Notes On Family Therapy Approaches

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).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the inspired work of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck which emphasizes the need for attitudinal change to promote and maintain a behavior modification (Nichols, 2010 p. 167). Ellis believed, people contribute to their own psychological problems, as well as specific symptoms, by the rigid and extreme beliefs they hold about events and situations (Cory 2012, p. 291). CBT is based on an educational model with a scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral responses are learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to assist clients unlearn their unwanted behaviors and to learn new ways of behaving and thinking when he/she is faced with an

The roots of the Cognitive-Behavioral Theory lie in the broadening of behavior therapy and has undoubtedly produced more empirical research than any other model of psychotherapy (Datillio, 2000a). Cognitive-Behavior theory is a theory based on the idea that a person’s perspective is what guides the development and the preservation of their emotional and behavioral responses to situations within their lives as well as a plethora of studies that tested learning theories. The Cognitive-Behavior therapy also called CBT, relies on the belief that the person’s perspective also stunts or expedites the emotional and behavioral adaptation to situations as well. This “belief” means that what you or I think governs how we respond to what goes

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.

Therapists work different theoretical perspectives to meet the client’s diverse needs. The object is to offer verbal and nonverbal, expressive therapies, such as Narrative, Solution-Focused and Brief Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy. The concept is to take into account the therapist preferences and the issues that the therapist would like to approach for the client’s best needs. Therapist can integrate different orientations to guide the client.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term, empirically valid amalgamation of facets from cognitive and behavior therapies. Cognitive-behaviorists believe that psychological problems stem from maladaptivity in both thought and behavior patterns, whether self-taught or learned from others. Therefore, changes have to take place in both thoughts and actions. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is structured as collaboration between client and therapist, focusing on the present. A prominent aspect of CBT is the client’s duty to be an active participant in the therapeutic process (Corey, 2013).

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

In cognitive behavior therapy there are three main goals a therapist tries to achieve, “ relieve the symptoms and help clients resolve the problem, then help clients develop strategies that can be used to cope with future problems, finally help clients change the way they think from irrational, self-defeating thoughts to more rational, self-helping, positive thoughts” (Ciccarelli, White 2015). When interviewing friends the first step was to find out what their most impacting problems were. Then they talked about ways they could help relax themselves when or if the situation every happened again. Finally they came up with ways they could look at their problems in a more positive way. After the interviews

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.

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

Strategic Family Therapist is one of which the therapist is the teacher and the client is the student (Bitter, 2014). Developing a therapeutic relationship with the client is not the goal. The therapist is concerned with asking questions to establish the reason for therapy and then make suggestions or directives (Bitter, 2014).

The philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy is that “think and feeling are connected people are creative (Halbur & Halbur, 2015, p.47)”. The key aspects of theory are to challenge the irrational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. Aaron Beck the primary founder of cognitive behavior theory assumed that people can control how they feel and what they think. He believed that our inner thoughts and beliefs affected how we are affected on the outside. One of the key concepts is that the client’s dysfunctional thinking can be derived from an erroneous internal process or bias.

Today Cognitive behavioral Therapy has been influenced by two major therapeutic approaches: firstly, Behaviorism as developed by Skinner, Pavlov and others in the 1950s and 1960s, where the main research was related to rewards and punishments, or stimuli’ and their response. Second is Cognitive therapy which was introduced or made popular by Beck and Ellis in the 1960s. CBT by definition is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring the patterns of thinking that lead to negative actions and the beliefs that dictate these thoughts, families can identify and change the patterns in order to

My theoretical approach to family therapy is very integrative as I believe families cannot be described nor treated from a single-school approach. I view humans through a humanistic and existential lens but am more technically structural and solution-based. With this integrative approach, I believe I will be the most effective in helping families grow and reach their goals.

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)