Ben Fuhrman

Ben Furman, a Finnish psychiatrist and psychotherapist who became one of the world's best known advocates of solution-focused brief therapy, died on 1 August 2026 at the age of 72. Born Ben Zwi Hirsch Furman on 21 September 1953 in Helsinki, he trained as a specialist in psychiatry at the University of Helsinki and spent his career arguing that people are helped faster by focusing on solutions and future goals than by dwelling on the causes of their problems. He was a member of Finland's Jewish community, a fact that was publicly documented in Finnish sources about his life.

Furman was best known for the methods he developed together with his longtime collaborator Tapani Ahola, most notably Reteaming and the child focused Kids' Skills programme, which was designed to help children turn problems into skills to be learned rather than deficits to be corrected. He also co-created the TwinStar approach to organisational development. His books, including the Kids' Skills manual published in many languages such as German (Ich schaffs), Swedish (Jag kan) and Polish (Dam radę), were translated into more than twenty languages and used by therapists, teachers and parents internationally.

Beyond the clinic, Furman became a familiar face and voice in Finland. He hosted a psychology themed discussion programme on Yle TV1 from 1998 to 2006, and from September 2009 he presented a live call in programme called Radioterapeutti (Radio Therapist) on Radio Suomi, in which he offered solution-focused advice to callers on air. In later years he extended his work into apps and online courses aimed at bringing his self-help methods to a global audience, and he continued to train therapists, teachers and coaches around the world through workshops and lectures.

His approach was not without critics. Some psychoanalytically trained colleagues in Finland publicly disagreed with his skepticism toward long-term psychotherapy and his caution about the use of mood altering medication, arguing that his brief, upbeat methods oversimplified serious mental illness. Furman defended his position by pointing to the outcomes his methods produced in clinics and schools, and the debate over brief versus long-term therapy that he helped popularise in Finland continued for decades.

News of Furman's death on 1 August 2026 became known through obituary and tribute postings rather than a single formal announcement, and at the time of writing many details, including the cause of death and any funeral or memorial arrangements, have not been made public. Colleagues and former clients around the world, many of whom encountered his work through his books, television appearances or the Kids' Skills programme used in schools, have described him as a warm and optimistic clinician who changed how many people think about therapy.