Marriage And Family Therapy Case Study

History of Marriage and Family Therapy:

Introduction to Systems Theory

Rayon L. Walton

Northcentral University Family Systems Theories and Couple Therapy Summary Chabot (2011) describes homeostasis as a concept of how families interact with each change and the lengths that they go to in order to resist the change by disregarding how it will impact all the members of the family. The contributions of family homeostasis, reveals that there are other observation that are helpful in dealing with family challenges (i.e. double bind).

Double bind is worth mentioning because it can help the therapist identify some the root causes for some of the challenges that families face. The double bind concept is likened to negative reinforcement

180) . The implication here is that the contributions of the individuals within a group can reflect the whole group. For example, an orchestra is made up of musicians that play differing instruments that when played together yields a harmonious sound. Each musician plays chords and if played off key can negatively impact the sound. The history of therapy as a science has experienced leaps and bounds in the application of treatment. What was once a basis of individualistic perspectives that focused on one person is now the expansion of horizons, transitioning to a broader set of concepts which researches the family system as a whole.

References

Chabot, D. R. (2011). Family systems theories of psychotherapy. In J. C. Norcross, G. R.

VandenBos, D. K. Freedheim (Eds.) , History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed.) (pp. 173-202). American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/12353-006

Gurman, A. S., & Snyder, D. K. (2011). Couple therapy. In J. C. Norcross, G. R. VandenBos, D.

K. Freedheim (Eds.) , History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed.) (pp. 485-496). American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/12353-029

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York.