Structural family therapy

introduction to family therapy and structural family therapy are described here

1. STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY Submitted by Fathima hasanath k p 1 st MPHIL.PSW

2. FAMILY THERAPY FT is psychotherapeutic treatment of the family to bring about better psychological functioning.

3. TYPES OF FAMILY THERAPY Types Proposed by Details Intergenerational Murray Bowen Examines the impacts of the parents’ interaction with their own family of origin as it affects their interaction with their children. Structural Salvador Minuchin It is concerned with how family members relate to each other in the therapy hour and at home. Strategic Jay Haley Emphasizing the need to bring about change in the family. Experiential Carl Whitaker Emphasize the unconscious and affective processes of families and therapists in their work.

4. INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES The majority of family therapists make use of more than one theory. Distinctions between individual and family therapy are less definitive. Therapists may mix individual, couple and family sessions in treatment. As integrative approaches emerge, no single one dominates.

5. Brief family system therapy By attempting to make interventions in a short-period of time, the innovators of brief family system therapy have developed approaches, that are practical, clear as to method, and related to the present problem. However, they desire to produce To solve a pressing problem- first-order change . Lasting change in the family system- second-order change .

6. STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY Developed by Salvador Minuchin . Helps families by dealing with problems as they affect current interactions of family members. Therapeutic approaches emphasize changing the nature and intensity of relationships within the family both inside and outside the therapy session. How families operate as a system and their structure within the system are the focus of Minuchin’s work.

7. Minuchin uses concepts such as boundaries , alignments and coalitions to explain family systems. Family structure: For Minuchin (1974), the structure of the family refers to the rules that have been developed over the years to determine who interacts with whom . It is Minuchin’s view that there should be a hierarchical structure within the family with the parents having more power than the children and older children having more responsibilities than younger children.

8. FAMILY SUBSYSTEMS Within the family system are subsystems that also their own rules. Marital subsystem (husband-wife) Siblings subsystem Parent-child subsystem Purpose : to meet the changing needs of the two partners. Although the same people in the marital and parental subsystem, their roles are different , although overlapping. Children learn:- how to relate to their brothers or sisters. How to build coalitions and meet their own needs. To deal with parents. Such alliances may arise depending the roles, skills and problems of the individual members.

9. BOUNDARY Permeability Boundaries- Rules of interaction . Who does what and with whom depends on boundaries. It describes the type of contact that members within the family systems and subsystems have with each other. In general, boundaries refer to how a family is organized and follows the rules. Enmeshed boundary Disengaged boundary Highly permeable boundary. Non-permeable or rigid boundaries.

10. ALIGNMENTS AND COALITIONS ALIGNMENTS: refer to the ways that family members join with each other or oppose each other in dealing with an activity. COALITIONS: refer to alliances between family members against another family member. Sometimes they are flexible and sometimes they are fixed . TRIANGLE: each parent demands child’s side with him against the other parent. (Minuchin, 1974).

11. POWER STRUCTURE Refers to who makes the decisions and who carries out the decisions. Being able to influence decisions increases one’s power. In an enmeshed family, power is not clear, and children may ask one parent permission to do something, even if the other parent has said “no”.

12. When the family’s rules become inoperative, the family becomes dysfunctional. When boundaries become too rigid or too permeable, families have difficulty operating as a system. If the family does not operate as an hierarchical unit , confusion and difficulty may result. Alignments within the family may be dysfunctional, such as triangulation . Minuchin is more concerned with the current structure of the family, especially as he sees it within the therapeutic transaction.

13. GOALS OF STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY To alter coalitions and alliances to bring about change in the family. To establish boundaries within the family that are neither too rigid nor too flexible. To help the family system use power in a way that functions well.

14. TECHNIQUES OF STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY FAMILY MAPPING: Minuchin uses diagrams to describe current ways that families relate. “Maps” provide a shorthand description of boundaries and subsystems as they have an impact on the family. Maps of family interaction allow therapists to better understand repeated dysfunctional behaviour so that strategies for modifications can be applied.

15. MINUCHIN’S SYMBOLS FOR FAMILY MAPPING . . . . . . . . . . . : Diffuse boundary : Clear boundary : Rigid boundary : Affiliation : Overinvolvement

16. ECO MAP

17. TECHNIQUES OF STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY ACCOMMODATING AND JOINING By using same type of language and telling amusing stories relevant to the family, he seeks to fit in. One example of joining the family is mimesis , which refers to imitating the style and content of a family’s communications.

18. ENACTMENT By instructing the family to act out a conflict, the therapist can work with problems as they appear in the present rather than as they are reported. This allows the therapist to understand the family’s coalitions and alliances and then to make suggestions for changing the family system.

19. INTENSITY Intensity can be achieved in enactment by having the family draw out an interaction or repeat it. How a suggestion or message is given is extremely important. By repeating the message, changing the length of time of a particular interaction, or other means, change can be facilitated.

20. CHANGING BOUNDARIES To change boundaries, therapists may rearrange the seating of the family members and change the distance between them. It is the therapist’s conscious choice as to which the family members agree with, affiliate with, or exclude from an interaction. In dealing with family systems, the therapist can also interpret events to change the power structure and mode of interaction within the family.

21. REFRAMING There are several ways to see an event or situation or reframe it. The therapist may wish to give a different explanation so that a constructive change can occur in a family situation. e. g.: Minuchin, Rosman and Baker suggest a number of ways of reframing the behaviour of a girl with anorexia. By labelling behaviour as “stubborn”(family can deal with) and not as a “sick” (out of her control).

22. REFERENCE Sharf , R. S., (2004), Theories of Psychotherapy and Counselling , USA: Brooks/Cole- Thomson learning, Pp479-21.

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