De Shazer, Steve

Born into a musical family in Milwaukee, Steve de Shazer became an accomplished musician and a professional jazz saxophonist before developing his interest in psychotherapy and social work. He completed his undergraduate studies in Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and subsequently did a master’s degree in Social Work at the same university.

In 1978 he cofounded the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee with Insoo Kim Berg, becoming well-known as the pioneer of solution-focused brief therapy.

De Shazer’s early work concentrated, fundamentally, on defining what makes psychotherapy efficient from intellectual and practical standpoints. He borrowed from the work of philosophers and clinicians alike to develop the essence of brief therapy and how it can be effectively employed. Influenced predominantly by the philosophical contributions of Wittgenstein, the sociopsychological position of Milton Erikson, the socio-constructionist epistemology expounded by Kenneth...