Brief therapy is a style of therapy that searches for clients' resources and strengths. A brief therapist will help clients recognize how to use their own resources to deal more effectively with the problems. By focusing on strengths, not pathologies, clients feel more hopeful and begin to make changes more quickly. Brief therapy has been effectively used with depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, dissociative disorders and other major psychiatric conditions. It has been used in hospitals, community mental health centers, and outpatient centers.
Brief therapy is concerned about limiting number of sessions or time with a therapist.
With a client and therapist focusing on strengths, resources, solutions and strategies to deal with the problems, frequency of therapy sessions decreases. Hence, the term brief. A good brief therapist will not focus on limiting sessions or time, but rather helping clients set goals and develop strategies to reach those goals. Brief therapy doesn't have long lasting effects. To state that any therapy has long lasting effects would be a falsehood.