Introduction to Attractive Family Psychology Therapy

Family Psychology Therapy

The school of Extended Family Systems Therapy (Bowen; Bowenian) family therapy extends General Systems Theory beyond the nuclear family and views dysfunction as part of an intergenerational process. Thus, therapy often starts with the construction of a genogram. The primary goal of Extended Family Systems Therapy is to encourage Differentiation of self, which is one's ability to separate their intellectual and emotional functioning. According to Extended Family Systems Therapy, Triangulation occurs when two family members in conflict involve a third person, which usually immobilizes the third person.

A practitioner of Extended Family Systems Therapy often joins a dyad, creating a Therapeutic triangle, in an attempt to reduce the original level of fusion and achieve higher self-differentiation.

The 3 formative stages therapy groups usually pass through, as proposed by Yalom are:

1. Hesitancy, search for meaning, and dependency; 
2. Conflict, dominance, and rebellion; and 
3. Cohesiveness. 

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Cohesiveness is a characteristic of a therapy group does Yalom believe is most important and is most similar to the therapist-client relationship in individual therapy. Yalom believes that Transference is inevitable in a group and must be resolved in a way that benefits the group. It is appropriate for co-therapists to openly disagree during a group session, but not until the group has developed some cohesiveness (6+ sessions). Yalom ranks Interpersonal learning, catharsis, and cohesiveness the most important factors of group therapy. However, higher-functioning group members rate universality and interpersonal learning, while lower-functioning members believe instillation of hope is most important.

Since concurrent individual and group therapy allows for both extensive intrapersonal exploration and external support, it can be helpful for people presenting with Borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. One problem with concurrent group and individual therapy is that a client may be more expressive and inclined to self-disclose in individual therapy, thus limiting material that could be used for group therapy. Yalom states that prescreening and post-selection preparation can reduce premature termination from group therapy and enhance therapy outcomes. Of the many factors found to influence the behavior of a therapeutic group, most experts believe Intelligence is the most important for the therapist to consider is, arguing that clients should have similar intelligence levels to encourage greater group interaction. The ideal size of a therapy group is 7 to 10 members. 5 or less limits learning and creates too much client-therapist interaction, while more than 10 lead to alienation and lack of cohesiveness.

Research by Guy, Poelstra, and Stark (1989) found that (1) therapists find Suicidal statements to be the most stressful client behavior; (2) therapists consider a lack of therapeutic success to be the single most stressful aspect of their work; and (3) issues related to confidentiality constitute the most frequently encountered ethical/legal dilemma. The Strategic Family Therapy (Haley) approach to family therapy focuses on transactional patterns and views symptoms as interpersonal events that serve to control relationships, views therapy as a power struggle between the client/family and the therapist, and was influenced by structural family therapy, communication/interaction therapy, and Milton Erickson.

A strategic family therapist might instruct a client to engage in the symptomatic behavior in an attempt to harness the energy of resistance in the service of change, which is called Paradoxical directive. According to Strategic Family Therapy, Reframing involves relabeling a behavior to make it more amenable to change and giving a new or altered meaning to a situation. Circular Questioning is a Strategic Family Therapy "strategy" involves asking each family member to describe relationships within the family system and note the differences, the goal being to help family members view problems in a new light and make them more amenable to change.

Learn About Family Therapy And How It Helps

Family is one of the most powerful and, at the same time, vulnerable institutes of our society. Our family determines the biggest part of our personality, whether we want it or not. There are traditional nuclear families and single-parent families. Families run by heterosexual parents with homosexual children and vice versa. They all require special approach when a family faces a major problem, like the death or the serious disease of one of the family members.

Family therapy is a branch of psychotherapy, the goal of which is to get family members closer to each other in order to solve the existing problems. The family therapists believe that a family is the only one, the most influential and mighty source of strength for a person who is fighting to cope with significant physical or psychological issues, sometimes even caused by society. Traditionally, a person works individually to settle the problem. While during family therapy, the family members are welcome to cooperate to cope with the issues. Such collaboration has proven to be of great help to every member of the family, involved in the therapy, as it allows inventing solutions to grace problems together, which is especially important in major life stress situations.

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Therapy booksare available nowadays at every bookstore, so the psychology of family relationships has been open to the mass reader. And these books do sell very quickly. Why? Although it may seem sad, statistics show repeatedly that the divorce rate has been growing, not only for the first marriage, but also for the following ones. Even in families which last, only half of the members describe their relationship as happy. One more unsettling conclusion of the researchers is that the communication skills within the couple have dropped dramatically. Whereas the quality of communication the couple has is the only factor which fits best to distinguish a happy and an unhappy family. Qualitative communication indicates that the relationships in the couple will be steady in time. Individual peculiarities, the amount of today's problem or different points of view are much less important than the ability of the couple to talk and discuss their problems. Communication is the key issue, and it is possible to learn how to communicate.

The only real support one can get is in the family. During the family therapy, every member of the family is working to find, reconnect and unite all the resources to achieve harmonious relationships with each other. They appeal to their creativity to learn how to use them in various conflict situations. The therapy can be done only for the spouses, for parents and their children, for siblings. All interrelations need to be secured to guarantee the well-functioning happy family.

Understanding Your Family As a System

Systems theory suggests that families are systems in which individuals are interconnected and interdependent on one another. Thus the understanding of an individual can be analyzed by the prevailing reflection of how the individual's family functions.

In the systems theory, the first of which is that a family is an interconnection of family members. In a family environment, it means that actions by one family member will affect the rest of the members in the family and vice versa. This also suggests that change in one part of the system will reverberate throughout the other parts.

The second feature is that a family is greater than the sum of parts. This means that it would be more accurate to assess an individual by looking at their interactions within the family rather than focusing on the individual's personality as per se. This is because it is believed that individuals are what they are based on their interactions with family members. The start of society begins in each family unit.

Thirdly, it suggests that a family is in equilibrium. This means that the family will generally resist change in such a manner that if any parts within the family tries to change, the rest of the parts in the system will try to pull the individual back to their original state. This is also true even if the change is something positive. However, despite being resistant to changes, the family also constantly adapting itself to its members and the changing environment.

A system can also be flexible or rigid, depending on the boundaries set within a family. Boundary is also a key element of the family system, there can be both emotional and physical boundaries. For families which are flexible, it means that they are "open" and accepts certain changes. On the other hand, a rigid family means that it does not accept any changes at all. In order for a family to function effectively, members should have flexible boundaries, as the family will be in equilibrium without forcing states of change.

Lastly, the system theory suggests that in a family, there are rules and roles made by the family itself and hence, are unique to each and every family. Rules can be spoken or silent and are self regulating within the family. On the other hand, roles are also present in the family, where each individual plays a part in maintaining the family.

Example

A mother who is a vegetarian can possibly influence her family to be more vegetarian even though the other family members may not by their nature, like to eat vegetables. Normally when there is dinner together the whole family had to eat vegetarian meals with her. Over a period of time, the family members individually may develop a habit to vegetables not because they like it, but rather because they are used to it. In this example, the family has open boundaries which potentially save the family from arguments.

All it takes is perhaps the rest of the family to protest to eating vegetarian meals on a constant basis and the mother may stop becoming a vegetarian due to inconvenience and the fear of domestic arguments. When that happens, it is not the mother who does not have the personality to become a vegetarian but rather is forced by the family to dilute away that part of the personality, in order for the family to function well. This phenomenon can be seen in group think as well whereby a group makes a decision not because everybody is readily in for it but rather maybe two dominant characters decide and the rest of the group consent to it.