Solution-Focused Therapy Techniques: The Miracle Question, Scaling, Exceptions and More
Solution-focused therapy techniques are a small set of questions that turn attention from the history of a problem to what you want instead, what already works, and the next small step. This guided tool walks you through the core ones.
Reviewed byMichael Callans, MSWAbout this tool
Solution-focused therapy techniques are the questions and tasks used in solution-focused brief therapy, or SFBT, an approach built on the idea that you do not need to understand a problem in depth to begin solving it. Instead of asking where a difficulty came from, the techniques ask what life would look like without it, when it is already a little better, and what the smallest next step would be. The best known are the miracle question, scaling questions, exception-finding, coping questions, and the formula first-session task. They are tied together by presuppositional language: the questions are phrased on the assumption that change is possible and already under way. The approach is brief by design, future-focused rather than problem-history focused, and it treats the person, not the therapist, as the expert on their own life.
SFBT was developed in the late 1970s and 1980s by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, a married couple who founded the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee with colleagues. They drew on the brief therapy work of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto and on the hypnotherapist Milton Erickson, who was known for using whatever a client brought as the raw material for change. De Shazer's books Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy (1985) and Clues (1988) laid out the method; Berg carried it into work with families and alcohol problems. Their central observation was that clients spent sessions describing problems while the useful information lay in the moments the problem was absent, so the team began asking about those moments directly.
The miracle question is the technique most people have heard of. In its classic form it asks you to suppose that tonight, while you sleep, a miracle happens and the problem that brought you here is solved, but because you were asleep you do not know it happened. The question is: what is the first small thing you would notice tomorrow morning that tells you the miracle has occurred? Then what next? What would the people around you notice? The point is not the miracle. It is the detailed, behavioral description of a preferred future that follows: I would get up without checking my phone, I would say good morning first, my daughter would see me eating breakfast. Those details become the goals, and they are nearly always things that can start happening in a small way now.
Scaling questions put change on a 0 to 10 line, where 0 is the worst things have been and 10 is the morning after the miracle. Three follow-ups do the work. Why that number and not one lower: this draws out what is already going right. What would you be doing differently at one number higher: this defines a step small enough to take. And what would tell someone else you had moved up one point: this makes progress observable. Scaling can also be applied to confidence and willingness, which is why the same idea appears in motivational interviewing as the confidence ruler. The number itself measures nothing; it turns a vague sense of better or worse into something you can talk about and act on.
Exception-finding asks when the problem does not happen, or happens less, or is handled better. Almost no problem is present every hour of every day, and the times it is absent are treated as evidence of what works. The follow-up matters: what was different then, what were you doing, who was there, and how could you do more of that deliberately? Coping questions are for people who cannot find an exception because things feel uniformly bad. How have you kept going? What has stopped it getting worse? How did you manage to get here today? They surface strategies the person has been using without noticing, which can then be used on purpose.
The formula first-session task comes from de Shazer's 1985 book and was given to nearly every client at the end of a first meeting: between now and the next session, notice the things in your life that you want to continue to have happen. It asks for no change at all, only observation, and it turns attention toward what is working. At follow-up, the solution-focused question is simply what is better, not how was your week. Two other habits run through all of this. Compliments, meaning specific acknowledgment of something the person did well, are deliberate and frequent. And goals are kept small, concrete, stated in the positive (what you will do, not what you will stop), and described in the person's own words. Throughout, the therapist leads from one step behind, following the client's language rather than correcting it.
The evidence is moderate and should not be oversold. Reviews of controlled studies, including Kim's 2008 meta-analysis and Gingerich and Peterson's 2013 systematic review, find small to moderate positive effects, with outcomes broadly comparable to other brief approaches for mild to moderate problems, often in fewer sessions. The quality of many of the studies is limited, and the approach has been tested far less for severe depression, psychosis, trauma, or substance dependence, where it is not a substitute for established treatment. There is also an honest tension in the method: a person whose problem has a cause that needs addressing, such as an abusive relationship, can be moved past it too quickly by a therapist who only asks about solutions. Good solution-focused practitioners know this and refer when they need to.
The techniques suit people with a defined goal, a limited window of time, or a strong dislike of talking about the past, and they are widely used in schools, coaching, and social work. They work less well when someone needs to process what happened before they can look forward, when the problem is a symptom of something that requires assessment, or when the person is in crisis. Common mistakes: answering the miracle question with feelings rather than behavior, so there is nothing to act on; treating the scale number as a score to be defended; using relentless positivity that ignores how hard things are; and skipping the smallness, so the next step is a resolution to change everything by Monday.
Used on your own, these questions are a structured way of thinking about a goal, which is what this tool offers. See a licensed therapist if the problem you are working on is persistent, if it involves safety, trauma, or substance use, or if you have worked through the questions several times and nothing has moved. Many therapists in Psychology.com's free directory use solution-focused techniques alongside other approaches.
References
- de Shazer S. Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy. W. W. Norton; 1985.
- de Shazer S, Dolan Y, Korman H, Trepper T, McCollum E, Berg IK. More Than Miracles: The State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. Haworth Press; 2007.
- Kim JS. Examining the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy: a meta-analysis. Research on Social Work Practice. 2008;18(2):107-116.
- Gingerich WJ, Peterson LT. Effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy: a systematic qualitative review of controlled outcome studies. Research on Social Work Practice. 2013;23(3):266-283.
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, October 19). Solution-Focused Therapy Techniques. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tools/solution-focused-therapy-techniques
Solution-Focused Therapy Techniques FAQ
What are the main solution-focused therapy techniques?
The core techniques are the miracle question, which builds a detailed picture of life without the problem; scaling questions, which put progress on a 0 to 10 line and ask what one point higher would look like; exception-finding, which looks for times the problem was absent or smaller; coping questions, which surface how someone has kept going; and the formula first-session task, which asks the person to notice what they want to continue. Compliments, small positively stated goals, and the follow-up question what is better run through all of them.
What is the miracle question?
The miracle question asks you to imagine that while you slept a miracle solved the problem, and because you were asleep you did not see it happen. What is the first small sign the next morning that things are different? What comes next, and what would other people notice? The answer is a concrete description of the life you want, in behaviors rather than feelings, which then becomes the set of goals. Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer developed it at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee in the 1980s.
How do scaling questions work?
You rate where you are on a scale from 0, the worst things have been, to 10, the preferred future fully arrived. The number itself matters less than the follow-ups. Why that number and not lower reveals what is already working. What you would be doing at one point higher defines a small, achievable step. What someone else would notice makes progress observable. The same scaling idea can be applied to confidence or willingness, and repeating it over weeks turns a vague sense of better or worse into something you can track.
Does solution-focused brief therapy work?
The evidence is moderate. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews of controlled studies find small to moderate positive effects, with results broadly comparable to other brief approaches for mild to moderate difficulties, often in fewer sessions. Many studies are small or methodologically limited. SFBT has much less evidence for severe depression, psychosis, trauma, or substance dependence, and it is not a substitute for established treatment of those. It is a reasonable choice for a defined goal and a short timeframe, with a practitioner who refers on when needed.
Who developed solution-focused therapy?
Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, with colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center they founded in Milwaukee in the late 1970s. They were influenced by the brief therapy model of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto and by Milton Erickson's practice of using whatever a client brought as material for change. De Shazer wrote the foundational books, including Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy in 1985; Berg extended the approach into family work, substance use, and child protection. Both died in the 2000s, and the model continues through the training institutes they inspired.
Can I use solution-focused techniques on my own?
Yes, as a structured way to think about a goal, which is what this tool offers. Answer the miracle question in behaviors, scale where you are, find an exception, and pick a step small enough that you are confident you will take it. The method works less well alone when the problem needs processing before you can look forward, when it involves safety or trauma, or when nothing moves after several attempts. Those are signs to work with a therapist rather than a worksheet.