Brief Psychotherapies: Introduction | Brief Therapy: A Short
Background | Current Models of Brief Psychotherapy | Differences
and Similarities Among the Brief Therapies | Research Pertaining
to Brief Therapy and Its Effectiveness | Conclusion | Key Points
| Suggested Readings | Online Resources | References Brief
therapy is a generic term referring to a class of
psychotherapies that seek to accelerate change through the
active, focused interventions of therapists and enhanced patient
involvement in treatment. In the past several decades, various
brief approaches to therapy have evolved, ranging from single-
session treatments and strategic interventions of several
sessions to short-term psychodynamic modalities that frequently
exceed 20 sessions. At the same time, a wealth of outcome
studies have informed the practice of brief therapy by
identifying patients and presenting concerns likely to benefit
from these approaches. The overarching message from this
research is that the value of short-term work is signif