Family Therapy Glossary of Terms (Principles of MFT) – Flashcards
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Accommodating
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A therapeutic tactic primarily used in structural therapy whereby the therapist adapts to the family style
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Alignments
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Affiliations and splits from the family that occur in the pursuit of homeostasis
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Calibration
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Setting of a limit in a family determining the range and how much deviation will be tolerated
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Centrifugal
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Forces in a family that pull individual outside of the family for gratification
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Centripetal
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Forces that bind a family so they seek fulfillment inside the family unit
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Closed System
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A self contained system with impermeable boundaries resistant to change
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Communication Theory
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Developed at Palo Alto MRI the study of interpersonal sequences between people in terms of the verbal and nonverbal messages they exchange
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Constructivism
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A belief that an individual knowledge of relaliiy results from his or her subjective experiences
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Counterparadox
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In systemic therapy putting a family in a double bind in order to counter member's paradoxical interactions
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Counter Tranference
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Unconscious emotional reactions to a client that stem from your past experiences
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Cybernetics
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The study of feedback control within a system
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Deconstruction
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A postmodern intervention for gaining meaning by reexamining assumptions
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Detriangulate
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The process of withdrawing from the ole of buffer between two parents so as to not be drawn into alliances
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Differention of self
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The separation of the intellectual and emotional functioning
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Double bind
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A no wins conflict-producing situation despite either choice
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Dsyfunctional
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Impaired in the ability to accommodate or handle stress
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Emotional Cut Off
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The flight from unresolved emotional family ties either "running away from" or denying importance
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EFCT
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An experiential approach that attempts to change couples negative interactions while strengthening the bond
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Exceptions
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In solution focused therapy attention to when the problem did not occur
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Expressed Emotion
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The degree in which emotion is shown within a family
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Externalization
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A narrative approach helping families view the problem as lying outside of themselves
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Family Life Chronology
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Satirs technique of retracing family history to better understand current functioning
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Family Mapping
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A structural technique to graphically describe that family structure
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Family Projection Process
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The mechanism by which parental conflicts are projected onto children
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First Order Change
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Temporary change that do not alter the organization of the system
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Genogram
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A diagram of the family system in the form of a genetic tree used to trace patterns and behaviors usually three generations
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Gestalt Family Therapy
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Family Therapy approach that is experiential and focuses on the here and now
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Introjects
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Imprints or memories from the past that continue to impose themselves on current relationships
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Invisible Loyalty
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In conxectual family therapy, a child's unconscious commitment to help the family being the scapegoat
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Second Order Change
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Fundamental changes in a systems organization
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Self Objetcs
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Unconscious images or representations of another viewed by infants as an extension of themselves
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Sibling position
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The birth order which influences personality and interaction
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Social Constructive Theory
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The postmodern theory that there are no "truth" only version of reality
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Splitting
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A primitive process whereby infants divide aspects of an individual into all good or all bad
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Strategic
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A therapeutic approach where there is a strategy or plan to change the symptom
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Structural
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A therapeutic approach where you change the organization of the family symptom to alleviate the symptom
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Transference
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The unconscious shifting of the client's feelings onto the therapist
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Triangulation
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The process in which each parent demands that a child ally against the other parent
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Undifferntial Family Ego Mass
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Bowen's term fro an intense symbiotic family that is fused or stuck with no ability for individual differentiation
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Multiple Generational Transmission Process
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The process during which poorly differentiated individuals marry similar individual over many generations
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Narrative Therapy
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A post modern approach where client's co-construct new stories about their lives
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Nuclear Family Emotional System
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An unstable fused way of coping with stress typically resulting in conflict
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Open System
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A system with permeable boundaries that permits interaction between the subsystems
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Pseudo Hostility
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A process in which families bicker to maintain their relationships avoiding tenderness
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Pseudomutrality
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On the surface a sense of harmony that is inauthentic
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Rituals
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Symbolic prescriptions offered by the therapist to address family conflict over overt rules to be enacted to provide clarity on roles and relarionships
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Congruent
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Inner experiences matched outer behavior and experience
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Incongruent
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Outward behavior and affect does not match inner experience
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Identified patient
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The family member exhibiting the symptom for which therapy is sought
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Sculpting
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A technique used by Stair where the client positions their body and in family sculpts the bodies of others to communicate visually their experience and feelings
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Reframing
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Relabeling behavior putting in it a more positive context thereby changing how it is percieved
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Homeostasis
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A dynamic state of equilibrium within a system
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Emotional Reactivity
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The degree of emotional responsiveness that is expressed to an event or situation
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Dysfunctional Reciprocal Relationships
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An unhealthy relationship made up of two interlocking impaired ways of interrelating
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Nodal events
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In Bowen theory life changing events that are significant for a family and alter their course such as a migration
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Solid Self
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A sense of self that is independent of the thoughts and feelings of others
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Pseudo Self
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A sense of self or way of being in the world that is created to gain acceptance and authentic to what we feel or believe
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Fusion
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The merging of the intellectual and emotional aspects of a family member whereby that member loses a separate sense of themselves
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Triangle
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According to Bowen a three-person relationship that creates stability
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Enmeshed
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Over-investment and blurred boundaries that leads to limits on autonomy
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Boundaries
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An abstract limit between parts of a system of family
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Enactment
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In structural therapy a technique where the family is asked to act out the symptom
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Coalitions
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Alliances between family members
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Mimesis
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Structural technique where the therapist mimics family behavior to gain acceptance
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Parentified Child
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A child that takes on the role of a parent in the system
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Disengaged
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Overly rigid boundaries and isolated from relationships
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Hierarchy
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Power with in a family structure
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Alliances
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Subgroups within a family
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Prescribing the Symptoms
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A paradoxical technique where the therapist prescribes the symptoms
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Paradoxical Injuctions
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A communication to obey a command that is internally inconsistent, as in a double bind message, forcing the receiver to disobey in order to obey
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Metaphoric Tasks
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A task can indirectly show clients a solution to their problem and also generally help 'loosen' things enough to speed up progress.
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Circular Questioning
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An interviewing technique from the Milan group aimed at eliciting different perceptions from different family members about the same
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Neutrality
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Nonjudgmental and impartial position by systemic therapist to interrupt games
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Societal Regression
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Bowen's recognition that emotional factors in society affect emotional functioning of a family
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Coach
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The active role the therapist plays in Bowen's therapy and action oriented expert with cognitive insights
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Restraining
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A structural process, a paradoxical intervention of restraining a client from getting better too quickly
