Problem Solving

Developing Life Skills

Life is full of crises, problems, and

decisions, but many people do not have
the appropriate skills to manage them.
Much of what we think of as problematic
behavior in a client can be viewed as the
consequence of ineffective behavior and
thinking.
The individual is unable to resolve certain
dilemmas in his or her life.

The unproductive attempts to do so have

adverse effects such as anxiety and
depression, not to mention the creation of
additional problems such as
confrontations and interpersonal conflict.
For the professional the way to decode
the clients sometimes incomprehensible
actions is to ask yourself what he or she
is trying to achieve?

Often, what the client is trying to achieve

is the narrowing of the discrepancy
between their actual state of affairs and
their desired state of affairs.
The discrepancy is the problem, and the
clients solutions may be making things
worse.
Problem solving aims to reduce or
eliminate this gap with some modification.

Most often as problem solvers we

try to improve the actual state of
affairs by finding an answer to a
difficulty, a solution to a problem.
Group problem solving is generally
more fruitful than individual effort.
In the problem solving approach
small is not so much beautiful as
manageable.

Problems are not manageable when they

are conceived in large global terms.

Everything is going wrong.

He will never change.
There is no hope.
I seem to have the world on my shoulders.

You break through this rhetoric by trying

to establish and obtain relevant facts.

The more your clients can adopt a mental

set that they can cope with a problem,
the greater the likelihood that with your
help they will come up with a solution to
it.
The feeling of being in control, not
helpless is vital to the successful working
through of difficult situations and is
invaluable when you are involved in crisis
interventions.

You re-label the problem for the

clients, defining what they once
thought of as impenetrable as
manageable given thought and
calm application of a series of
interpersonal problem solving
strategies.

The Development of Problem Solving

Skills

Interpersonal problem solving skills are

learned from experiences beginning in the
family and wherever the child interacts
with others in situations that give rise to
interpersonal difficulties.
How well the developing child learns
these skills is thought to reflect the extent
to which the childs caregivers manifest
these abilities themselves.

Also, the degree to which parents

communicate in ways that encourage the
exercise of such thinking in the child.
The emphasis is very much on how the
person thinks.
The goal in therapy or training is to
generate as way of thinking, a way of
using beliefs and values in making
decisions at such times the problems
arise.

Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills

Problem sensitivity:
Ability

to be aware of problems that

arise out of social situations.
A sensitivity to the kinds of social
situations out of which interpersonal
difficulties may arise.
Ability to examine relationships with
others in the here and now.

Alternative solution training:

Ability

to generate a wide variety of

potential solutions to the problem.
Skill is to draw from a repertoire of
ideas representing differing categories
of solutions to a given problem.

Brainstorming:
The

creative art of generating the

greatest number of ideas in the
shortest possible time.
Acceptance of every idea uncritically
Aim for quantity not quality
At this stage do not initiate any
discussion
List the ideas
Set a time limit

Means-ends thinking:
Ability

to articulate the step by step

means necessary to carry out the
solution to a given interpersonal
problem.
Ability to recognize obstacles, the social
sequences deriving from these
solutions.
Recognition that interpersonal problem
solving takes time.

Consequential thinking:
Being

aware of the consequences of

social acts as they affect self and
others.
Ability to generate alternative
consequences to potential problem
solutions before acting.

Causal thinking:
Reflects

the degree of appreciation of

social and personal motivation.
Involves the realization that how one
felt and acted may have been
influenced by and, in turn, may have
influenced how others felt and acted.

A Problem Solving Model

Defining the problem and its

severity as precisely as possible.
This entails:
Assessing

the current (actual) state of

affairs
Specifying the desired (ideal) state of
affairs (goals)

Assessing the nature and magnitude

of the problem.
This entails:

Listing the forces helping the client move

toward the desired goals
Listing the forces hindering the client from
moving toward this goal.

In force-field analysis as it is called, the

problem is viewed as a balance between
forces pushing in opposite directions.

Current State of Affairs

(Sallys truancy)

Helping Forces (+)

The family is behind
her.
Sally wants to return
to school.
The teacher is
sympathetic.

Hindering Forces (-)

Perhaps we put too
much pressure on her.
She gets panicky
when she tries.
Her schoolmates tease
her when she
appears.
There is a bully in her
classroom.

Formulate alternative strategies.

This entails:

Moving the client from the actual to the

desired state of affairs.
Creative and divergent thinking
Inventiveness
Critical ability

You have to change the helping forces

and the hindering forces in order to alter
the current state of affairs.

Now decide and implement the

strategy.
This entails:
Selecting

the alternatives that seem

most likely to succeed.
Specifying the know-how methods
and other resources required to
implement the chosen strategy.

Evaluate the outcome of

applying the strategy.
This entails:
Defining

what a successful outcome

means in terms of explicit criteria.
Specifying what the effects or
consequences of the strategy were.

Vignettes

The first time you meet Elisa, age 38, she is in the
hospital emergency room recovering from a severe
panic attack. Tears are streaming down her face and
she is having difficulty telling you her story. They are
trying to get rid of me. Ive worked for them for twelve
years. Now they make fun of my accent and accuse
me of chasing customers away. They say its my fault
the other woman in our unit quit. I dont know what I
will do. I cant just get another job.
Elisa has been having problems at work for the last ten
months. Her difficulties started when she returned
from a leave of absence taken at the time of her sons
death. He had been killed in a gang related incident.
He was such a good boy. I dont know why it happen.
Im so alone now. I dont know what I will do if I lose
my job.

Vignette #2

According to Sheila and Bill W., their twelve year old

daughter, Rachel, has always been difficult. A couple of
years ago Rachel was seen by a psychologist who
confirmed that she has a learning disability. He
suggested that some of her problems in social relating
may be related to the learning disorder.
What finally drove them to seek your services was a
recent call to Childrens Protective Services by Rachels
teacher. Rachel told her teacher that Bill had become
violent, breaking down her bedroom door and
threatening to hit her. Sheila says The social worker
came to our house and did her investigation. Well, Bill
was finally cleared but it just created such havoc.
Shes driving us to this. She acts as though she hates
us. Its just tearing our family apart.

Vignette #3

Melissa, age 13, is brought in by her mother, Emily.

Over the weekend, Melissa took ten Tylenol. She said
she took them because she wanted to die but then got
very scared and told her mother who called the
pediatrician. Melissa had an upset stomach but did not
require treatment.
Melissas parents separated a year ago after her father
announced he had fallen in love with another woman
and was going to live with her. I never thought this
could happen to us. He was the perfect Dad. I really
thought he loved us. Then all of a sudden Its like
someone came and stole his body and theres this
horrible person whos pretending to be my father. Its
just not real. Emily sits sullenly, shaking her head in
agreement, with tears running down her face.