Family Systems Therapy

Contributors include:
Alfred Adler

Murray Bowen

Virginia Satir

Carl Whitaker

Salvador Minuchin

Jay Haley

Cloe Madanes

Family Systems Perspective

• Individuals are best understood by observing interactions amongst family members
• One's behavior is connected within family and the way the family functions
• The family is assessed along with "identified" client to determine behavior

Differences between Systemic and Individual Approaches

Individual

• Focus on accurate diagnosis
• Therapy is person-centered
• Focuses on causes, purposes, and cognitive processing of problem
• Concerned with client's experiences and perspective
• Establish treatment for client

Systemic

• Explore family functioning of client
• Include family members in therapy
• Focus on family relationships
• Concerned with external aspects that might affect the family's perspective
• Design treatment for client based upon external factors that interrupt success

Adlerian Family Therapy- Introduced by Alfred Adler, Rudolf Dreikurs, Oscar Christensen, and Manford Sonstegard

• Focuses on the present with little reflection on past

Goals

• Allow parents to be leaders
• Discover interaction patterns in family
• Promote effective parenting

Therapy Process

• Form a mutual relationship
• Discover birth order and goals
• Explore daily interactions between members

Multi-generational Family Therapy- Introduced by Murray Bowen

• Focuses on past and present time
• Discovers where the family was originated

Therapy Goals

• Differentiate the self
• Change the individual within the functioning of the family
• Decrease anxiety

Questions and cognitive processes are used to differentiate the self and to determine the family's origin.

Techniques and Innovations

• Genograms- Pictorial display of family relationships and medical history
• Deal with family-of-origin issues
• Remove oneself from the family's emotional system

Human Validation Process Model- Introduced by Virginia Satir

• This approach focuses on the here and now time frame.

Therapy goals

• Increase growth, self-esteem, and connection between family members
• Lead family to civil communication and interaction

Therapy Process

• Family is guided to move from original standpoint through chaos to new possibilities.

Techniques and Innovations

• Understanding the feelings of the client
• Role playing
• Touch and communication
• Sculpting
• Family-life chronology

Experiential/Symbolic Family Therapy- Introduced by Carl Whitaker

• Focuses on the present time

Goals

• Encourage spontaneity, creativity, autonomy, and ability to play

Therapy Process

• Awareness and plans to change are planted in therapy sessions.

Techniques and Innovations

• Co-therapy
• Self-disclosure
• Confrontation
• Using oneself to change

Structural Family Therapy- Introduced by Salvador Minuchin

• Focus on present and past

Therapy Goals

• Restructure family organization
• Alter dysfunctional family patterns

Therapy Process

• Therapist joins family in leadership role
• Family structure is changed
• Boundaries are set

Techniques and Innovations

• Joining
• Setting boundaries
• Unbalancing
• Reframing
• Enactments
• Ordeals
• Paradoxical interventions

Strategic Family Therapy- Introduced by Jay Haley and Cloe Madanes

• Focuses on present and future

Therapy Goals

• Eliminate presenting problem
• Alter dysfunctional patterns
• Interrupt sequence

Therapy Process

• Change occurs through actionoriented instructions and paradoxical interventions in which client is asked to observe the frequency of a certain symptom.

Techniques and Innovations

• Reframing
• Instructions and self-contradictory statements
• Pretending
• Enactments

My View: Family Systems Therapy is not a favorite of mine simply because I believe everyone is their own person regardless of your family members. Yes, the environment and members can and will have some impact and effect on one's behavior; however, we are each responsible for our own choices in who we want to become.