Normal Family Therapy Case Study

In the last therapy session, Steve was going to spend time with Allison negotiating with his daughter about what she can and cannot do. Betty-Ann needs to spend time with Allison to build a different kind of relationship.
I believe the next intervention would be to use Normal Family Development. Bowen believed that normal family development occurs when the family members are differentiated, feel little anxiety, and remain a rewarding and healthy emotional contact with each member of the family (Gehart, 2015). In Normal Family Development the family members, are connected across the generations, have little emotional fusion and distance, people would support family members who have different emotions and feelings and can support differentiation, have family members who can use one another for feedback

rather than emotional crutches (Gehart, 2015). Detriangulation is when the therapist tries to maintain therapeutic neutrality (Gehart, 2015). When working with a couple, the therapist would need to be “invited” by the client to join their side. The client would ask the therapist questions like “Do you believe that Allison should not be allowed to see her friend, Samantha?” or “Do you think that Samantha is not a good friend to Allison?” The therapist would examine their part in the problem dynamic and they would invite the client to maintain a sense of autonomy. The therapist would “validate” the client’s feelings by saying something like, “I’m sorry that the experience that you have had, had hurt you.” Or “You are entitled to feel that way”.
The purpose of the intervention is to help the family grow together and build a healthier family. The goal of this intervention encourages the family members to work with one another to become a healthier family. The purpose of detrianglation is to lead the family to grow together. Another purpose is to build good communication with the each family member. The goal is to promote healthier behaviors with each family member.
The target of this intervention is Betty-Ann, Allison, and Steve.

This would be important for all family members to be included in this intervention. The therapist would need to get an emotional response from all members of the family, so that the therapist can create a healthy emotional connection with each family member. The target members of detriangulation would be with Steve, Betty-Ann, and Allison.
Some questions that would apply to this intervention could be: “Steve, you had the assignment to negotiate with Allison about the rules that she made up for herself, how did that process go? Did it bring you closer together with Allison?” Another question, “Betty-Ann, I wanted you to establish more of a connection with Allison. How did you do so? How did that help the relationship that you had with Allison?”
The desired outcome of this intervention is to bring each family member closer to all family members, so that the family can have healthier emotional processes, and learn to work with others in the family. This will also encourage healthier communication. The desired outcome for detrigulation is to promote healthy emotions and to eliminate unhealthy

emotions.