Family Systems Theory Paper

Clinical social work therapists view families as open systems allowing them observe the complexity of a family’s dynamics by exploring the relationships between members and how members interact within their environment. Goldenberg & Goldenberg (2013) states that the way a family functions, establishes rules, communicates and negotiates differences between members has numerous implications for development and well-being of its members (p. 28). Family therapy is based on the idea that each family is a unique system that defines their members’ identities. The therapist views each family as being comprised of multiple levels that have a shared sense of history, views, values, and emotional bonds which influences a family’s structure and pattern of behavior. When families are in crisis, the therapists uses therapeutic intervention strategies to try to repair or create new family structures to help families regain their stability.
Family systems theories and their approaches focus on the relationships between the sub systems that make up the family and are consistently being assessed in relation to the presenting problem. There are many family system theories and therapeutic approaches in

55). Murray Bowen who developed the family systems theory, believed that family members do not function autonomously, instead they are linked together in feeling, thinking, and behavior. Walsh (2013), states that Bowen asserted that the nature of healthy human functioning includes one’s acquisition of a balance between emotional and rational life. His concept of differentiation characterizes this balance through one’s ability to function successfully both apart and within the family system. He believed that a healthy family was one that permitted members to separate from one another and be