Hope therapy

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · C. R. Snyder, Lopez, Floyd · 2000

What it is

Hope therapy is a brief, semi-structured, strengths-focused therapy built on C. R. Snyder's hope theory (University of Kansas). In that theory, hope is goal-directed thinking with two parts: pathways thinking (seeing yourself as able to find workable routes to goals) and agency thinking (seeing…

Format

• Typical formats and session counts (choose one; name it to the client):
• Individual hope therapy (Lopez et al., 2000): brief and semi-structured. The chapter's recommended session count was not found. One published individual case ran 17 weekly one-hour sessions for mild depression and hopelessness, combined with activity scheduling, problem solving and cognitive…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• This is a therapy model plus a family of programmes (group, school, health settings), not one fixed manual. No formal training or certification route was found.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Across the 27 studies in the meta-analysis, 7 were single-session and 20 multi-session; 17 were group and 10 individual.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• goals too big for a month.
• "yes, but" to every route; see section 5.
• reluctance to ask for help; role-play the request.
• the clinician's own low hope being passed on to clients.
• health tasks crowding out the client's own valued goals.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.