WELCOME TO
RECOGNITION-BASED CHANGE
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
Recognition-based change is a therapeutic process in which change occurs not because something new is introduced – like a homework assignment, or new skill to practice – but because the client recognises something that is already true, already happening, or already available to them—and that recognition can change more than you might think.
People often change before they understand why they changed. As well as that, people often seem to make their problems worse by all the things they try to do to stop them. Recognition-based change, which can be seen in a number of therapy models, takes these observations seriously and supports them.
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
A Varied Background
Although the term recognition-based change is used here as a unifying description, the underlying idea has deep roots across several therapeutic and theoretical traditions. Systemic and cybernetic thinkers emphasised that change follows the perception of difference rather than its explanation, while brief and constructivist therapies consistently demonstrated that noticing variation—rather than uncovering causes—can be sufficient for transformation.
Milton H. Erickson
Experiential and hypnotic traditions – especially those influenced by the psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson – likewise observed that clients often change before they can account for why, with understanding arriving later or not at all. Across these approaches, the common thread is the same: change emerges when an already-present difference becomes recognisable.
Moving On
Solution-focused therapy built heavily upon the work of Erickson and others. And now, what we have begun to explicitly refer to as ‘Recognition-based change’ brings these numerous strands together by naming recognition itself—not insight, interpretation, historical reconstruction, or even the skill of the therapist—as the pivotal event through which experience shifts and new futures become possible.
How Does Recognition-based change work?
Recognition-based change works by:
- drawing attention to exceptions, competencies, micro-shifts, and emerging differences
- allowing the client to notice these without analysis or explanation
- letting that noticing redefine identity, expectation, and possibility
The truth is, it’s not really the therapist that causes change.
Often they simply make change recognisable and then get out of the way!
WHAT IS BEING RECOGNISED?
Typically one or more of the following:
* Change is already occurring
“It’s not as bad as it was.”
* The problem is not constant
“Sometimes it doesn’t happen.”
* The client already responds differently
“I handled that better than I expected.”
* Resources are already in use
“I suppose I did calm myself down there.”
* A new orientation is already forming
“I’m starting to think about this differently.”
And, significantly, once recognised,
these facts cannot easily be unseen.