Family Therapeutic Analysis

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The power of family is such that despite the possible separation of members by vast distances, the family influence remains the same. Even when a family member experiences a temporary or permanent sense of alienation, family membership is never truly renounced (I Goldenberg & H Goldenberg, 2013). Family systems therapy began during the early 20th century; specifically emerging during the “golden age” in the 1970’s and ‘80s based on the pioneering work of Nathan Ackerman, Virginia Satir, and Salvador Minuchin (Shoai, 2014). Historically, families have been viewed as functioning under systemic patterns. Rather than viewing problems as belonging to the individual, the therapist sees the problem as created and maintained by the family (Shoai, …show more content…

Structural approach includes common concepts such as: family rules, roles, and boundaries. In particular, this theory articulates family organization and is accredited to Salvador Minuchin. His theory is foundational to applying system theory to solving relational problems. Minchin began developing structural theory and a set of intervention techniques in response to multiple problems arising from the disconnected and under–organized family. To create change, Minuchin developed therapeutic techniques which addresses change within the family context rather than directed towards the troubled adolescent. Within the context of structural therapy, the individual’s symptom is understood as rooted in the context of family patterns. Change in the family’s organization and structure must take place before the symptom is relieved. In return, the structural therapist must provide directive techniques, which help change the structure or context in which the symptom appears. In addition to these techniques, structural therapists emphasize the wholeness of the family system, the influence of hierarchical organization, and interdependent functioning within subsystems. In particular, Minuchin views families as going through life seeking to maintain homeostasis. Therefore, in order to create change, homeostasis must be …show more content…

The difference between structural and strategic are the way they approach therapy. As mentioned before, structural therapists will seek to change the organization of families in order to relieve symptoms; however, strategic therapists will use techniques aimed at relieving the symptom without emphasis on understanding where the symptom came from. The strategic model derived from the work of the Pal Alto research group, which included seminal ideas from Gregory Bateson, Don Jackson, Jay Haley, John Weakling, and Paul Watzlawich. The strategic approach, defined by Haley and Madanes, defines a presenting problem in a way that can be resolved. Within strategic therapy, the goal is to eliminate a specific problem through a clear set of carefully planned stages. Problems are defined as involving two or more people, allowing for an examination of problematic family structures and dysfunctional behavior. The importance of a strategic intervention is to shift the family's organization so that the presenting problem or symptom no longer serves it function. Change than occurs, not through insight and understanding, but through the process in which the family carries out instructions issued by the therapist (I Goldenberg & H Goldenberg,

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