Single-Session Therapy: Planned success or unplanned failure?

Single-Session Therapy (SST) is of growing interest to many therapists and clinics. While a limited body of evidence has provided some interesting qualitative material to further understand the necessary qualities of the therapist and the possible factors that enable successful treatment, there is still discrepancy as to what defines single sessions as a distinct therapy. The available literature provides no conclusive evidence that SST is better than long-term therapy or that it is preferable to other more mainstream paradigms. However, the frequency and success of this type of therapy may be underestimated. These issues were considered in light of 17 articles and chapters published since Bloom’s (1981) review.