This book provides proven strategies for the treatment of many clinical problems: anxiety, depression, marital difficulties, sexual dysfunction, family conflict, psychosomatic illnesses, drug addiction or alcoholism. The authors, pioneers in the area of strategic therapy, have been tested and refined its approach through monitoring of actual clinical cases in the Brief Therapy Center of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto. The study begins with a concise explanation of how the authors conceived the notion of human problem: how it starts, why it persists and how it can be solved quickly. The following contains all the basic elements of treatment: the maintenance of control, setting the context of the treatment, the first interview, how to assess the position or point of view of the patient, how to plan the overall treatment strategy, the use specific interventions and treatment completion. Throughout a long and detailed section, the authors examine the situations that often arise in the course of treatment, and provide extensive examples of what therapists can do, say, to suggest and insinuate to begin a beneficial change. The book concludes with a summary of the basic principles of brief therapy and its potential applications.