Family Therapy Concepts and Methods 10th Edition- Nichols Chapters 1-4 – Flashcards
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disengagement
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Psychological isolation that results from overly rigid boundaries around individuals and subsystems in a family
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family rules
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a descriptive term for redundant behavioral patterns
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Group Dynamic
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Interactions among group members that emerge as a result of properties of the group rather than merely individual personalities
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multiple family group therapy
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Treatment of several families at once in a group therapy format; pioneered by Peter Laqueur and Murray Bowen
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multiple impact therapy
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An intensive, crisis-oriented form of family therapy developed by Robert MacGregor in which family members are treated in various subgroups by a team of therapists
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object relations
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Psychoanalytic theory derived from Melanie Klein and developed by the British School (Bion, Fairbairn, Guntrip, Winnicott) that emphasizes relationships and attachment rather than libidinal and aggressive drives as the key issue in human concern
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Process
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How members of a family or group relate.
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Process/Content Distinction
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in group dynamics ... how people talk vs the content of their discussions.
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undifferentiated family ego mass
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Bowen's early term for emotional "stuck-togetherness" or fusion in the family, especially prominent in schizophrenic families
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What are the features in the double bind?
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A primary negative injunction such as "don't do x or I will punish you. A second injunction at a more abstract level enforced by punishment or perceived threat A tertiary negative injunction prohibiting escape. Finally no longer necessary once the victim is conditioned.
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what was Lewin's philosophy in regards to small group dynamics?
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groups are psychologically coherent wholes & not collections of individuals
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What is the goal of the first interview
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to build and alliance with the FAMILY and develop a hypothesis about what's maintaining the presenting problem.
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what are the objectives of a consultation
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Establish rapport and gather information
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what is the middle phase of treatment devoted to?
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to helping family members deal more constructively with each other in sessions.
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what is the therapists role in this stage of treatment?
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less active, encouraging family members to to interact more with each other.
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circular causality
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the idea that actions are related through a series of recursive loops or repeating cycles
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complementarity
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the reciprocity that is the defining feature of every relationship
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culture
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shared patterns of behavior and experience derived from settings in which people live
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cybernetics
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The science of feedback; how information, especially positive and negative feedback loops can help self regulate a system
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deconstruction
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a postmodern approach to exploring meaning by taking apart and examining taken for granted categories and assumptions, making possible newer and sounder constructions of meaning
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enmeshment
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loss of autonomy due to a blurring of psychological boundaries
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ethnicity
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the common ancestry through which groups of people have evolved shared values and customs
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exceptions
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DeShazer's term for times when clients are temporarily free of their problems. Solution-focused therapists focus on exceptions to help clients build on successful problem solving skills
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externalization
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Michael White's technique of personifying problems as external to persons
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family life cycle
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stages of family life from separation from one's parents to marriage, having children, growing older, retirement, and finally death
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feedback loop
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the return of a portion of the output of a system, especially when used to maintain the output within predetermined limits (negative feedback) or to signal a need to modify the system (positive feedback)
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general systems theory
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a biological model of living systems as a whole entities that maintain themselves through continuous input and output from the environment; developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
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How do feedback loops affect the concept of cybernetics
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Family rules govern the range of behavior a family system can tolerate the family's homeostatic range. two, negative feedback use to enforce rules.family interaction around a problema system's reaction to it feedback loop and four, what happens when
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linear causality
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the idea that one event is the cause and another is the effect; in behavior, the idea that one behavior is a stimulus, the other response
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narrative therapy
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An approach to treatment that emphasizes the role of the stories people construct about their experience
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process
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how members of a family or group relate
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runaway process
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unchecked positive feedback that causes a family or system to get out of control
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social constructivism
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like constructivism, challenges the notion of an objective basis for knowledge. Knowledge and meaning are shaped by culturally shared assumptions
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solution focused therapy
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Steve de Shazer's term for a style of therapy that emphasizes the solutions that families have already developed for their problems
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structure
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recurrent patterns of interaction that define and stabilize the shape of relationships
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subsystems
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Smaller units in families, determined by generation, sex or function
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systems theory
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a generic term for studying a group of related elements that interact as a whole entity; encompasses general systems theory and cybernetics
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who claims credit for general systems theory
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Ludwig von Bertalanffy
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What are the key elements of Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory?
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A system is more than the sum of it's parts Emphasis on interaction within and among systems versus reductionism Human systems as ecological organisms versus mechanism Concept of equifinality Homeostatic reactivity versus spontaneous activity
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General Systems Theory includes what key idea?
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Equifinality, morphogenesis (the plastic quality of adaptive systems)
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What are the stages of the family life cycle?
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Leaving home to marriage to children to parenting teenagers to empty nest
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Describe cybernetics. What the elements on which cybernetics focuses?
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Feedback loops regulate like a machine and involve: family rules negative feedback loops sequence of family interaction Positive feedback loop
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Why is homeostasis important in systems work?
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emphasis on this is now seen as exaggerating the conservative properties of families and underestimating resourcefulness
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Control processes are important in what systems theory?
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General Systems Theory
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Why are control processes important in General Systems Theory ?
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Identifying how and where information flows: who is doing what, content & process.
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What is the most important influence on family therapy and why?
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Systems - how parts work together tells us how we can help the family -- using clues as what to do.
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Structural family therapy includes what elements? Explain and describe these elements
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Complementarity...... Interpersonal Context .... Circular causality... Linear Causality... Triangles... Life Cycles... Resistance... Family Narratives...
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What roles do boundaries play in maintaining the executive subsystem in the family? Why are they important?
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safeguard the integrity of the family and its subsystems. Unspoken Rules, co-dependence, enmeshment,
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What are the two competing forces in a family system?
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Companionship (connectedness) and Differentiation
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What kind of problems result when Companionship and Differentiation are not dealt with in a healthy manner?
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Problems in balance leads to Cut Off (isolation) or Fusion (enmeshment)
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The continuum of competing forces of a family system
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Fusion to Balance or connectedness/differentiation to Emotional Cut Off
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What happens if there is unresolved emotional attachment for an individual in a family?
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Projection, difficulty with emotionality, high levels of anxiety
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What elements are involved in meeting the goal of differentiation ?
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Learned controlled reactivity, ability to think & reflect
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When families are fused what happens?
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No differentiation, no autonomy - some fusion, some cut off
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What are the 6 interlocking concepts of Bowen that impact individuality and togetherness in family relationships?
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Differentiation of Self. Emotional Triangles. multi-generational emotional processes. sibling position. emotional cut off. social emotional process.
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Differentiation of Self
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Bowens term for psychological separation of intellect and emotions and independence of self from others; opposite of fusion
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Emotional Triangles
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driven by anxiety interaction is tied to the behavior of the third person and each person is driven by reactive behavior. Lets off steam but freezes conflict in place.
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multi-generational emotional processes
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forces in families that operate over the years in interconnected patterns
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4) sibling position
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Bowens belief that children develop personality characteristics based on their position in the family.
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societal emotional process
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contemporary concern about social influence on how families function.
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Describe the elements that would be in place if a family is functioning in a healthy manner.
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Families vary along a continuum of differentiation from low to high. Optimal Development occurs when individuals are relatively differentiated -- anxiety is low. Parents are in good emotional contact with families
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How do behavior problems develop in a family?
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Symptoms come when stress exceeds the systems ability to handle it.
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What do the symptoms developed in a family reflect?
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The most vulnerable individual is more likely to absorb the anxiety in a system and develop symptoms. Example, the ten year old with conduct disorder is likely to be the most triangled person in the family thereby the one most emotionally caught up in the family conflict.
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What happens when individuals do not differentiate adequately? How does this effect their ability to cope?
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Less stress is required to produce a negative symptom (lower tolerance for negativity) leads to relationship problems.
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What are the goals of therapy in the Bowenian Approach?
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Increase differentiation, decrease anxiety
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What must happen if differentiation is to occur for individuals in a family?
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Process and structure, de-triangulation and differentiation
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What are the tools used by Bowenian therapists to accomplish change in families?
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Process questions.. Structure - patterns of interlocking triangles
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What are the therapeutic techniques used by Bowenian Therapists?
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Genograms Assessments Neutralizing Triangles Process questions Relationship Experiments Coaching The "I" position
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Complementarity
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reciprocity that is the defining feature of every relationship
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Interpersonal Context
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people are products of their context
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Circular causality
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the idea that actions are related through a series of recursive loops or repeating cycles
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Family Narratives
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organize and make sense of experience
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Self-Actualization
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Rogers belief that left to our own devices, we tend to follow our own best interest. Actualization get diverted by our craving for approval. We do what others want not what is best for ourselves.
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Unconditional positive regard
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Rogerian therapist listens sympathetically, offering compassion and understanding. In the presence of such an accepting listener, patients gradually get in touch with their own inner promptings.
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Marital schism
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Theodore Lidz's term for pathological overt marital conflict; Husband's and Wives undermine each other and compete openly for their children's affection.
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Marital skew
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Lidz's term for a pathological marriage in which one spouse dominates the other; serious character flaws in one partner who dominates the other. One parent becomes passive while the other appears to be a strong parent figure but is in fact a pathological bully.
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Recursion
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the interactive patterns of the relationshiop from a type of feedback loop response system; emphasizes mutual causation of event; each individual influences and in turn is influenced by another individual in a circular pattern
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Boundaries
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Emotional and physical barriers that protect and enhance the integrity of individuals, subsystems and families ; invisible barriers that regulate the amount of contact with others; boundary
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Open and Closed System
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refers to the nature of the boundaries a family establishes around family members and between itself and other systems. The more input family members accept from other family members or a family allows from other systems, the more it is an open system.
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Attachment
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The innate tendency to seek out closeness to caretakers in the face of stress
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4 types of attachment
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Bulge, is a SAD F Secure ANXIOUS DISMISS FEARFULLY
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Jackson
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Developed Homeostasis
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The four terms on the left side of the circumflex chart
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Chaotic, flexible, structure, Ridgid,
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The four terms at the top of the circumplex chart
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Disengaged, separated, connected, enmeshed,
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Three Eras of Working with Families
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Family Therapy as Ministry (1700s - 1940s). Family Science (1950s thru 1980s) - modernism approach. Social Constructivism (1980s - present)
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Founders of Family Therapy
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John Elderkin Bell (1951) did Family Group Therapy to address behavior problems in children
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Founders and Concepts
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Da Ho...Bat the Mean.. Jay redundantly..till next weak the family laugh... Satirely at how it was Trapped.
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Unique MFT Concepts
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Team approaches and co-therapy... Paradox... Circular vs linear thinking... Content vs Process... Here and now focus... Punctuation of interactions.. Formalized supervision...
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Current Trends in Marriage and Family Therapy
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Movement toward integration as primary founders pass away... Learning to treat particular types of family problems... More outcome research... Managed Care... Medical Family Therapy...
