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Resolving Conflict Within the Family
Family dynamics and family structure
Family dynamics and family structure
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The therapist would work to sense the triangles that are currently formed between family members. Also find understanding of the family by use of role reversals along with challenging the family with putting universal principles at odds with the family’s beliefs. By creating unbalance with warmth and support, the therapist looks to increase family cohesion and harmony. The therapist will also investigate the family dynamic by allowing them to express and name the symbolic interactions that are shared so that can be uncovered and understood. Once the family’s symbolic and real curative factors are addressed, the therapist can push for growth and maturity in the family. Because the family is seen as individuals in a family unit for example established …show more content…
They aim to make the family feel uncomfortable at times during the sessions while by creating confusions or disorganization. Still, they are done with warmth and in complete support of the family in order to create substantial, long-term growth and insight. One intervention would be the use of absurd comments to which the therapist may ask if Mary would prefer to leave Mark to marry her son Samuel. This intervention appeals to the universal principles to be at odds with the family’s beliefs. This types of comments are understood to be distasteful, but are said to force the family to think differently about the current family dynamic. Forcing the family to think unconventionally may unlocked emotions and provide new perspective on the dysfunctional roles that are currently being played between family members. In addition, the use of role reversals between family members can allow for insight to what the emotions or feelings that the other is interpreting along with the intentions and outcomes that exist. These interventions are subject to the experiences in the sessions allowing for the here-and-now perspective to be the catalyst in therapy. Also because there is a therapist’s use of self, interventions by the way of personal stories and metaphors are used to related more to the family as a primary goal to become integrated in the family dynamic. Lastly, the therapist would encourage the family to participate in free associations to bring forward the raw emotions and spontaneity during the
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
Structural therapy focuses on the family as a whole. It is concerned about how the issues effect the family relationships and connections. This theory concentrates on how well the understanding is amongst the family members and counselor. The members of the family are prompted to understand how the issues were created, where did the issues come from, when the issues started effecting their family, and what the family needs to overcome their issues. Its focus is to help others understand and improve negative behavior. The structural therapy concentrates on the interaction and boundaries of families with separating the whole family into smaller groups. The subsystems will create a clearer understanding of what issues are hurting their family environment (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is concerned about the members interaction because this reveals how strong the relationships and connections are in the home. The boundaries are important because they create an understanding that there are limits and order, and the boundaries can be diffused, rigid, or clear (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is expected to identify techniques so members can understand which boundaries are clear, positive, and healthy (Gladding, S. T. 2010).
Nichols, M.P. & Schwartz, R.C. (2004). Family therapy: Concepts and methods (6th ed.). Pearson Education Inc. US
272). Every family is described as having a family structure which entails functional demands that dictates the interactional process of the family. Key theoretical principles of structural family theory include clear, rigid and diffuse boundaries, triangulation, power, rules and roles. Treatment techniques used include joining-tracking, mimesis, confirmation and accommodation; reframing, unbalancing, boundary making and working with spontaneous interaction. Unbalancing is looked at as “a procedure by which the therapist supports an individual or subsystem against the rest of the family” (Gladding, 2011, p. 280) while working with spontaneous interaction places an emphasis on the process and not the content. The role of therapists is thought to change as treatment progresses where the change is considered gradual but steady where the “overall structure of the family is altered and reorganized” (Gladding, 2011, p.
They work with the family’s interaction, modify boundaries by strengthening diffuse boundaries and by softening rigid boundaries (Bitter, 2014). Family mapping is where the therapist would identify rigid boundaries, and mark symbols to mark boundaries (Bitter, 2014). Therapist use enactments to encourage family members to act out conflict situations that would happen at home. This encourages the clients to deal with problems, rather than just talking about problems (Bitter,
According to Minuchin (1978) there are several essential techniques of structural family therapy. Joining the family in a position of leadership will intervene and transform this structure of the family (Minuchin, 1978). Next, the therapists initiate family members to talk among themselves to create an enactments (Minuchin, 1978). Enactments help the therapist discover many things about a family’s structure (Nichols, 2010; Minuchin, 1978). Structural family therapist tries to assess the relationship of all family members by creating a structure map (Nichols, 2010; Metcalf, 2011). In this step the therapist may use the technique of intensity, which facilitated by using “strong affect repeated intervention or prolonged pressure” (Nichols, 2010
Family therapy is a branch of psychotherapy which involves working with family and couples in order to facilitate positive change and development. Family therapy emphasizes the role of family relationships on psychological health. There are various schools of thought in family therapy but they all agree that irrespective of the origin of the problem and notwithstanding if the clients consider the problem a family-related one, family therapy can often prove quite beneficial to the clients. Modern family therapy expands the definition of family to include not only parents and children but all the people who have forged long term roles and relationships and may not necessarily share any relationship by blood or marriage (1).
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
The therapist role is to encourage families to develop healthier and stronger relationships between one another (Crago, 2005). In Ana’s case, the therapist would work to identify possible intergenerational beliefs that are affecting Ana and her family, encourage the family to develop strong relationships and work to prompt autonomy in Ana, while helping to resolve conflict.
The primary purpose of building a therapeutic treatment plan is to visualize the entire picture of what is needed for the family and to avoid developing a plan based on symptoms. A therapist that proceeds to complete therapy without properly listening, observing and evaluating factors related to the family will have difficulties developing therapeutic task, addressing client goals that are unique to the family and maintaining interventions and understanding clues from the client’s perspectives. Additionally, the therapeutic treatment plan allows the therapist to become familiar with diversity concerns that he/she may not be familiar with (Gehart, 2014).
It is characterized by looking for solutions, instead of problems. The family is involved in the development of goals. They will explore when things are good and what is in place to make these things good. The therapist and family will take from the positive and incorporate it into areas that are more difficult.
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).
A counselor that may encounter a family such as this can use the systemic family therapy approach. The approach of systemic family therapy is an aid to clients with psychological disabilities. Systemic therapy differs from other therapies because it not only includes the individual but incorporates the family to build strength in their relationships so that symptoms seem less traumatic (Stratton, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to present how systemic family therapy can be effective in providing an understanding of the family and the diagnosed family member.
Family is something that most people have. Even people with no biological family have someone or multiple people that are close enough and care enough to be considered family. My parents divorced when I was one year-old, right after my little brother was born. I don’t remember a time when they were married to each other. Both my parents had been married once before, and my mom had a child from a previous marriage. Three years after the divorce, both of my parents remarried. My mom had another daughter with her husband, and my dad had another son with his wife. My mom has been married for fifteen years now, and my dad has been married half as many times; he is currently on his seventh marriage.
There are so many different types of family relationships. Whatever form a family takes; it is an important part of everyone’s life. My family has played an important role in my life. Good family relationships serve as a foundation to interactions with others. Supportive families will help children to thrive. The quality of the family relationship is more important than the size of the family. Making the relationships priority, communication, and providing support for one another is key to developing relationships. Family relationships are what make up our world today; they shape the ways that we see things and the ways that we do things.