Structural Family Therapy : Salvador Minuchin's Family

The family system is founded on the notions that for change to occur in the life of an individual, the therapist must understand and work with the family as a whole. In working with the family, the therapist can understand how the individual in counseling functions within his family system and how the client’s behaviors connect to other people in the family. This theory also holds the perception that symptoms are a set of family habits and patterns passed down by generation and not a result of a psychological problem or an inability to change (Corey, 2017). Furthermore, the family system theory holds the idea that when a change occurs everyone in the unit is affected by the change.

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.

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).

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

Rooted in systems theory, Murray Bowen’s Bowen family systems therapy acknowledges the family as a multigenerational emotional system (Nichols, 2013). This model perceives the family as an interconnected network of emotional reactivity that shapes family dynamics and interaction patterns. Bowen proposed eight interlocking concepts to elucidate familial patterns: differentiation of self, triangles, nuclear family emotional system, family projection process, multigenerational transmission process, emotional cutoff, sibling position, and societal emotional process (Nichols, 2013). It also views families through an individual and collective lens, assessing how members’ emotionally driven

This paper will summarize the theory of family systems developed by Murray Bowen. It will describe the eight key components to Bowenian therapy and the techniques used during practice. Strengths and limitations will be exposed, followed by a summary of the importance of integration between psychology and family systems theory.

In the system of family therapy Dr Murray Bowen developed a new approach to family therapy that was different from other family theorist because it emphasized on the family’s emotional system and its history that may be traced through the family dynamics of the parents, and grandparents. His approach looks at human emotions and the patterns that are commonly developed and similar in all family systems.

The main purpose of structural family therapy is prevention of sequences from repetition by coveting the hierarchical structures of families. This encompasses shifts in power distribution among family members by adjusting interaction styles. Nevertheless, structural family therapy operates by making alterations on the dysfunctional family structure through encouragement and promotion of growth among family members with the primary intention of re-building the family (Petridis, Pichorides, & Varopoulos, 2010). Additionally, structural family therapy was designed to adjust family dynamics by providing trendy options of interacting and methods of solving problems. Structural changes are necessary in situations whereby members experience difficulties in solving family issues. These structural adjustments are based on reorganization and

There are many reasons why families seek help for issues they cannot solve on their own. In the movie Jenny’s wedding the members in the family system could have learned better ways to handle the news that Jenny wanted to marry another woman. Structural family therapy looks at the organization of the family, such as the subsystems, boundaries, and the hierarchies between the system members. By using the structural family therapy model I will break down the problems that are presented and give a treatment plan that could help.

Chapter six talks about structural theory this is important because every family has a structural base in place; some concept are boundaries, subsystems, alignments, and complementary which are easy to apply in therapy. The family structure is how is the interaction of the family, then how they interact with each other and their own personal boundaries between each other. To be able to provide an effective outcome in family therapy is imperative to consider the entire family members. The chapter provide a guideline for structural family assessment as we can observe in page 120 (Nichols M. 2017).

Structural family therapy is a popular systematic approach that family therapist use to help solve issues within a family and enhance the relationship of family members through bringing order to the family structure. Nichols (2013) presents that one defining insight to family therapy was the discovery that families are organized in subsystems with emotional boundaries that regulate the contact family members have with each other. This also introduced enactments, where family members are encouraged to directly communicate with each other in sessions, allowing the therapist to observe and modify their interactions when necessary (p. 122). Basing the assumption that the problems lie within the family structure. Salvador Minuchin is the primary

Structural family therapy (SFT) is a theory that views the family as a psychosocial system embedded within a larger social system that is maintained by its’ own interactional patterns (Vetere, 2001). Within the family system are subsystems, boundaries and hierarchies (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981). For an individuals symptoms to resolve, structural changes must be made by the family (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981). The goal of SFT is to decrease symptoms as a result of dysfunction and change the family’s structure by developing new transactional patterns that demonstrates appropriate boundaries (Corey, 2012). To reach this goal, interventions such as joining, enactments, restructuring and reframing are used. Below, is an overview of key concepts and interventions in SFT as well as its’ application to diverse populations.

Unlike other models of family therapy, the goal of the Bowenian – trained therapist is not focused on symptom reduction but on the improvement of the intergenerational transmission process (Winek, 2010). This can be done by understanding one of the cornerstones of the Bowen theory: there are forces within the family

Structural Family Therapy is based on three main principles. The first is family structure, the interactions among different families vary depending on inherent family rules. Each family member adjusts their behavior in accordance to the rules to make sure that the family system operates without issues. Family structure is based on family members ' repeated interactions which can enhance expectations and establish lasting patterns. You can get a general idea about the family structure by observing the way families interact and communicate (“What Is Structural Family Therapy and How It Works | New Health Advisor,” n.d.). The second is family subsystems. A family contains many subsystems that perform different tasks according to the family 's requirements. Family subsystems can be based on role functions, gender, age group and common interests. Problems can arise if one of the subsystems starts to take the role and place of another subsystem (“What Is Structural Family Therapy and How It Works | New Health Advisor,” n.d.). The third is boundaries, which are barricades through which different members and subgroups within a family system can communicate with each other. The boundaries in a family system can be clear, rigid or diffused. A clear

Structural family therapy provides the six p’s to use as a tool to identify areas of the family system where attention needs to be placed. In short, it allows the therapist to sort out and organize the family’s dynamics. It provides an atmosphere in which the therapist can observe the problem,