Common Errors in Single-Session Therapy

Abstract

Single-session thinking and practice are being increasingly recognized as an important component in the landscape of mental health service delivery. At the same time, however, there are some common misunderstandings that may impede applications and further developments. Inspired by Jay Haley's (1969) ironic “The Art of Being a Failure as a Therapist” and others of his articles, the authors describe some ways to avoid successful single-session therapy (SST), including insisting that therapy be only one session; disbelieving that therapy could be only one session; lowering hopeful expectations; avoiding clarifying a specific goal for the session; disregarding real-life issues; insisting on one model of therapy; ignoring context and working against the client's culture; thinking that the only single-session goal should be total resolution of whatever problems have brought the client to therapy; and neglecting implementation, supervision, and administrative support.