Family and Multigenerational Family Therapy

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Family Therapy and Multigenerational Family Therapy Family Therapy and Multigenerational Family Therapy The idea of working with a family as a unit versus individuals was innovative and throughout the years became a significant enhancement to family system therapy. In 1960 Structural Family Therapy was founded and developed by Salvador Minuchin whose main focus was based on the interactional patterns and sequences within the family. He was able to alter the behaviors of the family alleviating the symptoms of young individual’s delinquent behavior. The use of Multigenerational Family Therapy evolved from Murray Brown’s development of mainstream family therapy. During his observations, he discovered occurring problems cannot change until the behaviors of the extended generations are understood. Utilizing these methods, one can better access and facilitate treatment to individuals seeking help. Structural Therapy Salvador Minuchin’s initial research involved training and therapy with delinquent boys from poor families. His findings proved behaviors asserted by the young boys were reduced by focusing on the interactional patterns and sequences within the family and assisting in structural changes. Minuchin established two key goals to better facilitate his treatment by first reducing symptoms of dysfunction and second bring about structural change within the system by modifying the family’s transactional rules and developing more appropriate boundaries (Corey, 2013). While working at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, Minuchin collaborated with Jay Haley and from their similarities in goals and processes, structural therapy was the most used models by the late 1970’s (Corey, 440). Allowing the client to contempl... ... middle of paper ... ...w to avoid and or eliminate certain behaviors that cause tension. This is key in providing balance for a stronger family unit. Family redefines the individual as a system embedded within many other systems, which brings an entirely different perspective to assessment and treatment (Corey, 2013). Using Structural Therapy or Multigenerational Family Therapy, the blame is alleviated from the identified patient or the entire family. Growth occurs through both practices whether the immediate family or several generations of family are included. . References Corey, Gereld (2013). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. (9th ed.) Belmont, CA: Brroks/Cole Cenage Learning. Freeman, David. (1992). Multigenerational Family Therapy. New York: Taylor and Francis Group. Minuchin, Salvador. (2003). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press.

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