Role of the Therapist and the Therapeutic Relationship In the SFT model, the therapist takes an active directional stance (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013, p. 273). This creatively active approach allows the therapist to become part of the family system in order to unbalance and change the family’s structure and perspective, and is especially effective with difficult families (Seligman, 2004, pp. 245-246). However, therapeutic change is a delicate process and must occur in a trusting therapeutic relationship: too little involvement on the part of the therapist, and the family’s structural status quo will continue to be maintained; too much direction before the family is ready can cause a premature termination of therapy (Vetere, 2001, p. 135). In recent years, the structural family therapist’s approach has evolved: the …show more content…
137). On the other hand, family therapists working with Asian Americans have found the structural approach, combined with strategic interventions, to be helpful (Hays, 2008, p. 185). Sciarra (1999) found SFT was effective in helping immigrant families experiencing intrafamilial separation and reunion (para. 1). For example, parents, who arrive in the United States before their children often expect their reunited children will be immediately happy and grateful, and feel helpless and victimized by their children’s negative behavior, causing dysfunction in the family hierarchy (para. 4). Bicultural effectiveness training, used in the context of SFT, reframes the conflict between reunited immigrant parents and children as a conflict between cultures, and the result of this training is the “transition from intergenerational dysfunction to bicultural effectiveness” (para.
Experiential Family Therapy is a therapy that encourages patients to address subconscious issues through actions, and role playing. It is a treatment that is used for a group of people in order to determine the source of problem in the family (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). Experiential Family Therapy has its strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths of this therapy is that, it focuses on the present and patients are able to express their emotions on what is happening to them presently. The client will have time to share everything about his/her life experiences one on one without any fears. As a result, it helps the client in the healing process because, he/she is able to express their feelings freely and come out of the problem. Therefore, in this type of therapy, the clients are deeply involved in solving their issues. It helps clients to scrutinize their individual connections and to initiate a self-discovery through therapy, on how their relationships influence their current behaviors (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). By examining their personal relationships through experiential family therapy, family members are able to
Salvador Minuchin is the individual that is notably recognized as it pertains to the structural family therapy. Salvador Minuchin was born in born 1921 born and raised in San Salvador, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Minuchin was a family therapist who developed structural family therapy. Minuchin began his studies in 1944 as a medical student in Argentina and graduated and began his residency in 1946 working with children in pediatrics. Minuchin relocated to Israel in 1948 to work as a physician to work with Jewish soldier’s who had survived the holocaust. In 1950 Minuchin relocated to the United States and resided in New York City where he began working as a resident with children that were deemed to be psychotic. Becvar and Becvar (2013)
Structural therapy focuses on the family as a whole. It is concerned about how the issues effect the family relationships and connections. This theory concentrates on how well the understanding is amongst the family members and counselor. The members of the family are prompted to understand how the issues were created, where did the issues come from, when the issues started effecting their family, and what the family needs to overcome their issues. Its focus is to help others understand and improve negative behavior. The structural therapy concentrates on the interaction and boundaries of families with separating the whole family into smaller groups. The subsystems will create a clearer understanding of what issues are hurting their family environment (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is concerned about the members interaction because this reveals how strong the relationships and connections are in the home. The boundaries are important because they create an understanding that there are limits and order, and the boundaries can be diffused, rigid, or clear (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is expected to identify techniques so members can understand which boundaries are clear, positive, and healthy (Gladding, S. T. 2010).
Children and youth who are at-risk for behavioral problems can have a negative impact on how well the family functions. African American youth who live in poverty are thought to be at-risk for several behavioral problems such as dropping out of school, conduct problems, fighting, criminal involvement, and substance abuse (Nebbitt et al, 2014, Wilson, Foster, Anderson, & Mance, 2009). They are often exposed to violence in their neighborhoods and families, and many of the schools that they attend have fewer resources, all of which help to increase the likelihood of acting out or behavior problems. Parents and families who live in poverty often do not have the education, knowledge or access to intervention or treatment that
SFT was developed inductively rather than deductively out of the systems approach and is very much evidenced based. It is described as a goal directed collaborative approach to psycho-therapeutic change. It is carried out via direct observation of the clients' responses to a series of precisely designed questions. It is based upon social constructionist thinking and focuses on addressing what the client wants to achieve, exploring the history and origin of the problem whilst typically focusing on the present and future. Any focus on the past is simply to clarify the clients concerns and show empathy.
The whole (group) is greater than the sum of its parts. A couple is more than two individuals. A family is more than two parents and a child. These are not merely cliches but a recognition that we are influenced and influence the people that matter most to us in sometimes subtle yet profound ways. A couple is a unit; there has never been the combination and alchemy that is two people coming together to create a new entity. Families exist in a web of relationships - carrying their parents and even grandparents in their DNA and their habitual subconscious patterns. Systems theories honor the inter-connectedness that defines us.
Conflicts within relationships are inevitable and some conflict can help strengthen a relationship; however, in marriages and families, many people fail to work through their conflict, which results in unhealthy patterns of behavior. Over time, if left unresolved, these patterns of behavior can lead to a breaking of the relationship. Furthermore, most people do not set out seeking conflict within relationships, but rather they lack the emotional maturity to move through conflict. In fact, it is not the differences between the two parties that create the conflict, but rather the emotional reaction to their differences. Therefore, an intervention is required to begin the healing process of working through conflict. Often a pastor or counselor
Rosa and Miguel are experiencing relationship problems due to developmental and financial stressors. This has created a turbulent home environment. Miguel’s verbal abuse and open hostility has Rosa emotionally overwhelmed. He is not physically abusive; however, his anger is upsetting the household. The children are also displaying emotional and physical stress related symptoms. Rosa and Miguel come from emotionally unstable homes, which has impacted their ability to communicate and manage their emotions. Due their inability to communicate in a productive manner, they have sought help to resolve their problems. Both have expressed the concern that they are repeating the harmful behavior they experienced as children. They
In the industrial age before World War II, when individual psychotherapy was born and thrived, human beings were essentially seen as machines, with broken parts—including the mind—that could be repaired; after World War II, the dawning information technology age brought a paradigm shift in the view of human life from mechanical to relational, and communication and systems theories provided family therapy with increased validity and prominence. (White, 2009, pp. 200-201). The modern family systems theories that grew out of this paradigm viewed families narrowly as functional or dysfunctional according to the delineation of each theory. Today, postmodern theory suggests that no absolute truth governs individuals or families; instead, people are
Divorce is and has become a major issue in our society, the reason for that has been attributed to the drastic increase in divorce rates over the years. Divorce often disrupts the flow of the family structure, increases discord, and affects how family issues are handled. Families dealing with divorce are often times in a state of complete confusion and disorder, and filled with frustration, anger, and pain. Power struggles between spouses, which often times spread to the children if there any increase as the addiction worsens. There is a growing concernment among those in different fields like Social Work, Academia, and Mental Health in the United States, other countries, who have taken an interest in how divorce is readjusting
My theoretical approach to family therapy is very integrative as I believe families cannot be described nor treated from a single-school approach. I view humans through a humanistic and existential lens but am more technically structural and solution-based. With this integrative approach, I believe I will be the most effective in helping families grow and reach their goals.
Goldenberg, H. & Goldenberg, I. (2013). Family therapy: An overview (8th ed.). Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Each member of my family have to feel like the therapist is working with them if not change will not occur. The use of family mapping will help distinguish the types of boundaries that exist among my family. With the disengagement within my family subsystems, using the enactment technique will illustrate the interaction among family members. I am close to the siblings that I grew up with and my father his siblings were very close. With that being said, I will like to see the dynamic between my aunts and uncles when they are all in the same room together after years of being apart. I chose structural family therapy because at the end of the therapy session, I want the restructuring of my family structure.
As a social worker it is often complex to determine which theory to employ in practice, each client will warrant for an in-debt assessment of the presenting problem and goals the client desires to achieve. This paper will explore one family intervention model that can be applied to the Taylor family. The two theories analyzed are Cognitive Behavioral Family Theory, (CBFT) and Structural Family Theory (SFT); both theories can be utilized when assisting individuals or families. The social worker will focus on the Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy model when applying treatment and interventions to the Taylor family case.
Structural family therapist have exemplified within the context relational therapies that uncovers stressors in relationship between individuals (Vetere, 2001). Structural family therapy has been known to be called “interventive approach” because of the “intensity” to encourage clients to change (Hammond & Nichols, 2014).