Strategic Family Therapy: Cloe Madanes

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

Strategic Therapy or Strategic Family Therapy is one of the oldest theories used in the practice of marriage and family therapy today. It was developed by Don Jackson and others affiliated to the Palo Alto group. Jay Haley and the Milan Group are also important practitioners of the model Strategic Therapy. This theory is portrayed as focused on altering family dynamics, eliminating problems and focusing on the presenting problems rather than the past, and often giving homework and behavioral tasks to clients. In this essay is a detailed description of the history of strategic therapy, beliefs, techniques and problems presented by this theory.

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).

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

Great Post and highlights given regarding Haley’s strategic approach. I think the example you gave regarding families from different backgrounds is a good point to how they deal with life’s struggles and challenges. In strategic therapy per Haley’s approach the therapist is not neutral and should be involved with the individual or family. The therapist should give directions because people do not change unless they are given directives; however, it must be implicit in the conversation rather than open and explicit. Because there is more than one way to look at individual or families cause of symptoms. Each inidivudal or family have triggers that causes the problem and problems ten dot occur at developmental milestones. For example a married

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.

therapy aims to improve family relations, and the family is encouraged to become a type of

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

Psychoeducational therapy is a skill taught, educational style of treatment. With its unpretentious and direct thought process, it is easy to comprehend the concept of how and why it works. This is a relatively new style approach of family therapy, compared to the established schools like psychodynamic, transgenerational, experiential, structural, strategic, and behavioral and cognitive-behavioral models. I selected this therapy because it is straight forward like me. The subjects that will be discussed within this paper comprise of its history, families dealing with mental disorders, medical family therapy, short-term educational programs, and a brief summary.

Family therapists aim to change systems within which individuals reside(Dykeman, 2011). As a therapist, the responsibility is on me

The first long-term goal is to improve communication skills among each family member. The interventions created to achieve this goal includes: 1) Rosalyn and Carl will complete weekly worksheets and homework assignments provided by their family therapist, 2) Each family member will learn and practice using I-statements to decreasing blaming behavior and increase self awareness, and 3) Each family member will write a letter to address one another and identify how their feelings in regards to the problems identified in therapy along with their ideas of how they can be a part of the solution to decrease the anxiety in the family.

Within the context of family therapy, narrative therapy is used to engage the entire family to realize and share their individual narratives while the therapist encourages a broadening of their perspective in considering alternative and more positive narratives (Shalay, 2007). The therapist works specifically to bring each individual’s strengths to the foreground by encouraging the family members to reflect on those strengths. The therapist would also strive to point out times in the family’s history when the problem was absent or diminished to help the family identify how they have worked with the problem in the past. The therapist addresses the problems between family members and helps to externalize these problems so no one family member is seen as being the problem. The goal of family narrative therapy is to help the family create a new narrative and then work to strengthen and reinforce it (Shalay, 2007).

Strategic Therapy or Strategic Family Therapy is one of the oldest theories used in the practice of marriage and family therapy today. It was developed by Don Jackson and others affiliated to the Palo Alto group. Jay Haley and the Milan Group are also important practitioners of the model Strategic Therapy. This theory is portrayed as focused on altering family dynamics, eliminating problems and focusing on the presenting problems rather than the past, and often giving homework and behavioral tasks to clients. In this essay is a detailed description of the history of strategic therapy, beliefs, techniques and problems presented by this theory.