Using the miracle question well means listening deeply to the client… you become genuinely curious, "if the problem were gone, who would you be?", and that curiosity is what makes you ask. The same sentence feels completely different.
Have you ever gone weeks feeling worn out and on edge, snapping at the people at home? The natural question is "why am I like this?" But you can ask it again and again without an answer turning up, and the days don't get any easier. In that same stretch there may well have been a night or two that went a little better, and what you did that night is a question that rarely occurs to us.
1The worldview
Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was developed by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, USA, in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its focus is on building solutions rather than dissecting problems: the conversation centres on three things: the future you want; the "exceptions", the times the problem didn't happen or was less bad; and the strengths and resources you already have.[1,2]
That opening "why am I like this?" is the question most therapies take seriously: they look into what has gone wrong inside and where it came from. SFBT thinks differently: a solution isn't necessarily tied to the problem's cause, so you don't always need to know where a problem started in order to solve it. Think of a building with damage in the middle: you needn't knock it down and rebuild, you can just fix that part. As for how to fix it, the SFBT therapist doesn't decide. Rather than give answers, they ask what you want and when you've already managed a little of it, so the way forward grows out of your own experience.[2]
Like narrative therapy (another talking therapy, covered below), SFBT is a "postmodern" approach: it doesn't assume an objective standard for what is "wrong" with a person, and holds that meaning is built together in conversation. So the therapist takes a curious, "not-knowing" stance and treats the client as the expert on their own life. Its techniques weren't deduced from a theory: the team watched a great many sessions through a one-way mirror, saw what helped clients make progress, and refined that into a method step by step.[2]
Since you needn't take the problem apart first, SFBT doesn't start with what's wrong with a person. It looks at three things: what you want life to look like; what you were doing when the problem was less bad; and where you are now, and what the next small step is. Each session goes through these three, because small changes lead to bigger ones. The nights that went a little better, at the start, are the second: not luck, but clues.
2The method
With that way of seeing a person, the worn-out, short-tempered person from the start gets a simple map for a session, one step for each node above. The first session describes the future you want, then finds the related exceptions, then looks at progress on a scale from 0 to 10, and ends with compliments and one small suggestion. Every later session starts from "what's better?", then scales progress and looks for the next step. The questions used at each step are explained below.[2,5]
3The skills
Most of SFBT's skills are questions: the tools for the three steps above, grouped by the same three nodes. The therapist listens closely to your words, picks out the parts that point towards the life you want, and builds the next question from your own words, putting the picture together step by step.
Turn "I don't want this any more" into "here's what I'd be doing".
First sessions often open with one question: "What are your best hopes from our talking together?" or "What would need to be different after today for it to have been worth coming?" The first answer is often "I don't want to…", so the therapist asks "what will be there instead?", gradually turning the absence of a problem into the presence of something, and the general into the specific.[2,6]
"Suppose that while you're asleep tonight a miracle happens and the problem that brought you here is solved, but because you're asleep you don't know it has happened. When you wake up tomorrow, what's the first thing you'd notice that's different?" Then: who would notice first, and what would they see you doing? Its job is to turn the "best hopes" above into a picture you can see. A useful miracle picture has three features: it describes behaviour that is there, not just a problem that's gone; it is a beginning, not a finished result; and it includes changes other people could see. The question grew out of a client of Berg's who said that perhaps only a miracle would help.[2,4,5]
You said your best hope is "not to be this tired every day, and not to snap at my wife when I get home". Can I ask you a slightly strange question?
Suppose you go to sleep tonight as usual. While you're asleep, a miracle happens: the problem that brought you here is solved. But you're asleep, so you don't know. When you wake up tomorrow, what small thing would you notice first that makes you think, "huh, something's different"?
If you weren't so tired, what would you be doing?
Coffee by the window. How would your body feel then?
He may well not change. Suppose he still messages, and the miracle has happened to you. When the message comes that night, what would you do differently?
Who would be the first to notice you were different?
What would she see you doing?
And when she sees that, how would she respond?
Let me note what you've said: "Coffee by the window in the morning; when the message comes at night, finish dinner first; ask my wife how her day was." Has any small part of this picture happened recently, even a little?
Good. Let's start from that Sunday.
Notice: This dialogue plays out the opening situation and shows step 1, describing the future you want. The client begins stuck on "why am I so tired and short-tempered?"; the therapist doesn't chase the cause but asks what would be different after the miracle. The therapist asks permission, then asks the "strange" question slowly, and waits quietly through "I don't know". When the client says "not so tired", the therapist asks what they'd be doing; when the boss who won't change comes up, the therapist doesn't argue but asks what would be different in the client, then looks through his wife's eyes. The picture that emerges is small and concrete. Nothing is solved yet, but there's a direction.
No problem happens all the time; the times it's less bad are clues.
No problem happens all the time. An "exception" is a time the problem could have happened but didn't, or was less bad. The therapist asks for the who, what, when and where, asks "how did you do that?", and links it back to the future you want. Every later session opens with "what's better?" Exceptions often turn up earlier than we expect, and some change even starts before the first meeting: in a small early study of 30 families, about two-thirds (20) had noticed some improvement between booking and the first session.[2,3,8]
Since we last met, what's been better?
Still loads of work. It sounds like a hard week. Out of these days, was there one that was even slightly better than the others?
Thursday. What was different that day?
And when you got home?
Chatting about her work over dinner: that sounds a lot like the miracle picture you described last time. How did you do that?
Extra tired, and you still chose to get off a stop early and walk for twenty minutes. That was your decision.
"Leave work on the train." Apart from Thursday, were there other times that were a little like that?
If you had one more of those this week, which day would you pick?
Either way is fine. We'll look at what happened together next time.
Notice: This dialogue follows on, with the same client, and shows step 2, finding exceptions: it asks the question left unasked at the start, what did you do on the night that went a little better? The therapist opens with "what's better?" When the client says nothing, the therapist doesn't contradict him; they acknowledge it's been hard and ask whether any day was slightly better. Then they get the details, ask "how did you do that?", give the credit back to the client, and link it to last session's miracle picture. The client hasn't suddenly got better; he has found one thing he can do.
When things really are bad, after a loss or a crisis, SFBT doesn't push you to say things are better. The therapist first acknowledges how hard it is, then asks: "With all that's been going on, what has helped you keep going, even a little?" The answer might be slowing your breathing or calling your mother: resources you already have, and can do a bit more of. A scale can follow (the scaling question is explained next): if 0 is not coping at all and 10 is coping as well as anyone could in this situation, where are you now?[2,5]
Compliments aren't pleasantries; they point to things you actually did that helped. There are direct compliments ("you managed it in such a busy week; that's not easy"); indirect ones, which are questions that assume something good ("how did you do that?"); and self-compliments, which the therapist notices and invites you to say more about.[2]
See where you are, and think one point ahead, not all the way.
On a scale from 0 to 10, 0 is when you decided to get help and 10 is the miracle picture you described. The therapist asks, "What makes it a 3 and not a 0?", so you name what you're already doing right, then "What would one point higher look like?" Scales can also measure confidence and motivation, or ask "what number would be good enough to stop coming?" The number is your own judgement, not a test score.[2,7]
Let's use a scale from 0 to 10. 0 is where things were when you decided to come and see me; 10 is the miracle morning you described. Where would you say you are now?
A 3. Compared with when you decided to come, what makes it a 3 and not a 0?
How did you manage those two nights?
I see. If one day it went up to a 4, what would be different that day? Who would notice?
From 0 to 10, how confident are you of getting to a 4?
5 or 6 isn't low. What number would be good enough that you wouldn't need to come and see me any more?
OK, 7 is your goal. (Pause) Here's what I noticed today: the work hasn't eased off, and you've still found ways to leave it at the door. Getting off a stop early, the phone on the shoe cabinet: you came up with those yourself. One suggestion for this week: notice when you're a bit closer to a 4, and what you're doing at those times, and tell me next time.
Notice: This dialogue shows step 3, scaling and the next step, with the same client, who has moved from "why am I like this?" to naming what he did right behind the 3. The ends of the scale are made clear first: 0 is when he decided to come, 10 is the miracle morning. The therapist asks "why not lower?" so the client names what he's done right, then what one point higher would look like, how confident he is, and what number would be "good enough", so the client sets the goal. The ending is a specific compliment and one thing to notice, not a list of homework.
This closes every session, and is the last part of the method. Before the session ends, the therapist sums up what you want and what you've already done, offers compliments, then one suggestion. It may be to observe, for example to notice what happens in your life that you'd like to keep happening; or to act, doing a little more of what already works, or picking a day to "pretend the miracle has happened". Each suggestion comes from what you said in the session.[2,3]
The dialogues are illustrative composites, not real clients; skills that stir strong emotion or touch on trauma should be done with a trained therapist.
Now you know how it sees a person and how it works. The next questions: what is it actually like, does it work, and what is it not for?
SFBT has no set number of sessions; the rule is "as long as it takes and not one session more", and in studies it averages under six. There's no long assessment phase: talk of the change you want starts in the first session, and you decide when it's enough. The six steps below are the method and questions above, in the order they usually come.[2,6,9]
SFBT isn't designed for one particular "disorder"; it's a way of talking that can be used in many situations. Areas with more research support include:[9,10,11,12,14]
Most of the research is on people without a formal diagnosis; for diagnosed or more severe problems the evidence is weaker, as the limits section explains. SFBT is also often used alongside other help, such as medication or addiction services: if something already helps, keep doing it. If you are thinking of hurting yourself or ending your life, please call The Samaritans' 24-hour line on 2896 0000 first, or 999 in an emergency; to find out whether SFBT suits you, talk it over with a therapist.
The sections above describe how SFBT hopes to help; here is whether research bears that out. There is a lot of research on SFBT, across therapy, school counselling and coaching, but its quality is uneven. Here, claim by claim, is what has fair support and what still needs more evidence.
A randomised trial assigns participants by chance to SFBT or a comparison group, then compares the results. Of 91 such trials, about seven in ten found SFBT did better than the comparison group. In community services, an analysis of 28 randomised trials also found a moderate overall benefit, while an earlier analysis found only small effects. But many of the studies are small, and the benefit is smaller than the headline figures suggest.[9,14,15]
A review of 43 controlled studies found the strongest evidence in adult depression, where four studies showed SFBT comparable to well-established treatments. An umbrella review, which pools 25 systematic reviews, rated confidence as high for adult depression, overall mental health and progress towards personal goals. But only four studies compared it directly with established treatments.[11,12]
Across 96 studies that reported session numbers, SFBT averaged about 5.7 sessions (range 1 to 24), and three studies that compared length all found SFBT used fewer sessions than other therapies. Only three studies made that direct comparison, though.[9,11]
In randomised trials against another active treatment, SFBT came out ahead in only about a third (37.5%), about one in five found it worse, and the rest showed no difference or mixed results. Against treatment as usual (mostly CBT), its advantage roughly halves.[9,10]
In a Finnish randomised trial of 326 outpatients with depression or anxiety, SFBT and short-term psychodynamic therapy showed no significant difference, and both helped sooner than long-term psychodynamic therapy; but by three years long-term therapy was ahead. Quicker early does not mean better long term.[13]
The skills above rely on using your own words and talking about what is going well. Studies analysing session recordings line by line found SFBT therapists said more positive things than CBT therapists, and clients tended to answer in kind; SFBT therapists also kept more of the client's own words. But these studies looked at only a few experts' demonstration sessions, and they don't by themselves show that it works.[16,17]
To be honest, though: the big numbers mostly come from comparisons with no treatment, and effects shrink with people already seeking care or with a formal diagnosis. A few unpublished studies average an effect near zero, so publication bias (studies with good results being more likely to get published) can't be ruled out, and the Middle Eastern studies, 25 of the 72, show far larger effects than those from elsewhere. The largest review only counted positive and negative results, without assessing risk of bias. There's no sign SFBT does harm, but how much it helps is smaller than the headline figures suggest.[9,10,12]
Plenty of research doesn't mean no problems. A review of 251 outcome studies found that, among randomised trials, SFBT beat the comparison group in 87% of studies on people without a formal diagnosis, but in only 37.5% of those on people with one. A few things to bear in mind:[9,10,13,18]
Many studies are small, and many compare SFBT with no treatment. Against treatment as usual (mostly CBT) its advantage roughly halves; in randomised trials against another active therapy SFBT came out ahead in only about a third, about four in ten showed no difference or mixed results, and about one in five found it worse. Publication bias can't be ruled out either, so the headline figures need discounting.
Effects shrink noticeably when participants have a formal diagnosis. The reviewers raise the possibility that more severe cases need help beyond SFBT, while noting that a diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean more distress, and SFBT still came out ahead in about six in ten studies of diagnosed samples. This still needs confirming.
Brief therapy works faster, but in the Finnish trial long-term psychodynamic therapy was ahead at three years. If the trouble comes from patterns built up over many years, looking only at the next small step may not reach the deeper causes, and the opening "why am I like this?" may deserve a serious answer.
Asked mechanically, just to fill a silence, the miracle question can leave a client feeling brushed off, or pushed to be positive. Eve Lipchik, who helped develop SFBT, also argued that attending to emotion and the therapeutic relationship, traditionally given little attention in SFBT, can help get a stuck session moving again.
Taken together, a good therapist first understands what's hard for you, then looks for a direction with you. SFBT is a very useful set of questions, and with a genuine relationship and other approaches alongside it, it can take you further.
"Why am I like this?" is sometimes worth chasing and sometimes has no answer to find; but the night that went a little better was one you lived through yourself. It's worth asking about, and worth having again.
Want to try it yourself first? These free exercises are simpler versions of the skills above, with you step by step.
Not ready to see a therapist yet? Start with these four steps at your own pace, one a week.
TreeholeHK's counsellors and clinical psychologists use SFBT to fit what you need, alongside other approaches.
SFBT looks after "what next"; other approaches look after other parts. Start here to learn more.
You can do the exercises on your own. When you're stuck, a trained therapist can take you further.
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