is distasteful. For him to use consequences, he may need to expand his beliefs to understand consequences as more positive rather than dictatorial.
In facilitating a reversal or expansion of a belief by focusing on the expectation of the future, and by asking directly, the therapists assume that the clients can or will solve their situation. The skill comes in phrasing the questions so as to bring out what the clients do during their successes or exceptions. The other skill is in being empathic to clients in their situation and joining with them in how they will solve the situation. The therapist never accepts the responsibility for solving the problem!
QUESTION:
Some clients come to my office wanting me to make them feel better, make their kids better, or, in so many words, solve the problem for them. What do you do with that?
First, we usually explore with the clients their exceptions to the problem and what they did at those times. Sometimes, by exploring as we did in the above examples, what clients did during the exceptions, we can facilitate their recognizing their own potential for solving the problem. They then can give up their initial hope that you, the therapist, will do the solving and they can explore what more they will do.
For those clients who still want us as the therapists to take the responsibility, we usually take a one-down approach and explain that we cannot do that. Sometimes, we explain that we cannot change someone else or that we doubt that we could do anything more than the client has done. Sometimes, we explain that we would be misleading them by saying that we could solve the problem when, in fact, we cannot.
With a partner playing a client presenting her or himself as one of the examples above, practice using questions that presuppose responsibility and resourcefulness. Tape the session and then go over your questions to identify which questions worked better. It is better to review the tape with someone else. Someone outside of your own personal beliefs can recognize the differences more quickly.