Bowenian family therapy is the first therapy that I have encountered that completely separates the therapist and the family. The therapist’s role in this style of therapy is to act as a coach. S/he remains on the outside of all emotion entanglement’s present in the family and remains non-reactive to situations and statements that may occur during therapy sessions. As the coach, the therapist helps to bring the family awareness of the patterns that are present in the family through deeper insight or bringing forth opportunities of changes and/or choices in the family. Therapy then becomes a time to correct emotional experiences rather than immediately fixing problems. Thinking critically about this type of therapy, it is one that I envision could work with many families. The therapist is the guide to help the family reach their goals by becoming aware of their strengths and weaknesses. With the therapist remaining on the outside of all that issues involved in the family, I envision the therapist having an almost structural approach, but less intense about seeing them do something while in the session. Almost like life coaches on teams or in organizations, the therapist is there to hear what the family members have to say and then assisting them in finding a technique that works for them to solve those problems. (Nichols, 2014)
In Bowenian family therapy, human relationships are driven by individuality and togetherness and Murray Bowen believed in discovering the balance between the two forces. Healthy people are able to differentiate, manage the emotional fusion. Differentiation of self is defined as “the capacity to think and reflect, to not respond automatically to emotions [and] the ability to be flexible and act wisely, even i...
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... draws the child into those problems. I can recall times when single mothers would tell their children about their absent fathers and bring them into their financial and emotional issues. As that child would grow up s/he would project that behavior and emotion that their single mother once taught them. (Nichols, 2014)
The Bowenian family therapy style is one that is theoretical and practical. A lot of what Bowen studied; you can use and observe in families today. Genograms, “schematic diagrams showing family members and their relationships” are beneficial to all families and used often to identify patterns in families throughout generations (Nichols, 2014, p. 76). If one desires a practical type of family therapy, then I recommend Bowenian.
Works Cited
Nichols, M. P. (2014). Essentials of Family Therapy. College of William and Mary: Pearson
Education Canada.
Experiential Family Therapy is a therapy that encourages patients to address subconscious issues through actions, and role playing. It is a treatment that is used for a group of people in order to determine the source of problem in the family (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). Experiential Family Therapy has its strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths of this therapy is that, it focuses on the present and patients are able to express their emotions on what is happening to them presently. The client will have time to share everything about his/her life experiences one on one without any fears. As a result, it helps the client in the healing process because, he/she is able to express their feelings freely and come out of the problem. Therefore, in this type of therapy, the clients are deeply involved in solving their issues. It helps clients to scrutinize their individual connections and to initiate a self-discovery through therapy, on how their relationships influence their current behaviors (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). By examining their personal relationships through experiential family therapy, family members are able to
Gladding, S. T. (2010). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Murray Bowen developed family systems theory. This transgenerational model looks at how a family’s history informs their present functioning. Today it is a prominent model used by today’s family and marriage mental health professionals. Derived from psychoanalytic thinking and sometimes called natural systems theory, it posits that families are living and evolving systems shaped by chronic anxiety transmitted through its generations. Anxiety is aroused when individuals attempt to balance their individual identity with being a part of a family. This balancing act inevitably causes anxiety, triggering biological coping responses instead of healthy cognition and reasoning (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2012). Erford
Napier provides a crucial exploration of the therapy of a family struggling with battles for the structure of their family and battles to define and grow their relationships with one another. Napier and Whitaker seamlessly and purposely work with each family member, educating and
Structural Family Therapy offers a framework that provides order and meaning within the family connections (Nichols, 2013). Divorce for a family is considered a significant transition for all parties involved. When counseling a family going through divorce the structural family therapist’s job is to build an alliance with the family and obtain information about the structure. The structure of the family consists of the roles, interactions, organization, and hierarchy. Family therapy yields the belief that changing the organization of the family leads to change in the individual members. The structural family therapist often will try to become part of the family to gain a perspective of their issues as whole so not to place the focus on one individual. Joining is an empathetic approach in helping families explain and break down their individual stories without uncomfortable challenge or unnecessary confrontation (Nichols, 2013). It is important to note that family dysfunction that often leads to divorce is not attributed to one individual, but the entire family system. In structural family therapy, part of dealing with the issue of divorce in the family is to focus on the interactions between all the family members both positive and negative. Through these interactions the therapist can discover where the conflicts arise, which will in turn help the therapist understand how these negative interaction affect the family. Family therapy in these cases allows for repair of long-standing interactional patterns in which divorce is just one of a series of ongoing transactions that are disruptive to the child’s development (Kaplan, 1977, p.75). The structural family therapist often has the family play out these family interactions via enactments so that he can get a firsthand look at maladaptive patterns, roles, and
Duty, G. (2010, December 10). Family Systems Therapy. Lecture presented at Principles of Counseling Class Notes, Bethany.
Structural Family therapy focus is to reform the family so that there are limits between parents and progenies, while the parents are reassuring of each other and their children. In achieving this the therapist has observed firsthand
My theoretical approach to family therapy is very integrative as I believe families cannot be described nor treated from a single-school approach. I view humans through a humanistic and existential lens but am more technically structural and solution-based. With this integrative approach, I believe I will be the most effective in helping families grow and reach their goals.
Goldenberg, H. & Goldenberg, I. (2013). Family therapy: An overview (8th ed.). Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Differentiation of self, which notes that the family is the primary impact of a person’s personal development.
Nichols, M. P. (2010). Family therapy concepts and methods (9 ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking is used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self.
Each family unit exhibits concepts and themes found within Bowen’s Family System Theory. In my family unit, I see the following concepts and themes from a family system theory perspective exhibited through my genogram; boundaries, levels of differentiation, family projection process, and emotional cutoff. Each of these will be expanded on further below:
Structural family therapist have exemplified within the context relational therapies that uncovers stressors in relationship between individuals (Vetere, 2001). Structural family therapy has been known to be called “interventive approach” because of the “intensity” to encourage clients to change (Hammond & Nichols, 2014).
Nichols, M. P. (2011). The essentials of family therapy. Boston, Ma.: Allyn and Bacon. (Original work published 5th)