英文原文
How to Use the Miracle Question in Therapy: 3 Examples
The Miracle Question is a solution-focused tool that helps visualize a future without current problems, fostering hope & clarity. By describing detailed changes post-miracle, individuals can identify actionable steps towards desired outcomes. This technique encourages a shift from problem-thinking to goal-oriented solutions, enhancing personal & therapeutic growth.
For the therapist, the intervention has the power to explore clients’ hidden resources and find solutions to their existing problems. The miracle question opens the door to the client’s possibilities for therapy. It does this by simply asking them to consider what an alternate reality might look like – one in which things are different, better, and problems are resolved.
This article explores the miracle question and how to use it in Solution-Focused Therapy with individuals and groups. The miracle question is a popular intervention in Solution-Focused Therapy. It asks the client to imagine and discuss a possible world where problems are removed and issues addressed. The question may take various forms, such as asking the client, “Assume your problem has been solved. What is different?” Or, “Assume your problem is gone. What does this mean to you?”
For the therapist, the intervention can “build a good storyline and lead the client to envision how different their life would be if a miracle happened overnight.” The answers provided offer insights to the client while supporting the overall definition of the goals for therapy. Asking and answering the question involves “proposing and negotiating language that satisfies both therapist and client,” intending to achieve a meaningful understanding of their needs and hopes.
The focus of SFT is on “what is preferred and helpful to clients in attaining their goals.” Clients typically find SFT a helpful approach in which the therapeutic dialogue works to construct the therapeutic outcomes. The miracle question prompts and motivates negotiation between therapist and client. When introduced into the session, it typically offers a departure from the prior dialogue. The conversation then proceeds to work out the full meaning of the answer given.
The therapist must tailor the question according to the client’s experiences, language, and understanding to ensure it is appropriately understood, considered, and answered. After all, it is a big question that may not be easy to answer; it invites the client to reflect on broader issues and engage in what-if thinking. The power of the miracle question is to bring clarity to the therapeutic process while strengthening the therapeutic alliance through the client’s presentation of their problem.
Negotiation and back-and-forth dialogue are crucial to the process of posing and making sense of the miracle question. The therapist uses the insight it provides to “bring forth clients’ ideas, goals, and possibilities” to uncover the potential outcomes of therapy. When the client considers the question, it generates new dialogue with the therapist with the miracle as a clear focus. Whether a starting point or later in the interview, it introduces (or reintroduces) further potential for growth into the conversation.
The client becomes more active and potentially more engaged in the therapeutic process, constructing and negotiating valuable meanings and insights while showing that they wish to benefit from the discussion. The power of the miracle question appears to be in its ability to lift clients out of ‘real life,’ shaking loose their constraints and imagining what could be. Crucially, it helps the client piece together a specific and elaborate vision of what their lives would be like in the absence of a problem. Along with setting goals, the purpose of the miracle question is to generate a virtual vision of what life would be like if a miracle occurred, prepare the client for exceptions to the problem, glimpsing a world in which the problem is no longer present, either temporarily or permanently, and create a progressive narrative where the client’s life is pictured as becoming better rather than worse.
For the therapist and client, the response to the miracle question becomes “the common ground upon which the two agree to build a new foundation.”
The following three examples explore how to use the miracle question and its impact. You can modify the following approach and wording according to the circumstances, such as individual, couple, or family therapy. Try out the following with your clients: This may seem like a strange question to ask, but please bear with me. Imagine going about your life as normal and heading off to sleep at the usual time. Unknown to you, during the night, something happens – a miracle. When you wake up the following day, something exciting has happened. The very problem that brought you to see me today is no longer there. What would be the very first difference you would notice in your life?
Helpful follow-ups include: How will you know the miracle has happened? What will others notice about you that makes them aware things are different or better? What would their reaction be? What would they do? What would you do next? What would we see if we compared a before and after picture? Have you ever seen elements of this happen before?
Answering the miracle question: The following statements are two unique examples of responses to the miracle question given by a couple during marriage therapy, having sought help for relationship difficulties: “We would spend more time with each other like we used to.” “My wife would have an interest in me again like when we first started dating.”
Language becomes more than a tool for understanding. The process of asking, sharing, and understanding the miracle question communicates experiences and wishes between the speaker and the listener. It is important to remember that while initiated as a single question, the broader process of creating a vision of what life could be like may require an entire session. Furthermore, it takes skill to pose follow-up questions, yet it is worthwhile, as it involves building more detail and meaning through elaboration.
When the therapist asks the miracle question, the client considers a possible future different from the present. As this deviation from reality can seem like strange and unfamiliar territory, the following activities may help. The Dare Question worksheet uses a slightly different approach. Rather than asking what it would be like “if you woke up tomorrow and the problem had disappeared,” it asks, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” Have you ever truly taken time to consider what you want out of life? Most of us haven’t thought about what it might look like, how it would feel, and how we would behave and appear to others. Revisit this exercise regularly. Become comfortable with the idea that you are imagining what you would do if you couldn’t fail. Letting go of self-doubt may take some time. Use the answers to plan how you might set about achieving such goals.
The Should Question worksheet is essential to understand the reasons behind what we do and don’t do. Our beliefs and thoughts shape our current decision-making, behavior, and potential to choose the life we could lead. Use the Should Question worksheet to consider what we do, why, and says who? The answers will reveal the beliefs you have about yourself that may be limiting your present or miracle question behavior. Use it to create a new set of affirmations that can turn the answers to your miracle question into reality. These points target the things in your life that require focus.
Learning to use the miracle question positively in groups to generate conversation and progress requires a little more thought. It becomes even more critical to phrase the question well, create goals, engage, find exceptions to the problems, remain patient, and respond to each client in the group constructively. The miracle question can be helpful with survivors of natural disasters, including children as young as six. Working in families or larger groups, the process “can facilitate adaptive coping, immediate solution-building,” and provide an opportunity to share essential strategies to discuss emotions, fears, and needs.
The miracle question is powerful in a group setting. The process helps to imagine how good life could be if the group had everything they ever wanted. Ask the group to sit in a circle and close their eyes. Ask them to picture the following: Imagine waking up tomorrow morning. By some miracle overnight, you have been given everything you ever wanted and life has turned out just as you have always wished. Ask each member of the group to keep imagining and ask themselves the following: What would you notice that would make you realize the miracle had happened? What would you hear and see? How would you feel differently inside? How would you be different? Ask the group to share how that future might look and feel. Then ask them to share what steps they could take to make some of this come true.
While the following exercise is powerful for individuals, it can promote intense discussion and valuable sharing of solutions in a group. Ask the group to sit in a circle and close their eyes. Ask them to picture the following: Imagine waking up tomorrow morning. By some miracle overnight, all your problems are gone. Ask the group to imagine how they would feel and behave. Ask the group to choose one thing they might do if the miracle happened, such as meeting with friends, beginning a new class, or starting to exercise. Now, imagine acting as if the problem were gone. How could you progress with your new activity, action, or behavior if your problem were no longer there? Ask the group to share the one thing they would start doing if their miracle happened; encourage them to explore how it would feel trying out the new behavior.
While the miracle question is a powerful technique in Solution-Focused Therapy and elsewhere, there are other helpful approaches as well. Exception questions can be helpful to reflect upon exceptions to the present problems in the client’s life. Such an approach can be a valuable way to “discover clients’ previous successes and amplify the client’s strengths.” While the miracle question offers insight into treatment goals, exception questions highlight possible pathways to achieve them. An example exception question and statement include: Was there a time when you were able to respond without anger? Tell me of a time when you and your wife enjoyed one another’s company.
Scaling questions provide a useful way to assess a client’s progress toward their goals. “The evaluation outcome can further guide the treatment by adjusting the behavior modification plan” in therapy. Such questions are popular in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, where the aim is to find immediate solutions and actively assist clients in resolving their problems. Two examples of scaling questions include: On a scale of 0 to 10, how committed are you to finding a solution to your relationship problems? On a scale of 0 to 10, how controlled do you feel by your father?
Many therapy books focus on the power of therapy and how using the right interventions can strengthen the therapeutic alliance and increase the chances of a positive outcome. We have chosen three of our favorites below. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma introduces Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and its use with clients facing trauma. This evidence-based text offers advice from experienced practitioners and academics on providing clients with a powerful future and taking the path toward healing and health. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: A Multicultural Approach provides valuable insights into the essence of SFBT, its implications, and crucial considerations from a multicultural perspective. Interventions are described and explored, along with case examples and supporting research. More Than Miracles includes the latest developments in the field, real-life case studies, and supporting guidance and interventions.
We have many worksheets, tools, and interventions that can help clients address underlying issues and identify and work toward their goals: Your Miracle Worksheet can be used to capture a client’s answer to the miracle question, evaluate their support network, and consider next steps for action. Marital Conflicts Questionnaire can be used alongside the miracle question to understand what is causing conflict in a relationship. Imagining Solutions to Social Problems invites clients to generate many possible solutions to a current interpersonal problem and imagine how applying solutions to that problem might look. Reflective Questions in Therapy presents a list of 18 questions therapists can ask clients to facilitate insights around goals, thinking, and behavior.
The miracle question appears surprisingly straightforward, yet it has the power to provide deep insights into the client’s goals, wishes, dreams, and the obstacles they put in their way. The potential of the miracle question comes from its ability to create understanding and the awareness it generates through ongoing dialogue. Such questions talk new and additional meaning into being and help shape the therapeutic outcome. Research into asking and answering the miracle question shows it creates dialogue through negotiation. The meaning is constructed between client and therapist socially, while they responsively negotiate what they say and how they say it. The answer to the question – what the miracle looks like – is woven back into the client’s life and their network of interpersonal relationships. The miracle question is incredibly valuable for the client and the therapeutic process; indeed, “when therapists are taught that the miracle question is a tool for creating hope, their faith in their clients will increase, and their anxiety will decrease as a result.” Therapists can adopt the miracle question as a powerful tool for encouraging further conversation and uncovering the deeper drives that brought the client to their office for help.
中文翻译
如何在治疗中使用奇迹提问：3个示例
奇迹提问是一种焦点解决工具，帮助想象一个没有当前问题的未来，培养希望和清晰度。通过描述奇迹后的详细变化，个人可以识别实现期望结果的可操作步骤。这种技术鼓励从问题思维转向目标导向的解决方案，增强个人和治疗成长。
对于治疗师来说，这种干预有能力探索客户的隐藏资源并找到他们现有问题的解决方案。奇迹提问打开了客户治疗可能性的门。它通过简单地问他们考虑一个替代现实可能是什么样子来实现这一点——一个事情不同、更好、问题得到解决的世界。
本文探讨了奇迹提问以及如何在焦点解决疗法中与个人和团体使用它。奇迹提问是焦点解决疗法中一种流行的干预。它要求客户想象并讨论一个可能的世界，其中问题被移除和问题得到解决。这个问题可能采取各种形式，例如问客户，“假设你的问题已经解决。有什么不同？”或者，“假设你的问题消失了。这对你意味着什么？”
对于治疗师来说，这种干预可以“构建一个好的故事情节，引导客户想象如果一夜之间发生奇迹，他们的生活会有多么不同。”提供的答案为客户提供见解，同时支持治疗目标的整体定义。提问和回答这个问题涉及“提出和协商满足治疗师和客户的语言”，旨在实现对他们需求和希望的有意义理解。
SFT的重点是“客户在实现目标时偏好和有益的东西。”客户通常发现SFT是一种有帮助的方法，其中治疗对话努力构建治疗结果。奇迹提问促使和激励治疗师和客户之间的协商。当引入会话时，它通常提供与先前对话的偏离。然后对话继续进行，以找出所给答案的全部含义。
治疗师必须根据客户的经验、语言和理解来定制问题，以确保它被适当地理解、考虑和回答。毕竟，这是一个可能不容易回答的大问题；它邀请客户反思更广泛的问题并参与假设思维。奇迹提问的力量在于为治疗过程带来清晰度，同时通过客户呈现他们的问题来加强治疗联盟。
协商和来回对话对于提出和理解奇迹提问的过程至关重要。治疗师利用它提供的见解“引出客户的想法、目标和可能性”，以揭示治疗的潜在结果。当客户考虑这个问题时，它会产生与治疗师的新对话，以奇迹为明确焦点。无论是作为起点还是在访谈后期，它都引入（或重新引入）进一步的增长潜力到对话中。
客户变得更加活跃，并可能更投入治疗过程，构建和协商有价值的含义和见解，同时表明他们希望从讨论中受益。奇迹提问的力量似乎在于它能够将客户从“现实生活”中提升出来，动摇他们的约束并想象可能是什么。关键的是，它帮助客户拼凑出一个具体而精细的愿景，即如果没有问题，他们的生活会是什么样子。除了设定目标外，奇迹提问的目的是生成一个虚拟愿景，即如果发生奇迹，生活会是什么样子，为客户准备问题的例外，瞥见一个问题不再存在的世界，无论是暂时还是永久，并创建一个渐进的叙述，其中客户的生活被描绘成变得更好而不是更糟。
对于治疗师和客户来说，对奇迹提问的回应成为“两者同意建立新基础的共同基础。”
以下三个示例探讨了如何使用奇迹提问及其影响。您可以根据情况修改以下方法和措辞，例如个人、夫妻或家庭治疗。尝试与您的客户一起使用以下内容：这可能看起来是一个奇怪的问题，但请耐心听我说。想象一下像往常一样生活，并在通常的时间睡觉。您不知道的是，在夜间，发生了某事——一个奇迹。当您第二天醒来时，发生了令人兴奋的事情。今天带您来见我的那个问题不再存在。您会注意到生活中的第一个不同是什么？
有帮助的后续问题包括：您如何知道奇迹已经发生？其他人会注意到您有什么不同或更好？他们的反应会是什么？他们会做什么？您接下来会做什么？如果我们比较前后图片，我们会看到什么？您以前见过这种情况的要素吗？
回答奇迹提问：以下陈述是夫妻在婚姻治疗期间对奇迹提问的两个独特回应示例，他们因关系困难寻求帮助：“我们会像以前一样花更多时间在一起。”“我的妻子会再次对我感兴趣，就像我们刚开始约会时一样。”
语言不仅仅是理解的工具。提问、分享和理解奇迹提问的过程在说话者和听者之间传达经验和愿望。重要的是要记住，虽然作为一个单一问题启动，但创建生活可能是什么样子的更广泛过程可能需要整个会话。此外，提出后续问题需要技巧，但这是值得的，因为它涉及通过详细阐述构建更多细节和含义。
当治疗师问奇迹提问时，客户考虑一个与现在不同的可能未来。由于这种与现实的偏离可能看起来像陌生和不熟悉的领域，以下活动可能有所帮助。敢问工作表使用略有不同的方法。与其问“如果您明天醒来，问题消失了，会是什么样子”，它问“如果您知道自己不会失败，您会做什么？”您是否真正花时间考虑过您想要什么生活？我们大多数人没有想过它可能是什么样子，它会感觉如何，以及我们会如何行为和出现在他人面前。定期重温这个练习。习惯于想象如果您不会失败，您会做什么的想法。放下自我怀疑可能需要一些时间。使用答案来计划如何开始实现这些目标。
应该问工作表对于理解我们做和不做的事情背后的原因至关重要。我们的信念和思想塑造了我们当前的决策、行为以及选择我们可能过的生活的潜力。使用应该问工作表来考虑我们做什么，为什么，以及谁说的？答案将揭示您对自己的信念，这些信念可能限制您当前或奇迹提问行为。使用它来创建一套新的肯定，可以将您的奇迹提问答案变为现实。这些点针对您生活中需要关注的事情。
学习在团体中积极使用奇迹提问以产生对话和进展需要更多思考。措辞问题、创建目标、参与、找到问题的例外、保持耐心并以建设性的方式回应团体中的每个客户变得更加关键。奇迹提问可以帮助自然灾害幸存者，包括年仅六岁的儿童。在家庭或更大的团体中工作，这个过程“可以促进适应性应对、即时解决方案构建”，并提供分享基本策略的机会，以讨论情绪、恐惧和需求。
奇迹提问在团体环境中很强大。这个过程帮助想象如果团体拥有他们想要的一切，生活会有多好。让团体坐成一个圆圈并闭上眼睛。让他们想象以下内容：想象明天早上醒来。由于夜间某个奇迹，您得到了您想要的一切，生活结果正如您一直希望的那样。让团体的每个成员继续想象并问自己以下问题：您会注意到什么让您意识到奇迹已经发生？您会听到和看到什么？您内心会感觉有什么不同？您会有什么不同？让团体分享那个未来可能看起来和感觉如何。然后让他们分享他们可以采取什么步骤来实现其中的一些。
虽然以下练习对个人很强大，但它可以在团体中促进激烈的讨论和有价值的解决方案分享。让团体坐成一个圆圈并闭上眼睛。让他们想象以下内容：想象明天早上醒来。由于夜间某个奇迹，您所有的问题都消失了。让团体想象他们会感觉和行为如何。让团体选择一件事，如果奇迹发生，他们可能会做，例如与朋友见面、开始新课程或开始锻炼。现在，想象好像问题消失了一样行动。如果您的问題不再存在，您如何推进您的新活动、行动或行为？让团体分享如果他们的奇迹发生，他们会开始做的一件事；鼓励他们探索尝试新行为会感觉如何。
虽然奇迹提问是焦点解决疗法和其他地方的一种强大技术，但还有其他有帮助的方法。例外问题可以帮助反思客户生活中当前问题的例外。这种方法可以是“发现客户以前的成功并放大客户优势”的有价值方式。虽然奇迹提问提供对治疗目标的见解，但例外问题突出实现它们的可能途径。一个例外问题和陈述的示例包括：有没有一次您能够回应而不生气？告诉我一次您和您的妻子享受彼此陪伴的时间。
缩放问题提供了一种有用的方式来评估客户朝着目标的进展。“评估结果可以通过调整行为修改计划”来进一步指导治疗。这种问题在焦点解决短期疗法中很流行，其目标是找到即时解决方案并积极帮助客户解决问题。缩放问题的两个示例包括：在0到10的尺度上，您对找到关系问题解决方案的承诺程度如何？在0到10的尺度上，您感觉被父亲控制的程度如何？
许多治疗书籍关注治疗的力量以及使用正确的干预如何加强治疗联盟并增加积极结果的机会。我们选择了以下三个我们最喜欢的。管理创伤客户的焦点解决短期疗法介绍了焦点解决短期疗法（SFBT）及其在面临创伤的客户中的使用。这本基于证据的文本提供了经验丰富的从业者和学者的建议，关于为客户提供强大的未来并走向愈合和健康的道路。焦点解决短期疗法：多元文化方法提供了对SFBT本质、其含义以及从多元文化视角的关键考虑的宝贵见解。干预被描述和探索，以及案例示例和支持研究。超越奇迹包括该领域的最新发展、真实案例研究以及支持指导和干预。
我们有许多工作表、工具和干预，可以帮助客户解决潜在问题并识别和朝着目标努力：您的奇迹工作表可用于捕捉客户对奇迹提问的答案，评估他们的支持网络，并考虑下一步行动。婚姻冲突问卷可以与奇迹提问一起使用，以了解导致关系冲突的原因。想象社会问题的解决方案邀请客户生成许多可能的解决方案来解决当前的人际问题，并想象应用解决方案到该问题可能是什么样子。治疗中的反思性问题列出了18个问题，治疗师可以问客户以促进围绕目标、思维和行为的见解。
奇迹提问看起来出奇地简单，但它有能力提供对客户目标、愿望、梦想以及他们设置的障碍的深刻见解。奇迹提问的潜力来自于它通过持续对话创造理解和意识的能力。这种问题谈论新的和额外的含义，并帮助塑造治疗结果。对提问和回答奇迹提问的研究表明，它通过协商创造对话。含义是在客户和治疗师之间社会构建的，同时他们响应性地协商他们说什么以及如何说。问题的答案——奇迹是什么样子——被编织回客户的生活和他们的人际关系网络中。奇迹提问对客户和治疗过程非常有价值；确实，“当治疗师被教导奇迹提问是创造希望的工具时，他们对客户的信心会增加，他们的焦虑会因此减少。”治疗师可以采用奇迹提问作为鼓励进一步对话和揭示客户来寻求帮助的更深层驱动力的强大工具。
文章概要
本文介绍了奇迹提问在焦点解决疗法中的应用，特别是结合关键词“Miracle question applications in trauma-focused SFBT”，探讨了其在创伤焦点解决疗法中的使用。文章详细解释了奇迹提问的定义、目的、三个具体示例、工作表练习、团体活动以及其他相关技术如例外问题和缩放问题。奇迹提问通过帮助客户想象问题解决后的未来，促进希望、目标设定和解决方案构建，适用于个人、夫妻、家庭和团体治疗，尤其在创伤应对中能增强适应性和即时解决方案构建。
高德明老师的评价
用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容：想象一下，如果你一觉醒来，所有烦恼都消失了，你会注意到什么不同？奇迹提问就像魔法一样，让你想想如果问题解决了，生活会变得多美好。比如，一对夫妻说他们会像以前一样多花时间在一起，或者妻子会再次对丈夫感兴趣。这能帮你找到改变的第一步，让未来充满希望。
焦点解决心理学理论评价：奇迹提问是焦点解决疗法的核心工具，它卓越地体现了目标导向和资源导向的原则。通过引导客户构建问题解决后的愿景，它巧妙地转移了焦点从问题本身到解决方案和未来可能性，增强了客户的自我效能感和希望感。这种方法赞美了客户的内在智慧和潜力，促进了治疗联盟的深化，为创伤应对提供了积极的框架。
在实践上可以应用的领域和可以解决人们的十个问题：奇迹提问可应用于心理咨询、教育辅导、职场发展、家庭关系、创伤康复、团体治疗、个人成长、社区支持、健康管理和社会服务。它可以解决人们的以下十个问题：1. 帮助人们从创伤中恢复并找到希望；2. 改善人际关系和沟通；3. 设定清晰的生活目标；4. 增强自信心和自我价值感；5. 应对压力和焦虑；6. 促进家庭和谐与理解；7. 支持团体协作和问题解决；8. 激发创造力和创新思维；9. 提升情绪调节能力；10. 鼓励积极行为改变和习惯养成。