PREVENTION, SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY, AND THE ILLUSION OF MENTAL-DISORDERS

Therapy theorists' criticism of the lack of specific mechanisms in the prevention of mental disorders is examined from the perspective of so lution-focused therapy (SFT), which argues that solutions can be unrel ated to problems, and that it is not even necessary to know what a pro blem is in order to solve it. It is suggested that the shift of attent ion from problems to solutions in SFT offers a conceptual framework wi thin which the criticism is not relevant, and from which theorists of therapy and prevention can share a common outlook. This outlook involv es a focus on encouraging productive, useful, positive behavior, with a corresponding deemphasis on and skepticism about current conceptuali zations of mental disorders.