The Experiential Approach to Family Counseling

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

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).

Psychodynamic therapy has been around for ages, and has been very beneficial for clients who are suffering from an array of difficulties in life. This form of therapy has the client focus on the past and understand how it has positively or negatively affected his/her behavior and outlook on life. There are many advantages and disadvantages to taking this historical approach when working with families.

Professional counseling focuses on relationship that empowers different individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, and wellness. However, the part that professional counselors don’t focus on is the spiritual stability in an individual so they could properly serve God and be impactful in the church. There are many approaches that professional counselor used that could also aid a Christian counselor. Some of the approaches are as follows: Client-centered therapy, Active Listening Approaches, Cognitive & Solution-Focused Approaches, Inner Healing Approaches, and Mixed Approaches. Furthermore, theses above approaches could be even more effect when Christian counselors used the Bible too. It must be known, that secular approaches are not inherently wrong; however, if a Christian counselor rely on these approaches it is. Subsequently, when secular approaches are use independently it falls short of the goal of a Christian

The author of this book Mark McMinn explains how psychology, theology, and spirituality can all be integrated into Christian counseling. He discusses the difference between the three overlapping principles. He wrote this book especially for Christian counselors, pastors, as well as students so that they may clearly understand the meaning of the three principles, allowing them to apply it to everyday problems. The main question this book poses to answer is, How does a Christian counselor integrate their faith into a counseling session in a way that can be beneficial to their clients. He discusses the

McMinn unveils the realism of what essentially happens in the counseling office. He dives into the fitting together “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling”. McMinn explains how “those who enter therapy in the midst of their pain experience a restorative counseling relationship that brings acceptance hope, and meaning into their broken lives” (McMinn, 2011, p. 20). There are various questions surrounding Christian counseling that McMinn faces head on in this book when it comes to the challenges counselors face as it relates to integrating religion and spirituality in their sessions. Life on the frontier as McMinn puts it, is where counselors face six basic challenges. Challenges such as moving from two areas of competence to three, blurred personal-professional distinctions, expanded definitions of training, confronting dominant views of mental health, establishing a scientific base or even defining relevant ethical standards (McMinn, 2011). Personal journey’s that McMinn has taken throughout his career provide him with the knowledge, skills and abilities to depict how we should face these challenges. McMinn talks about how many counselors have a need to interpret studies, have good psychodynamics and figure out which cognitive therapy is right for their counseling. As he states, “Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because our goal are multifaceted (McMinn, 2011, p.

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

This paper will discuss developing beliefs and identity regarding marriage and family therapy. Over one’s life many beliefs are learned and become apart of who they are. These beliefs may be religious or just what they fell are right and wrong. These are the characteristics that will help or hinder them when it comes to being an effective counselor. Marriage and family therapist use psychotherapy to treat mental, emotional and interpersonal problems in the context of close relationships. Spiritual and or religious beliefs can also be incorporated into treatment. As a professional one must be aware not to impose personal beliefs into counseling.

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

Approaches to Family Therapy: Minuchin, Haley, Bowen, & Whitaker Treating families in therapy can be a complex undertaking for a therapist, as they are dealing not only with a group of individuals but also with an overall system. Throughout history several key theorists have attempted to demystify the challenges families face and construct approaches to treatment. However, there have been key similarities and differences among the theoretical orientations along the way. While some have simply broadened or expanded from existing theories, others have stood in stark

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.

Experiential family therapy (EFT) was first developed in the 1960’s by physician and psychotherapy pioneer Carl Whitaker and is aimed at helping individual family members feel fulfilled and self-actualized within the family unit by means of improving cooperation and intimacy among family members. Unlike other schools of family therapy, EFT does not focus on the perceived problems of individual family members but examines how family interactions and communications cause problems for the individual family members. It is important to remember that, due to the level of interpersonal involvement needed in this style of therapy it requires every family member involved to fully participate in the process. For optimum effectiveness, the family should already be relatively stable.</p> Whitaker’s approach to EFT is known as the symbolic-experiential model. This model emphasizes immediate, here-and-now experiences rather than the introspective methods of earlier theories and promotes emotional expression as a medium of shared experience and as a means of both personal and family fulfillment. Symbolic-experiential family therapy is predicated on the existential idea that there is a great deal more to a family’s dynamics and existence than is empirically observable; unconscious dynamics, histories of shared and individual experiences, secrets, etc. This model attempts to integrate two different aspects of human experience; experience and “symbols.” Experience is what is taken in

Experiential therapy emerged from the humanistic wing of psychology that was focussed on the immediate, here-and-now experience, which was most popular in the 1960's and 70's. Therapists focussed on the needs of the individual as they attempt to facilitate family interaction, resulting in the individuality of each member. As Becvar and Becvar (2000) asserted, the hallmarks of experiential family therapy were the importance of individuality, personal freedom and self-fulfillment (pp.181).

This essay is intended to evaluate one therapeutic intervention or theory that may be used in Family therapy. The theory being examined is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or for short CBT. The essay will begin with defining CBT and discussing the underlying principles, techniques and concepts of the approach. Some practical examples and scenarios of utilizing CBT will then be explored. Then the essay will proceed to a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of this therapeutic intervention. Finally a conclusion regarding employing such techniques will be made.