Might within the madness: solution-focused therapy and thought-disordered clients

Nurses working with thought-disordered clients in inpatient psychiatric settings may find that much of their role is defined by the administration and monitoring of antipsychotic medications. Therefore, a challenge for these nurses can be to find other nursing interventions for these clients that are effective, efficient, and clearly and uniquely within the scope of nursing. In response to this challenge, this article presents the use of solution-focused therapy (SFT) to help thought-disordered clients better cope with some of their negative experiences and symptomatology. The article provides an overview of SFT, with a focus on how these techniques might be used on an inpatient psychiatry setting with clients experiencing thought disorders. The authors include three case studies demonstrating the use of SFT with clients experiencing thought disorders, and conclude with some of the lessons they have learned using SFT techniques with these kinds of clients in inpatient psychiatric settings.