Intervention Videos: A Family Analysis

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.

The basic concepts of this type of therapy are boundaries, subsystems, complementary and alignments which are easily applied and grasped. The most important aspect the therapist must keep in perspective is that every family is made up of structure and that these structures are seen only when the members of the family interact. If the therapist does not consider the entire structure of the family and intervene in only one of the many subsystems are most likely not to attain a lasting change.

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).

A few of the techniques explains to the client which technique words and what doesn’t in a family setting. In the beginning, it’s more about bringing out concerns more than something that may or may not be taking place in the household. Solution-Focused Therapy also focuses on goals and helpful strategies. The true purpose for this type of therapy is focusing on family strengths. One example of the solution-focused therapy is the formula first session task. This task is an example of showing the family what helps. Also, the counselor is constantly asking questions and doing observations to see how well things go when the family leaves therapy. Another example is the exception question. This is usually the counselor looking at the family and

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.

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.

My first assumption of family therapy was to involve the parents and the individual that had the problem. This book explored further what it

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

In today's world more and more people are experiencing life struggles when it comes to family. These issues can range from problems in a marriage, how to deal with your children issues and understand yourself and how to deal with your family and certain issues. The area of marriage and family counseling/therapy has had an out break over the past decade. The counselors are expected to work effectively with families experiencing a variety of issues and problems. In marriage and family therapy/counseling there are so many different types of techniques that are out there but should be used and looked upon not a cure, but a method to help mobilize the family.

In the Structural Family Therapy model, therapy is not focused solely on the individual, but upon the person within the family system (Colapinto, 1982; Minuchin, 1974). The major idea behind viewing the family in this way is that “an individual’s symptoms are best understood when examined in the context of the family interactional patterns,” (Gladding, 1998, p. 210). In SFT, there are two basic assumptions: 1) families possess the skills to solve their own problems; and 2) family members usually are acting with good intentions, and as such, no

Inside my family structure, my mother’s parents struggled with addiction. My grandmother, Ellen Sweeney, who has since deceased, was addicted to opiates, and my grandfather, Wayne Smith, who has also passed away, was an alcoholic. My mom was one of five children, her siblings included, Margaret “Markie”, the eldest, , Catherine “Kerrie”, the second eldest, my mother, Marian, the middle child, Amy, the second youngest, and lastly, Matt, the youngest. Moreover, my mother and my aunt Margaret “Markie” Smith have also battled alcoholism and my aunt Amy has since been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Due to my mother’s family struggle with alcoholism, addiction, and mental disorder, my mother’s childhood was particularly difficult. Not only was she undoubtedly influenced by her parent’s substance abuse when she was a child, but it has continues to affect her as an adult raising her own children.

During the creation of the treatment plan, the clinician identified potential problems, recorded DSM-5 clinical impressions, and determined what mental health treatment steps could be taken to help stabilize this family. To ensure success, the treatment plan offers a logical flow of potential mental health treatment issues, identifies potential barriers, and provided possible strategies to mitigated these barriers. The treatment plan includes specific measurable qualitative and quantitative objective outcomes over a year-long treatment. Although success requires the involvement of other professionals, the focus of the treatment plan is on the work of the clinician with the family and only non-specific suggestions for outside support are listed. Had the case provided more details about the family’s residence, increased details about community resources might have been added (like the contact information for the Health Center, a Big-Brother organization, a single-parent support group, a subsided day-care resource, etc.).

Clinical implications affecting Family therapy centers around independent, dependent and common theoretical conceptualizations. Model-independent or narrow factors encompass components that are specific to that model. Model-dependent or broad factors contain variables that are common throughout all theoretical models. However there are three main model commonalities that counselors should account for during treatment. They are current relevant connections from family of origin influence, current interaction cycles, affective, behavioral and cognitive dysfunction that are perpetuated is a continuous cycle (Davis & Piercy, 2007). Counselors should enter into the therapeutic relationship with the foresight that these influences will be

The major theoretical paradigm that informs structural family therapy is based on systems theory. “The word system is rooted in Latin and Greek words that mean “to place together” so a system can be thought of as an entity made out of other entities that are placed together (Rosenblatt, 1994, pg. 49).” In systems theory there are many elements, assumptions, definitions to address the different dynamics within a system. According to Rosenblatt (1994) systems theory provides insight into how systems (families) are formed and highlights the patterns that surface within the system. Systems theory places emphasis on the entire system (entire family), rather than focusing on the different parts (individuals) of the system (Rosenblatt, 1994).

This is a 2-parent 1-child home with several concerns. The parents are successful in their employment and strive in securing the basic level of needs for the household. Mallorie is a typical teenager-acting out to receive attention from her parents and feel that they should spend more time as a family. There are two theories that could be used to help strengthen and restructure this family- the social learning family intervention and individual cognitive behavioral therapy. As noted in Kilpatrick & Holland (2009) “the social learning family treatment approach has been successfully engaged with a variety of families and with many levels of family needs. This model enables the practitioner to utilize a well-structured series of intervention strategies yet allows for the necessary flexibility when working with diverse, chaotic, and unique family systems.” Cognitive behavioral therapy is a technique that is used to treat various disorders that are related to anxiety, mood, personality, substance abuse, etc. that are connected with