Experiential Family Therapy Essay

What we bring as a person to the counseling room determines the direction we take with our clients. Coming from what I describe as a dysfunctional family and my questions of why is my family the way it is, why do I behave or think the way I do I drown to the family counseling theory. Many people including myself have why questions about their family. Some of those why questions are, “why is my family like this, where did I get this habit from, will my family ever change? The family systems approach helps solve some of those why questions.

Experiential family theory is about the experiences that a family goes through in therapy and what it symbolizes to them. Experiential family theory is also well known as symbolic experiential family theory because the theory is about what the family takes out of the experience and what they use to describe their family. According to Smith (1998), the founder, Carl Whitaker, felt that it was the therapist’s responsibility to create these experiences in the sessions to help the family grow. Carl Whitaker accomplished this with impulse and creativity. He understood the family unit and knew that families could be cruel, but he believed the family had the ability to restore their family unit (Percy, 1990). The theory is not a traditional one,

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy employed to assist members of a family in improving communication systems, conflict resolution, and to help the family to deal with certain problems that manifest in the behavior of members. In most cases, deviance in a family member is an indication of underlying family dysfunctions. This paper looks the counselling procedure that can be applied to help the Kline family solve their problems. It answers certain questions including those of the expected challenges during therapy and ways of dealing with the challenges.

Family therapy is a technique that has many alternative approaches to every aspect of treatment which Nichols (2014), states may present a challenge when describing a basic technique. The two models of family therapy in which I feel that I would be most effective and comfortable with would be, experiential family therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. I feel most comfortable with these models because, I adapt to the role of the therapist of both therapies naturally. According to Nichols (2014), when families seek therapy they are stuck in a life-cycle transition, sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not obvious. I’ve found that during the first session an excellent question is to ask the client why now so that they can

The purpose of this paper is to prepare an annotated bibliography on family therapy with emphasis on ethnicity and sociocultural influences on the problems of communication. This research includes twelve resources on authors with the following annotations: Delineation of the main focus or purpose of each author 's work; Background and credibility of each author; Intended audience for the work; Any unique feature of the work; Theoretical understandings; Family therapy strategies or techniques; and a Conclusion or observations presented in the work.

Functional Family Therapy. Functional family therapy (FFT; Alexander & Parsons, 1982) is based on the premise that the behaviours of each family member serve a certain function within the family system. In the context of conduct disorders and antisocial behaviours, FFT views these behaviours as serving a necessary function for the child in the family system, which is then the reason why the child continues to engage in those deviant behaviours (Baker, 2012). For example, the antisocial behaviour of the child could function in receiving support and intimacy from other family members. The goal of FFT, then, is to produce an environment of adaptive family functioning by changing the dysfunctional behavioural & cognitive aspects of the family, and also the communication patterns between family members (Baker, 2012).

Recent developments and the popularity of EFT include using this therapy with same sex couples and couples with more diverse ethnic backgrounds, it is backed-up with research, uses integrated models and its effectiveness is documented.

Experiential family therapy is one that believes the root cause of the problems in the families is a result of emotional suppression. This theory is focused on freedom experiencing emotions in the here-and-now. Experiential family therapists believe clients should seek self-fulfillment and focus on individual’s roles in the family rather than on the family as a whole. In order to promote growth, the individual and family must both grow. Once families are emotionally healthy, healthy attachments can then be made. I am drawn to this approach because of its focus on the individual. I believe that if individuals are healthy, family roles will become clearer and the system as a whole will become healthier. It is similar to when a spoiled piece

Dr. Elaina Vasserman-Stokes provides counseling and therapy to children, adults, and families with problems related to life transitions, trauma, depression, grief and loss, emotional regulation, and anxiety. However, Dr. Vasserman-Stokes “theoretical orientation is a combination of psychodynamic, relational,

Shannon, very nice post. I am pleased to see that EFCT interests you. I also find it interesting. I enjoyed the use of EFCT with trauma clients. Can I ask your opinion on how you feel about EFCT only useful in couples and not families? This was part of Dr. Bradley interview that I found interesting to me. So, I thought perhaps you may be able to shed some light on that for me. I have seen EFCT focusing on the emotional needs of the individual and how it impacts their relationship. I believe your discussion highlighted the focus of EFCT and how you would use it appropriately.

However, limitations in solution focused therapy lie in the fact that it can be brief and that for the clients that are expecting depth therapy or analysis may dismiss the solution focused approach for its simplicity. Solution- focused family therapy is brief in respect to the situation focused on and the extent of time allotted to it. Therefore, structuring the sessions in a way that emphasizes the therapist’s expectations regarding doing something differently encourages rapid change (Gladding,

Experiential Therapy was developed in 1970 that adopted a therapeutic approach which encouraged the families to identify and address hidden or subconscious issues and problems through expression by engaging in activities such as role-play, guided imagery, use of props and other active experiences. Clients through the structured experiential therapy activities under the guidance of the therapist have an opportunity to experience success, identify obstacles, develop improved self-esteem and take greater responsibility for their actions. The founder of the therapy Carl Whitaker, who was among the first to do Psychotherapy with families and encouraged them to be themselves and follow their intuition. The other stalwart for this therapy was Virginia

For example, Experiential Family Therapy attempts to facilitate change by means of a commitment to increasing self-awareness, self-fulfillment, and expression or communication between family members (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2012). Clients are encouraged to examine their feelings, the family cohesiveness, communication patterns, and reducing defensiveness and family members by unlocking levels of experiencing and freeing people from impulsiveness and defensive reactions to one another are the goals. The primary motor of change in experiential

Experiential family therapy is a humanistic and existential based approach that was founded by Carl Whitaker throughout the 1960’s. Other leading figures who contributed to the development of experiential therapy include: Thomas Malone, John Warkentin, Richard Felder, and Virginia Satir. Two well-known therapeutic approaches have grown from Whitaker’s concepts; these include emotionally focused couples therapy by Leslie Greenberg and Susan Johnson, and internal family systems therapy by Richard Swartz. In developing experiential therapy, Whitaker drew from many concepts including: Gestalt therapy, psychodrama, and client-centered approaches. Carl Whitaker ultimately believed in the emotional experience of all family members. What may have been brought into therapy as the presenting problem, may not even be the focus of the therapist’s treatment plan. Although many consider early experiential therapy to be quite ambiguous, Whitakers concepts have shown to be quite effective in working with families.

1. Why do you want to complete a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy? What do you intend to do professionally after you graduate? Please explain why a PhD is necessary for you to achieve your career goals. These questions assess the strength of your motivations, which is an indication of your ability to succeed in the program. Describe your experience and interest in research. What research question might you want to answer with your dissertation? Do you desire to teach? If so, in what context? What role will clinical work play in your future goals and plans?