Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy

Family System TherapyChristine Moran

The Family Systems Perspective• Individuals – are best understood through assessing

the interactions within an entire family• Symptoms – are viewed as an expression of a

dysfunction within a family• Problematic behaviors – – Serve a purpose for the family – Are a function of the family’s inability to operate

productively – Are symptomatic patterns handed down across

generations• A family – is an inter-actional unit and a change in

one member effects all members

Adlerian Family Therapy

• Alfred Adler• Adlerians use an educational model to counsel

families• Emphasis is on family atmosphere, birth order, and

family constellation• Therapists function as collaborators who seek to join

the family• Understand the purposes of underlying children’s

misbehavior

Adlerian Family Therapy Goals

• Unlock mistaken goals and interactional patterns

• Engage parents in a learning experience and a collaborative assessment

• Emphasis is on the family’s motivational patterns (e.g., a desire to belong)

• Main aim is to initiate a reorientation of the family

Multigenerational Family Therapy• Murray Bowen• The application of rational thinking to emotionally

saturated systems– A well-articulated theory is considered to be essential

• With the proper knowledge the individual can change– Change occurs only with other family members

• Triangulation– A pattern of interaction with two-against-one experience– A third party is recruited to reduce anxiety and stabilise a

couples’ relationship

Multigenerational Family Therapy

• Make the most use of genograms• Differentiation of the self– A psychological separation from others– Involve (1) psychological separation of intellect and

emotions and (2) of independence of the self from others. – The greater one’s differentiation, the better one’s ability to

keep from being drawn into dysfunctional patterns with other family members.

Multigenerational Family Therapy Goals

• To change the individuals within the context of the system

• To end generation-to-generation transmission of problems by resolving emotional attachments

• To lessen anxiety and relieve symptoms• To increase the individual member’s level

of differentiation

Human Validation Process ModelVirginia Satir

• Open communications– Individuals are allowed to honestly report their

perceptions• Enhancement of self-esteem

– Family decisions are based on individual needs• Encouragement of growth

– Differences are acknowledged and seen as opportunities for growth

• Transform extreme rules into useful and functional rules– Families have many spoken and unspoken rules

Human Validation Process Model

• Enhancement and validation of self-esteem• Family rules • Congruence and openness in communications• Sculpting• Nurturing triads• Family mapping and chronologies

Experiential Family TherapyGoals (Carl Whitaker)

• Application of existential therapy to family systems• Help individuals achieve more intimacy by increasing their

awareness of their inner potential and opening channels for family interaction

• An interactive process between a therapist and a family• Encourage members to be themselves by freely expressing

what they are thinking and feeling• Techniques grow out of the therapist’s intuitive and

spontaneous reactions (Therapist use of self) to the present situation in therapy

Experiential Family Therapy

• A freewheeling, intuitive, sometimes outrageous approach aiming to: – Unmask pretense, create new meaning, and liberate family

members to be themselves• Techniques are secondary to the therapeutic

relationship• Pragmatic and theoretical• Interventions create turmoil and intensify what is

going on here and now in the family

Experiential Family Therapy Goals

• Facilitate individual autonomy and a sense of belonging in the family

• Help individuals achieve more intimacy by increasing their awareness and their experiencing

• Encourage members to be themselves by freely expressing what they are thinking and feeling

• Support spontaneity, creativity, the ability to play, and the willingness to be “crazy”

Structural Family Therapy

• Salvador Minuchin• Focus is on family interactions to understand the

structure, or organisation of the family• Symptoms: are a by-product of structural failings• Structural changes must occur in a family before an

individual’s symptoms can be reduced•

Structural Family Therapy Goals

• Reduce symptoms of dysfunction• Bring about structural change by:– Modifying the family’s transactional rules– Developing more appropriate boundaries– Creation of an effective hierarchical structure• It is assumed that faulty family structures have:– Boundaries that are rigid or diffuse– Subsystems that have inappropriate tasks and

functions

Strategic Family Therapy

• Jay Haley• Focuses on solving problems in the present• Presenting problems are accepted as “real” and not a

symptom of system dysfunction• Therapy is brief, process-focused, and solution-

oriented• The therapist designs strategies for change• Change results when the family follows the

therapist’s directions & change transactions

Strategic Family Therapy

• Focuses on solving problems in the present• Presenting problems are accepted as “real” and not a

symptom of system dysfunction• Therapy is brief, process-focused, and solution-

oriented• The therapist designs strategies for change• Change results when the family follows the

therapist’s directions and change transactions

Strategic Family TherapyGoals

• Resolve presenting problems by focusing on behavioral sequences

• Get people to behave differently• Shift the family organisation so that the presenting

problem is no longer functional• Move the family toward the appropriate stage of

family development– Problems often arise during the transition from one

developmental stage to the next

Social Constructionism

• The client, not the therapist, is the expert• Dialogue is used to elicit perspective,

resources, and unique client experiences• Questions empower family members to speak,

and to express their diverse positions• The therapist supplies optimism and the

process

Social Constructionism Therapy Goals

• Generate new meaning in the lives of family members

• Co-develop, with families, solutions that are unique to the situation

• Enhance awareness of the impact of various aspects of the dominant culture on the family

• Help families develop alternative ways of being, acting, knowing, and living

Family therapy as a whole

• Basic assumption– An individual’s problematic behavior grows out of the

interactional unit of the family, community, and societal systems

• Focus of family therapy– Short term, solution-focused, action-oriented, and here-

and-now interaction. – Focus on how current family relationships contribute to

the development and maintenance of symptoms.

Family therapy as a whole

• Role of goals and values– Specific goals are determined by family and

therapist– Global goal is to reduce family’s distress

• How family change– Cognitive, emotional, or behavioral changes– Change needs to happen in relationships, not just

within the individual

Family therapy as a whole

• Techniques of family therapy– Techniques are tools for achieving therapeutic

goals– Personal characteristics (respect, empathy,

sensitivity) are even more important– Always consider what is in the best interests of the

family.

From a multicultural perspective

• Contributions– Many ethnic and cultural groups place great value

on the extended family– Approach each family as unique culture

• Limitations– Few limitations for multicultural counseling

Summary and Evaluation• Contributions– Inclusion of all parts of the system rather than being limited

to the “identified patient”– Rather than blaming either “identified patient” or the

family, the entire family has an opportunity (1) to examine the multiple perspectives and interactional patterns that characterise the unit and (2) participate in finding solutions.

• Limitations– lose sight of the individual by focusing on the broader

system