Structural Family Therapy (Minuchin) – Flashcards

An individual's symptoms are best understood as rooted in the family's interactional patterns and a change in the family structure (organization) must take place in order for symptoms and behavior to change. Families get into trouble and get stuck in dysfunctional interactional patterns because of conflict avoidance. Disengaged families avoid conflict by avoiding contact. Enmeshed families avoid conflict by denying differences (pseudomutality) or by constant bickering (psuedohosility). Dysfunctional families get stuck because they don't have a structure that works. Inflexible boundaries, roles, and rules, don't allow family members to accommodate to one anther's needs and subsystems are unable to function because of interference from other subsystems, and their is an absence of an effective structure to lead the family, a hierarchy. Structural family therapy focuses on shoring up and reinforcing an effective family structure. ACTION PROCEEDS UNDERSTANDING

Present, here-and-now, short term.

Active, stage director, provocative, educator

The emotional rules that regulate contact between family members, subsystems, the family, and the rest of the world. They can be RIGID and EXCLUSIONARY, keeping people at an emotional distance from one another, or DIFFUSE, failing to provide protection necessary for autonomous development and sense of self. Flexible boundaries permit closeness or distance, and is required by changing circumstances, which is the goal of therapy.

Families organize themselves by generation, relationship, and necessity. Healthy subsystems are free of interference from other subsystems.

Systems theory posits that all living systems need direction, and in families the leadership and direction must be provided by the adults. Sometimes this is upside down - when parents are intimidated by children, when parents don't have basic knowledge of child development or parenting, mental or physical illness, etc.

Families divide themselves into various subgroups, aka subsystems. Other types of allignments are: Alliances - based on generation, developmental tasks and stages, and common interests. Coalitions: when 2 or more family members join together to form a common bond against another family member.

When boundaries are overly rigid, family members are disengaged (isolated) from one another; when boundaries are too diffuse or permeable, family members are enmeshed (overly dependent and close).

The therapists initial task is to develop a therapeutic system by joining with the family in a positive of leadership. Joining involves blending with the family and includes accommodation (identifying and using the family's values, life themes, and significant life events in conversations) and mimesis (adopting the family's affective and communication style)

To access family, therapist wants to see them in action. Therapist encourages them to have conversations and discussions that the therapist can observe.

Sometimes therapists don't need to create enactments because family is spontaneously demonstrating the structure of the family. In such instances, the therapist will observe in order to assess, or later in therapy intervene in the spontaneous behavior sequence to modify non-productive ways in which the family interacts.

Therapist pays close attention to family members and how they relate to one another during enactment or spontaneous behavior sequences, noticing boundaries, coalitions, etc.

After tracking a family during enactment, therapist diagrams the relational dynamics of family members to chart boundaries, coalitions, subsystems, quality of relationships, etc.

Techniques aimed at creating a more effective structure so that the family can cope with normal stress, strains, and anxieties of family life. Restructuring includes: Reeneactments - middle stage, create enactment and help family modify an interaction. Affective intensity- therapist provocative and in your face Shaping Competence - emphasizing families positive and functional dynamics, praise. Boundary making - re-configure boundaries for greater distance or closeness between family members and subsystems. If family is enmeshed, therapist might direct members to speak for themselves, sit farther apart, etc. Unbalancing - Therapist throws off the family's usual homeostasis and does this by unbalancing, by supporting one family member or subsystem at the expsense of the other, in order to strengthen and realign the system. Therapist takes turns siding with different family members to avoid becoming a part of a coalition.