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
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 interactional unit and a change in one member effects all members
Adlerian Family Therapy
Adlerians use an educational model to counsel families
- Emphasis is on family atmosphere and family constellation
- Therapists function as collaborators who seek to join the family
- Parent interviews yield hunches about the purposes 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
- Main aim is to initiate a reorientation of the family
Multigenerational Family Therapy
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
Differentiation of the self
A psychological separation from others
Triangulation
A third party is recruited to reduce anxiety and stabilize a
couple’s relationship
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 Model
Enhancement and validation of self-esteem
- Congruence and openness in communications
- Family mapping and chronologies
Human Validation Process Model
Therapy Goals
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
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 atheoretical
- 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
Focus is on family interactions to understand the structure, or organization 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
- Techniques are active, directive, and well thought-out
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
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 Therapy Goals
Resolve presenting problems by focusing on behavioral sequences
- Get people to behave differently
- Shift the family organization 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