Family Psychology ( Therapy ) Essay

The goal of Bowen’ theory is to review developmental patterns within the familial system and the stress centered around the anxiety caused by closeness or the lack thereof (Penny, 1999). Bowen’s theory works to facilitate a decline in stress and anxiety by enabling the clients with education as to how the emotional system works and focusing on how to modify self perceptional behaviors instead of working to change others within the system (Penny, 1999).

Gladding, S. T. (2010). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.

A therapeutic relationship is a key component in the nursing profession. Without therapeutic relationships, the best possible care can never be provided. The foundation in which trust is built upon is created from the nurse’s ability to truly listen and respond appropriately. Listening creates the base in developing a strong, trusting relationship. Sometimes it is simply hearing what a patient says that makes all the difference, empowering them to open up and become more comfortable with the nurse (Hawkins-Walsh, 2000).

Nurses interact with families in a variety of community-based and clinical settings. The family nursing process is the same, regardless of the setting or whether the focus is on the family as a whole or on an individual in that family (Crisp & Taylor 2005). In the case of a 3 year old girl just diagnosed with leukaemia, it is important for a nurse to critically analyse the situation and address any immediate concerns. The nurse must address any professional issues that may arise and any potential impacts of hospitalisation that may affect the child and the family. Also provide support and education to reassure and comfort them. The primary concern for paediatric nurses is the welfare of the child and the family (Crisp & Taylor 2005).

There are two different kind of disorders, personality disorders and psychological disorders. Psychological disorders are illnesses that an individual experiences as episodes. Personality disorders are enduring traits that are major components of the individual's personality (Rathus, 2010). No matter what kind of disorder a person may possess their lives are affected everyday by them, it takes over their body and consumes them as a person. Disorders are often misunderstood. You do not have the ability to make a split second decisions and then continue life without that disorder, it will take lots of counseling. While we are not trained psychologist everyone can learn or identify disorders in popular movies or television shows. In the movie, Mommie Dearest, directed by Frank Perry, Joan Crawford possesses several of these disorders including bipolar, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and narcissistic.

Structural family therapy is a model of treatment based on systems theory that was developed by Salvador Minuchin. Structural family therapy features emphasis is mostly on structural change as the main goal of therapy; it pays close attention to the individual but also acknowledges the importance of family in the healing process of the individual.

For the professional practice interview, I interviewed Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Joe Exnowski. He has been working with my population of interest for the past four years. He works with an array of students dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, and substance use and abuse. In addition, to working with this population across different college campuses, he also works with couples in private practice. I conducted a 15-minute interview in which we had the opportunity to explore the pros and cons about working with this specific population more in particular, in regards to alcohol use and abuse.

Marriage and family therapists are very much needed and are growing in demand. The stigma of seeing a therapist for marital and family problems is disappearing thus making people more likely to seek help for issues they cannot resolve on their own. There has also been an increased recognition of the field of marriage and family therapy (http://www.bls.gov). Over half of managed health care providers and employee assistance programs employ or contract with MFTs and 91% of graduates in 1992 from COAMFTE accredited programs were employed not long after graduation (http://www.aamft.org). According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the field of marriage and family therapy is expected to see a growth of 30% by 2016 making it one of the fastest growing of all occupations (http://www.bls.gov).

The family is made up of five people: Claudia, the IP; Carolyn, mother; Laura, the sister; Don, the brother; and David, the father. The family is coming into therapy because there have been mounting concerns about Claudia and her behavior—acting out, staying out late, some fairly typical teenage stuff. For the purpose of this paper, I will be starting at the beginning where the family is first coming into therapy. I will first school that I will apply is Structural Family Therapy and the second school is Bowen Family Therapy.

It takes very special people to want to make a difference in people’s lives, to want to help them to be better. Some people seek to become counselors after overcoming a most important life challenge. The individuals that seek the profession of marriage and family therapy do not think of this work as a job or career, more typically a constellation of life experiences that demand explanation and a sense that others seek one out for assistance and emotional sustenance become driving forces leading one to counseling profession (An Invitation to Counseling Work).

The field of family therapy, particularly the approach of systemic family therapy, is popular not only in the United States but also all across Europe. While this course was designed for future family therapists in the U.S., this paper tries to identify characteristics and differences of the profession’s European counterpart. Several noteworthy differences in degree and educational requirements were identified as well as the professional associations which are responsible for practitioners in Germany and Europe in general. However, it is important to state that the main principles of both the American and European family therapy profession are similar, if not identical, which illustrates the interconnectedness of professionals across the world. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to identify ways of developing a professional identity and promoting professional development throughout and beyond graduate studies in the field of family therapy.

My parents have found this whole experience extremely difficult and exhausting. It breaks their hearts to see their child go through such anguish. They have struggled in trying to find her a firm diagnosis. VR has been to numerous pediatricians, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists and a multitude of other specialists. Finally, after two years of variable mental health symptoms and physical illnesses, VR was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After much research and exploration, as a family, we learned that many cases of bipolar illness go undiagnosed due to the “normal” changes occurring within an adolescent’s body. At age 11, VR had obsessive thoughts and mild to moderate depression. It was at this age that she also experienced her first menstrual period. At age 12, her school performance began to drop and after extensive testing performed by school administration, she was given a diagnosis of attention

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.

Murray Bowen was born in 1913 in Tennessee and died in 1990. He was the oldest child in a large cohesive family. He trained as a psychiatrist and originally practiced within the psychoanalytic model. In his practice he involved mothers in the investigation of schizophrenic patients. He thought that the cause of schizophrenia begun in mother-child symbiosis which created an anxious and unhealthy attachment. His devotion to his own psychoanalytic training was set aside after his move to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 1954 as he begun to shift from an individual focus to an appreciation of the dimensions of families as systems. He began to include more family members in his research and psychotherapy

The history of family therapy began around 1960, when Gregory Bateson coined the term, “system thinking.” This type of therapy was a daring departure, both technically and philosophically, from traditional and individual treatment during the 1960s. Gregory Bateson was inspired. He felt that the unit known, as “the family” needed to be celebrated and that is exactly what he did” (Family Therapy, 2010, Para 1) Along with Gregory Bateson, are a list of several others who contributed to the evolution of Marriage and family counseling. This list includes the founder of social work, Mary Richmond, Mr. W. James, who researched the organic expression of social systems intervention and Mr. J. Dewey. Each of these