Chosen Therapy Strengths And Weaknesses- Essay

For this assignment, two different theoretical approaches will be discussed, Bowenian family therapy and structural family therapy, and they will be used individually to construct a treatment plan to help clients reach their goals. Within each treatment plan discussed, short-term and long-term goals of therapy will be established and the family’s presenting problems will be defined. Two techniques that will be assigned to help them reach their therapeutic goals and any expected outcome from using those techniques will be discussed.

Strategic Therapy or Strategic Family Therapy is one of the oldest theories used in the practice of marriage and family therapy today. It was developed by Don Jackson and others affiliated to the Palo Alto group. Jay Haley and the Milan Group are also important practitioners of the model Strategic Therapy. This theory is portrayed as focused on altering family dynamics, eliminating problems and focusing on the presenting problems rather than the past, and often giving homework and behavioral tasks to clients. In this essay is a detailed description of the history of strategic therapy, beliefs, techniques and problems presented by this theory.

Brief therapy helps people by focusing on solutions, instead of problems. The therapist asks questions thereby facilitates the client by helping formulates solutions. The client leads the meeting by actively formulating ideas in which he/she can serve to improve the client's negative circumstances. This is contrary to cognitive therapy, which focuses on a client's cognitive processes (how he or she thinks about people/places/things). The therapist collaborates with the client to help the client develop alternative solutions.

Despite her diminutive size and quiet disposition, Mercy commanded my complete attention. So small as to appear child-like, and dressed in loose-fitting clothes that hid her slight form, she entered my office timidly, and started sessions in silence, repeatedly waving her hand across her face in characteristically self-effacing gestures before speaking. But her somber self-possession and meek temperament stood in stark contrast to her ferocious energy; Mercy was dead serious. She came to therapy after being forced to give up a promising career as a modern dancer due to a chronic knee injury. Finding herself unmoored, lost and alone in the city, with no family or friends she could rely on for support, Mercy struggled for

Most contemporary psychological treatment approaches are predecessors of the ancient and medieval philosophies and theories. Cognitive behavioural therapy as one of the modern treatment method in not an independently formed treatment, different theories have contributed to its present shape and application.

For the timeline assignment, I found trying to figure out what was significant and what wasn’t was extremely tough. I did leave out several parts because I felt that they were more relevant to another person’s timeline, as in they didn’t happen to me I just witnessed it. I feel that this course was very therapeutic for me to be able to put labels on my thoughts and emotions concerning the events and traumas in my life. I will in this paper try to define these emotions and how I think certain techniques of therapy has impacted me. I also want to explain the events on my timeline and how I think they have impacted me today.

A sixteen year old teenager refuses to leave home and the therapist must review the situation from a MRI therapeutic approach. First, the MRI approach would not focus on the problem or how it developed but rather what efforts have the parent made to reach a resolution. MRI stems from the premise that families use practical attempts at resolving their situation but the attempts are ill-advised. MRI’s main focus is aimed at dilemma driven solutions; there is no advantage in long term change or what capacity the problem serves within the family.

Depression is a symptom of a clear reluctance, lack of will and ability of man to get himself. The will of life is the energy that helps throughout a lifetime, the power that drives everything and everyone. No motivation and no desire for anything engine. Person who is in a state of depression, as he lost his motivation and energy to function in daily life in general. Such a reluctance may be due to many different reasons a person's various levels. Depression is characterized by a number of common symptoms, feelings of sadness, or feeling down in the dumps. It can leave you feeling continuously, like having the joy of life ripped away from you. To understand the on goings in the mind of the depressed and to find the source of the issue to resolve what are the of depression is problematic. Depression is a growing issue, while

Haley and Madanes’ approach to strategic family therapy argues that change occurs through the process of the family carrying out assignments issued by the therapist. As described in Madanes’ Strategic Family Therapy (1981), “strategic therapists attempt to design a therapeutic strategy for each specific problem.” Therapists issue directives that are designed to shift the framework of the family to resolve the displaying problem. Treatment of these issues would include intense involvement, carefully planned interventions designed to reach clear goals, frequent use of therapist-generated directives or assignments, and paradoxical procedures.

The symptom is merely a front for the family’s larger stress. And we do not determine who the family consists of – the family does.

What applied clinical problem would you most like to focus on in your PsyD studies and in the PsyD Clinical Psychology dissertation/doctoral project? Tell us something about your knowledge of the relevant theory and concepts, research, and the application of that scholarship to clinical practice.

     Today many people seek professional therapy or counseling for a limited amount of time in order to deal with different life crises. Others seek professional help for the majority of their lives in order to deal with a psychological disorder. After reading this chapter on Therapy, I learned that this was not always the case, and that the way our society views therapy, and the meaning of therapy, has changed dramatically of the years. This chapter not only explains the evolution of therapy, it explores the different therapeutic approaches.

Approaches to Family Therapy: Minuchin, Haley, Bowen, & Whitaker Treating families in therapy can be a complex undertaking for a therapist, as they are dealing not only with a group of individuals but also with an overall system. Throughout history several key theorists have attempted to demystify the challenges families face and construct approaches to treatment. However, there have been key similarities and differences among the theoretical orientations along the way. While some have simply broadened or expanded from existing theories, others have stood in stark

I believe that the art of psychotherapy is more important than empirically validated treatments (EVT). I feel that the art of psychotherapy lies in the common factors, which include the therapeutic relationship, client and therapist factors (e.g., personality), helping clients deal with problems, and hope or expectancy factors (Reisner, 2005). Although I do believe that empirically validated treatments may enhance the therapeutic process, the treatments themselves are by no means the most important or fundamental aspects of therapy. There appears, at least to me, to be much more of an art involved in developing the relationship with the client and understanding the client’s perspective. It takes art and skill of a therapist to examine,

Experiential family therapy (EFT) was first developed in the 1960’s by physician and psychotherapy pioneer Carl Whitaker and is aimed at helping individual family members feel fulfilled and self-actualized within the family unit by means of improving cooperation and intimacy among family members. Unlike other schools of family therapy, EFT does not focus on the perceived problems of individual family members but examines how family interactions and communications cause problems for the individual family members. It is important to remember that, due to the level of interpersonal involvement needed in this style of therapy it requires every family member involved to fully participate in the process. For optimum effectiveness, the family should already be relatively stable.</p> Whitaker’s approach to EFT is known as the symbolic-experiential model. This model emphasizes immediate, here-and-now experiences rather than the introspective methods of earlier theories and promotes emotional expression as a medium of shared experience and as a means of both personal and family fulfillment. Symbolic-experiential family therapy is predicated on the existential idea that there is a great deal more to a family’s dynamics and existence than is empirically observable; unconscious dynamics, histories of shared and individual experiences, secrets, etc. This model attempts to integrate two different aspects of human experience; experience and “symbols.” Experience is what is taken in