Structural and Strategic Family Therapy

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This paper will provide a short overview of systemic family therapy and some of its perspective with a special focus on strategic and structural therapy. Furthermore, some of the basic approaches to strategic and structural therapy will be presented. There are many founding fathers for systemic therapy/family therapy such as Mara Selvini Palazzoli, Salvador Minuchin, Murray Bowen, and John Haley. The early demarcations between the different systemic-therapeutic directions appear as different stages of development and their elements are usually integrated in practice and belong to the basic systemic family therapy (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Bowenian Family Therapy Bowen, for example, introduced the multi-generational perspective. The multigenerational perspective considers clinical problems from the perspective of unresolved familial legacies, lack of self-differentiation, as well as demanding family delegations, and unbalanced debts and entitlements between generations (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). The therapeutic approach is enriched by genogram interviews and multi-generational conversations. Narrative Therapy Another systemic family therapy approach is the narrative perspective, which assumes that social systems are constituted by narratives that characterize the behavior of the participants. It draws attention to communicative, linguistic, and language-philosophical identity construction processes. By deconstructing previous self-narratives, the view is directed to alternative stories. Therapeutically, they are brought forth through practices of “solution talk” (de Shazer), the “deconstruction of dominant narratives” (White), and in reflecting teams (Andersen) (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Structura... ... middle of paper ... ...ividuals, using systemic therapy, because of its very different approaches, its targeted treatment, and its intervention for every system. The therapist can profit from a range of proven approaches and is able to develop creative interventions. Works Cited Chabot, D. R. (2011). Family systems theories of psychotherapy. In J. C. Norcross, G. R. VandenBos, D. K. Freedheim, J. C. Norcross, G. R. VandenBos, D. K. Freedheim (Eds.) , History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed.) (pp. 173-202). American Psychological Association. Goldenberg, I., & Goldenberg, H. (2013). Family therapy: An overview (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Truscott, D. (2010). Systemic. In D. Truscott (Ed.), Becoming an effective psychotherapist: Adopting a theory of psychotherapy that's right for you and your client (pp. 113-126). American Psychological Association.

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