Some clients are uneasy about a book that is plainly written and easy to read. They loathe dryly written more academic texts, however, complex text that relies on diagnostic labels and bleak prognoses seems more appropriate to the perceived gravity of their problems and issues.

Other clients love this book because it has scant respect for diagnostic labels and is optimistic about the possibility for improvement for most people and their circumstances. They love it because the simplicity overlays subtleties and practicalities of DIY techniques that can be put into use, right now and safely tested in their everyday lives.

If you want an evidence-based justification of solution-focused therapy, then this is not your book. If you want to explore the biography of your emotions and distressing behaviours, or to gain an insight into the human condition, then there are many, very fine books that explore those topics. O'Hanlon plainly states that he has no interest in examining these or similar areas. He baldy says:

"I began to realize how messed up I really was. I was `clinically depressed,' and most probably I had a biochemically based brain disorder. I probably needed medications. Since I had been sexually abused when I was a child, the books indicated that a minimum of several years' worth of therapy was in order. I would have to spend lots of time, money, and energy getting in touch with the repressed, dissociated memories and feelings associated with the abuse. But I wasn't certain that I wanted to take medications or go through years of painful therapy. I was certain I couldn't afford either. Now wonder I became even more depressed!"

O'Hanlon tells us the story of his personal epiphany when he discovered how to help clients to develop self-management strategies that are grounded in their personal experiences and strengths.

"Problem-oriented and explanation-based theories focus on what is wrong with a person or what went wrong in the past. Solution-oriented therapy highlights what is right with the person, what has worked or been helpful in the past, and what the person can do right now to change things...

Solution-oriented therapy...encourages people to move out of analyzing the nature of the problem and how it arose and instead to begin to find solutions and take action to solve it."

For readers who are interested in the Solutions-Focused approach to dealing with their issues, then "Do One Thing Different" is a user-friendly, DIY guide to developing your own Solution Keys. The 10 Solution Keys are described with useful examples and suggestions for implementing them: they are

*Sabotage Your Problem Behaviours (find what leads up to the problem behaviour and disrupt it)

*Recognize What Works Well for You (what do you already know and do what works well for you)

*Keep Your Past and Feelings in Perspective (they don't have to determine your present or your future)

*Shift Your Attention (you choose where to focus your attention: what is worth your energy and time?)

*Tell Your Success Story Backwards (in the future you are telling the story of your success and how you achieved it: so, what simple things do you need to do RIGHT NOW?)

*Change Your Problem Biography into Solutions-Focused Auto-biography (acknowledge what is in your circle of influence, change that, and change yourself)

*Explore the Wider Meanings of Your Life (spirituality and Spirituality)

*If You Need to Complain, Be Clear About It (what is the outcome that you want, what needs to be different to achieve that?)

*Rituals Exist for a reason (use them to mark the passing of old habits or to welcome new and happier ways of living)

*Celebrate What Is Good in Your Life (routine can promote intimacy and connectedness as much as set-piece social occasions)

O'Hanlon writes with warmth and clarity: there are times when the tone is too self-consciously humorous and irreverent, and the text can occasionally border on the trite, however, it is a clear and easy to follow book. I refer to this book regularly when I am running personal development workshops aimed at people who would sooner sit in a tub of fish-guts than discuss their emotions with another person. I run workshops for serial dieters who are sick of eating their emotions but are tired of smothering them and are open to some plain, de-jargoned advice: the participants respond particularly well to this book and its approach. I recommend this book to

*anyone who has caught themselves thinking, "I am so tired of this. I've thought this to death and I'm still no further forward";

*anyone who is attacted to Solutions-Focused therapy, and senses that they DO know what to do, they just need a few hints and tips to get them started.


A volume of common sense!   June 7, 2002
 42 out of 42 found this review helpful

This book is full of the sort of thing you really knew but were never aware of. It's just plain common sense! Most of the solutions (this is a book of solutions not explainations) contained within are the sort of things you probably overlooked because they were right under your nose. I used to be a drug addict and an alchaholic. Now I don't even smoke cigarettes. The way this happened was quite simple, I stopped taking drugs! When I read this book, there was a section dealing with compulsion and addiction; the section dealt with a man who was a compulsive eater. He broke his habit in *exactly* the same (simple - though not easy!) way I broke many habits.

The rest of the book has similar sensible advice. Conspicuously absent is a section about your inner child and other waffle that doesn't actually give you any solutions. I typed this entire review out with one finger (and sometimes one to hold shift too), as my dominant hand is currently injured. That's how much I value this book; I believe it is something nearly everyone can benefit from. If there is even just one thing in your life that you would like to change but you aren't sure how, read!!!