Expectation: The Very Brief Therapy Book

This immensely powerful and practical book is about utilising the power of expectation in working with clients.

Expectation: The Very Brief Therapy Book ISBN: 978-1845900281

Expectation: The Very Brief Therapy Book

By Rubin Battino

RRP: £20.00


Crown House | [email protected]

Therapy & Psychotherapy

(1)

Purchase Review

This immensely powerful and practical book is about utilising the power of expectation in working with clients. It is the author’s contention that creating an environment where the client expects to change is the foundation of doing effective very brief therapy. His own private practice is one where he rarely sees clients more than one or two times. Clients know in advance that this is the way that he works, and so their expectation is that during this session they are going to get down to the hard stuff, and resolve their concerns insofar as it is possible. This means working as if each session were the last one. This book is about all of the things that are designed to work in a single-session mode. This is not to say that some clients will need many more sessions but creating the expectation that each session will be the last creates an impetus towards change that is vital in the therapeutic process.

After presenting the basic outline of this approach, the book details (chapter by chapter) the specific approaches that the author finds most useful in his work. These include Ericksonian hypnosis and psychotherapy, solution-focused brief therapy, reframing, Rossi’s fail-safe methods, and ideomotor signalling. In addition, metaphor, guided metaphor, and narrative therapy are utilized, as well as many other methods.

Battino has put in one place a collection of rapid and effective approaches to doing therapy. The emphasis is on the expectation of both the client and the therapist that rapid, lasting change is possible.


Brief Therapy and NLP's part in this field

I really enjoyed reading "Expectation – The Very Brief Therapy book". This book is rewarding to read or study If you are an NLP Professional wanting more academic knowledge of professional therapy and to learn where NLP fits in this field.

What’s it about?

One of NLP’s qualities is that change can be quick. This book really explores academic and practical methods used by Brief Therapy practitioners. The first half covers theory and background of brief therapy. The second half explores a range of methods used by different professionals, including NLP techniques as a potential approach.

What did I get from reading it?

It was refreshing and heartening to read around the academic study that shows how one or a few sessions can be enough to support significant client change. The evidence that “the average client receiving psychotherapy is better off than about 80% of untreated clients.” (P5 - resulting from studies similar to Grissom (1996)) is also a great learning to know.

I also liked the endorsement of the Mind/body connection, where meditation, diet and exercise were used for greater success and endorsement of a client driven approach to sessions.

The overview of Brief Therapy techniques was fascinating too. Each method is written in a short, digestible chapter so you can pause to reflect and digest after you learn about each area.

The chapters on NLP are a great refresher for anyone seeking a reminder on all the great tools in the practice. For more experienced coaches, the last chapter “When all else fails…” was really useful and connected well with learnings from coaching sessions when you need more inspiration.

Overall, a great read with academic depth, definitely one for more experienced NLP professionals. Also good revision for life-long Learners and Coaches looking for a fresh perspective on NLP.


Leave a review

You must be logged in to leave a review.