Virginia Satir: A Brief Summary

510 Words2 Pages

Virginia Satir, was monumental in reshaping the mental health professions practices. In researching her therapeutic model I found that it was referred to as a couple different names; the first was Virginia Satir Change Model and the second was Human Process Validation Therapy. Satir’s main mission was to release the potential that she saw in every family. Her therapeutic ways were non-conventional during her time. Satir was extremely intuitive and was known to go with her gut when in session with families or individuals. I found many concepts that could be considered key to her approach such as having an emphasis on the role that love place in the therapeutic process and the human need for personal space and validation. Satir also believed that any encounter could be a healing encounter. I find that family life, communication (functional vs. dysfunctional), and family roles are the most important concepts in Satir’s therapeutic approach. Satir felt that rules helped the family system interact and prosper and felt that the most important rules governed communication. Those being, “Who says what under what circumstances?”, “What rules are spoken and unspoken?”, and “What rules are about protection and which are about control?” Satir felt that while …show more content…

There are four stances in defensive communication, the first being placating. This is when an individual is sacrificing themselves to please others. The second is blaming, when the individual is sacrificing others to maintain themselves. The third is super-reasonable, when the individual maintains the context but sacrifices others and themselves. The last is irrelevant, when the individual not only sacrifices themselves but the context and others as well. Satir’s goal was to help families communicate learn to communicate better based on which stance was being

Open Document