The Theoretical Approach to Family Therapy

The goal of Bowen’ theory is to review developmental patterns within the familial system and the stress centered around the anxiety caused by closeness or the lack thereof (Penny, 1999). Bowen’s theory works to facilitate a decline in stress and anxiety by enabling the clients with education as to how the emotional system works and focusing on how to modify self perceptional behaviors instead of working to change others within the system (Penny, 1999).

The movie Ordinary People is a movie which looks at a family struck by tragedy, It shows how an upper middle-class family handles life when tragedy strikes unexpectedly, and family order is turned into chaos. The movie in essence sheds light into a family, due to a tragedy, has turned into separate individuals living in the same house, who lack of communicating their grief effectively. The movie was shown through a realistic lens, without over dramatization; looked into misplaced guilt at every level. The inability of the family to work through the tragedies lead them to a place where they each felt a breakdown within each other as well as the family dynamic.

To get a full understanding of family theory one must first have the understanding of what is theory. Theory is a systematic collection of concepts and relations. Family however can mean a broad range of things to a person. One person may consider family to be father, mother, sister and brother; however, to someone else family could be just one parent with one child; and to another it could their friends. Family systems theory however defines the family as a system. Family consist of interrelated parts, each impacting the other and adding to each other’s growth (or detriment) of the other. And because family is always changing, growing, self-organizing, and becoming accustomed to each other and the exterior environment (White & Klein, 2008). Now let’s take a look at the

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.

According to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, approximately 41.3 million immigrants were living in the United States in 2013, an all-time high for a nation historically built on immigration. Immigrants accounted for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents and adding the U.S.-born children of immigrants means that approximately 80 million people, or one-quarter of the overall U.S. population, is either of the first or second generation (Zong, Batalova).

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.

This term paper is about solution-focused therapy and experiential therapy. In solution-focused therapy, the therapy does not emphasize the problem at all; it stresses and highlights the solution. The client is the expert and not the therapist. The experiential approach is often used to facilitate meaningful changes in individuals. SFBT is a short-term goal focused therapeutic approach which directs clients to focus on developing solutions, rather than on dwelling on problems. The theoretical framework, how change occurs, therapeutic techniques, postmodern perspective, the role of the therapist and some clinical examples are given in this term paper.

The family’s main problems can be understood from the theoretical perspective Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT). The client that was referred is Mia. She is a 17 year old second generation Chinese-American girl. She is currently a junior in high school and is preparing to take the SAT’s next year. Mia’s teacher referred her due to mild symptoms of depression. This perspective is important because a child depends on his/her parents being available and protective which causes a secure attachment. However, if parents are not available and protective it increases the possibility of their children having an insecure attachment which is associated with depression. It is highly encouraged that Mia’s parents are apart of the

Strategic family therapy is a solution focused type of therapy primarily used with families. Strategic therapists believe that the entire family should participate in therapy. The main goal of strategic therapy is to encourage families to change the behaviors that causes the biggest problem in their family. (Goldenberg, 2013)

Another way to provide Ana with support is through the use of structural family therapy. However, it should be noted that Diamond and Josephson’s review of the research (2005) found that families that received behavior management training (BMT) first, stayed in treatment longer, suggesting that tools for behavior management be provided first before working on family conflict (Diamond & Josephson, 2005). Additionally, Malekpour, Hadi, and Aghababaei (2015) found that parents play an important role in training of children diagnosed with ADHD. Therefore, the counselor would work with the family to provide BMT before working on dysfunctional family interactions. For example, the counselor would educate the parents on the use of a homework card for acknowledgment of positive behaviors that occurred in school and then it would be sent home to be shared with the family. If Ana did well, the parents would provide Ana with a reward.

When an individual or family results to therapy, there is often specific tensions and concerns that have to some degree remained unresolved (O'Gorman, 2012). Family Therapy serves as a psychological intervention to assist in resolving problems, addressing roles in the family, dealing with marital discord, separation and divorce, delinquency and any other family-related issues. Family therapy was first discovered about a decade after World War II, when psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, marriage counselors, pastoral counselors not only wanted to just provide individual treatment but look into family relationships (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). In the past, problems were often dealt with by institutions,

come up with treatment plan so that each individual has his or her needs met and the family unit

He is a 20 year-old, single, heterosexual, Caucasian, male. This is his first year at the U. He is a Junior and planning to declare his major in SEB next Fall.

During this half of our semester, we have learned about various theories to apply when counseling families. Three concepts I have chosen to apply when discussing the Manning-Kelly and my family is: triangulation through cross-generational coalitions, boundaries, and cutoffs. As a class, we have examined the Manning-Kelly in all aspects with their plethora of difficulties. I will use my family to show how these have been illustrated in my own and how they have been dealt with. These three concepts will allow further examination into triangulations, cutoffs, and boundaries established in their family using the readings and videos we have seen in class (Unfolding Laundry and Carl Whitaker’s) as references.

Clarification and agreement around the client’s goals represents a starting point for collaborative exploration of multiple ways in which these goals can be attained. Goal setting offers a platform for both therapist and client to resolve any differences through collaborative dialogue which reflects their mutual intentions and understandings (Clark, 1996) Goals can be defined as immediate, those which help to achieve longer term goals, goals to be worked on in therapy and long term or life goals (Hanley, Sefi & Ersahin, 2016) A client may formulate life goals including non-specific, contradictory, avoidant, unattainable or no life goals, which can then be broken down into therapeutic goals and the therapist will have her own goals as well