Strategic Family Therapy
Roffman, A. (2007). Function at the Junction: Revisiting the Idea of Functionality in Family Therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. 31 (2): 259-68.
Strategic Therapy -- "The ideas of strategic therapy are deceptively simply. Carrying out these ideas in action is not so simple" (Haley, 2003). Traditional views of therapy hold that the focus should be upon abuse, trauma, and even guilty pleasures or pastimes if they are detrimental to mental health. It directs tasks that follow and uses the past and the future as templates for recovery. Instead, strategic therapy asks: what is happening in one's life now -- in one's environment, and takes the approach that it is the social grouping of the environment that either allows for a predilection to continue the unwanted behavior, or to reinforce the triggers that make that behavior habitual in the first place.
Strategic family therapy then is a way to look at more than just the pathology of an individual or event -- it is a unique plan based on a particular set of environmental factors that, in combination, either reinforce or act as a detriment, to the needed change. This can be most appropriately illustrated when one looks at the hierarchy of human relationships and communication structures. For instance, as Aristotle noted, two people are a group -- more than two form politics. There are always sessions of group dynamics and a struggle for power. A strategic family approach attempts to resolve that strive for hierarchical power by investigating the inner relationships and signals within the family that cause behaviors and to deal with the present as a situation -- and intervene appropriately (Roffman).
Because each family dynamic is unique, the therapeutic plan for each family must be fluid and likewise unique. Too, as postmodern models and critiques emerge, the basis of forming functionality as the sole means of dealing with family issues has fallen by the wayside. Instead, using theroists like Haley and others, functional hypotheses that can utilized as an outlining structure for strategic family therapy form the new basis for a more pragmatic and robust approach:
1. Establish a relationship defined...
Family Therapy Thoughts and Feelings Prior to my working on this particular assignment, I actually knew very little about family therapy. Although the name of this branch of psychotherapy certainly describes itself, I have always adhered to a belief in individuality and that the interrelationships between people do not matter so much as the individuals themselves do. However, after learning about family therapy, I believe that my former belief was incorrect.
Family Therapy The objective of this case study was to conceptualize the couple's difficulties from two theoretical perspectives and then describe what the best approach to treating them would be based on the perspective for each theory as it pertains to the causes of the family's difficulties, the type of intervention to be used, how to assess the efficacy of intervention and outcomes (effectiveness and projection testing). The case should also
The roles of various members of the society are a dictate of the culture between the people involved. For instance, culture has always been behind the dictates that have led to the creation of separation among family members. Culture states that it is the responsibility of the family man to provide for the family. Failure to do that will result in conflicts within the family. In essence, many families
Hence, Barker claims the trainees need some basic understanding of what causes dysfunction within families, and how to distinguish those families that are undergoing a temporarily destabilizing but time-limited crisis, from which they will reorganize and recover independently, from those families who are seriously dysfunctional and require therapeutic intervention. More so, the training of therapists' trainees adopt some scientific model which help shape the boundaries of a discipline and set
Family Therapy An early designation of psychotherapies divided all types of psychotherapy into two major categories: insight-oriented therapy and action-oriented therapy (Woolley, Wampler, & Davis, 2012). This designation was made on the basis of the therapist's main focus in achieving positive change. An insight-oriented therapy focuses on assisting the client develop knowledge or awareness about themselves as a major focus of change. The insight itself leads to positive change in the
Then, the therapist challenges these structures and begins restructuring the family by offering alternative, more functional ways of behaving and communicating ("Find out more about family therapy," 2008, DMRTK). Regardless of the efficacy of this therapy in some contexts, this approach may be too intimate for anything other than a therapist's office, with a therapist who is familiar about how to assume a critical role in the family structure
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now