Family Functional Therapy (FFT) is a contemporary family therapy based on the work of James Alexander and Bruce Parsons. FFT is an integration of systematic and behavioral approaches focused on the function or purpose of the family member’s behavior. All Behavior can create and/or define interpersonal behaviors. Behavior helps create or distance intimacy in family relationships. It generates and maintains intimacy and other relationship dimensions. The main goal of FFT is for the family to improve communication and change risky and damaging behavior while showing support and working to address the behavior through different alternative means. FFT helps decrease intense negativity, develops positive behavior, and adopts constructive solutions.
Historically, the field of social work and its practitioners have been concerned with the welfare of families and their functioning. When dysfunction is present, families often seek guidance through family therapy, which has become a strengths-based approach to intervention that emphasizes families’ resiliency and capacity to solve their problems. Within family practice, practitioners implement diverse theoretical approaches and practice models, which function as a foundation for family assessment and intervention methods. This paper seeks to explicate two family intervention models, Bowen family systems therapy and structural family therapy, and utilize the most effective approach to develop a treatment plan for a family seeking therapy.
One of the main interventions of Functional Family Therapy that resonates with me is that one of the prime goals of this model is to identify the primary focus of intervention (the family) and reflect an understanding that positive and negative behaviors both influence and are influenced by the relationships each family member has with one another. Therefore, making functional therapy a multi systemic program, meaning that it focuses on the multiple domains and systems within which families live and interact with one another. Within this context, FFT works first to develop family members’ inner strengths and sense of being
(2) Generational - Places importance of "differentiation, relationships between generations and triangulation (Bowen, 1978) with the function of the therapist being that of a teacher or a coach;
FFT is being recommended for the family. It appears that Cindy is suffering for social anxiety which stem from a generational concerns of mental health. Both parents are diagnosed with anxiety and is on psychotropic medication. The child adult sibling and father reported social anxiety in the past. Cindy dated a 24 year old man in 2015 and ran away from home for approximately one month. Under the circumstances, the family is likely to benefit most from Family Functional Therapy. The parents and the child agreed to participate in services. The family will be referred to Children’s Aid Society-Family Functional
Structural Family Therapy (SFT) was developed by Salvador Munich. It is a method of psychotherapy that addresses the problems in the functioning within a family. SFT enhances emphasis on the homeostasis, subsystems, boundaries, and coalitions as they relate to the organization and functioning of a family. (Sommers-Flanagan, 2012) SFT concepts help understand that family is a structure made of subsystems and boundaries that work together in coalition. The general idea of a family’s structure can be obtained by observing each family member’s actions. Family structure is based on the family member’s different and repeated interactions that can establish lasting patterns and enhance expectations. (Sommers-Flanagan, 2012) The subsystems of a family perform different tasks per the family requirements. The family subsystems are based on gender, age group, role functions, and common interests. The subsystems can be spouses (wife and husband),
If you are struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction, your disease also affects everyone around you, especially your family. Families function as a system. Think of this system like the parts of a computer. Various parts work together to allow a user to type, scroll down, view images, and listen to sounds. If one part is malfunctioning, the entire system goes down. For example, if the monitor were to stop working, the user would be unable to see any websites or programs on the computer. All parts need to be up and running for the system to work harmoniously. Families are the same. When one family member is suffering, the entire family unit suffers. If you require addiction treatment, your family needs to be included in every step of the
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.
More specifically, Freud traces the roots of all adult behaviors back to childhood impulses and showed how conflicts related to the development of sexuality in childhood subsequently results in psychopathology or neuroses. (Good & Beitman)
A main key concept of NT is that the problem a client presents with is viewed separate from the client. The problem is not the person; it is something the person has. Therefore, the goal of NT is to change the effects resulting from the problem and not the person themselves. To do this, NT uses the technique of externalizing the problem. To externalize the problem, the problem is first given a name and then it is explored and applied to the clients believes, values, behaviors, and ideals that has formed the clients identity. The negative aspects of these areas get rewritten into the new story. The process of externalizing the problem allows the client to see their problem separate from themselves so they can better
From the first scene of Wonder (2017) it is evident that the family observed, or the Pullmans, had a genuine intent to support the system while playing specific roles. In internal family systems therapy (IFS), each of these parts is valuable, has good intentions, and wants to play a positive role in the system (Kayij-Wint, 2017). Schwartz (2013) defined the IFS view of the mind as, “...a dynamic system comprising many sub-minds, called parts known as exiles, managers, and firefighters” (p. 807). For this reason the authors will analyze the family through the lens of IFS focusing on the maladaptive symptoms that disrupt the Self, and the parts each individual embodied due to
Strategic family therapy likes to the entire family together for couples and counseling which is one of the utmost intriguing approaches.
Strategic family therapy focuses on the family’s current communication patterns that serve to maintain a problem. While the treatment goals derive from the problem/symptom presented and a belief that change can be rapid and does not require insight to the causes of the problem/symptom. Also by using resistance to promote change by applying specific strategies. Ask the family about the problem that brought them in and one the family can clearly define. Assuming that certain behaviours and/or interactions among the family members to be maintaining the problem. The observations of the family interactions and inquiring in to the problem should continue until the counsellor has a clear picture of the reinforcing behaviours. Once the problem has
There are several types of therapy for Somatic Systems disorder. The first step, for a
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.
Family is something that plays a tremendous role in our life. Even though the structure of families has changed over the years, it is important to acknowledge that there many families out there whether they are traditional families, nuclear family, stepfamilies or others which tend to have different types of problems in their families. Therefore, many families attempt to go to family therapy in order for them to obtain help in solving the different types of issues they might have at home. As stated in the book Family Therapy by Michael P. Nichols (2013), “The power of family therapy derives from bringing parents and children together to transform their interaction… What keeps people stuck in their inability to see their own participation in the problems that plague them. With eyes fixed firmly on what recalcitrant others are doing, it’s hard for most people to see the patterns that bind them together. The family therapist’s job is to give them a wake-up call” (2013).