Theory and Practice of
Counseling and Psychotherapy
Psych422
Chapter14: Family System Therapy
The Family Systems Perspective
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Individuals – are best understood through assessing
the interactions within an entire family
Symptoms – are viewed as an expression of a
dysfunction within a family
Problematic behaviors –
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Serve a purpose for the family
Are a function of the family’s inability to operate
productively
Are symptomatic patterns handed down across
generations
A family – is an inter-actional unit and a change in
one member effects all members
Adlerian Family Therapy
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Alfred Adler
Adlerians use an educational model to counsel
families
Emphasis is on family atmosphere, birth order,
and family constellation
Therapists function as collaborators who seek to
join the family
Understand the purposes of underlying children’s
misbehavior
Adlerian Family Therapy Therapy Goals
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Unlock mistaken goals and interactional patterns
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Engage parents in a learning experience and a
collaborative assessment
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Emphasis is on the family’s motivational
patterns (e.g., a desire to belong)
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Main aim is to initiate a reorientation of the
family
Multigenerational Family Therapy
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Murray Bowen
The application of rational thinking to emotionally
saturated systems
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With the proper knowledge the individual can change
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A well-articulated theory is considered to be essential
Change occurs only with other family members
Triangulation
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A pattern of interaction with two-against-one experience
A third party is recruited to reduce anxiety and stabilize a
couples’ relationship
Multigenerational Family Therapy
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Make the most use of genograms
Differentiation of the self
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A psychological separation from others
Involve (1) psychological separation of intellect and
emotions and (2) of independence of the self from
others.
The greater one’s differentiation, the better one’s
ability to keep from being drawn into dysfunctional
patterns with other family members.
Multigenerational Family Therapy
Therapy Goals
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To change the individuals within the
context of the system
To end generation-to-generation
transmission of problems by resolving
emotional attachments
To lessen anxiety and relieve symptoms
To increase the individual member’s level
of differentiation
Human Validation Process Model
Virginia Satir
 Open communications
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Enhancement of self-esteem
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Family decisions are based on individual needs
Encouragement of growth
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Individuals are allowed to honestly report their
perceptions
Differences are acknowledged and seen as
opportunities for growth
Transform extreme rules into useful and
functional rules
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Families have many spoken and unspoken rules
Experiential Family Therapy
Therapy Goals (Carl Whitaker)
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Application of existential therapy to family systems
Help individuals achieve more intimacy by increasing
their awareness of their inner potential and opening
channels for family interaction
An interactive process between a therapist and a family
Encourage members to be themselves by freely
expressing what they are thinking and feeling
Techniques grow out of the therapist’s intuitive and
spontaneous reactions (Therapist use of self) to the
present situation in therapy
Structural Family Therapy
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Salvador Minuchin
Focus is on family interactions to understand the
structure, or organization of the family
Symptoms: are a by-product of structural failings
Structural changes must occur in a family before
an individual’s symptoms can be reduced
Structural Family Therapy
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Therapy Goals
 Reduce symptoms of dysfunction
 Bring about structural change by
modifying the family’s transactional rules
and developing more appropriate
boundaries
Strategic Family Therapy
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Jay Haley
Focuses on solving problems in the present
Presenting problems are accepted as “real” and
not a symptom of system dysfunction
Therapy is brief, process-focused, and solutionoriented
The therapist designs strategies for change
Change results when the family follows the
therapist’s directions & change transactions
Strategic Family Therapy
Therapy Goals
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Resolve presenting problems by focusing on
behavioral sequences
Get people to behave differently
Shift the family organization so that the
presenting problem is no longer functional
Move the family toward the appropriate stage of
family development
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Problems often arise during the transition from one
developmental stage to the next
Family therapy as a whole
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Basic assumption
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An individual’s problematic behavior grows out of
the interactional unit of the family, community, and
societal systems
Focus of family therapy
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Short term, solution-focused, action-oriented, and
here-and-now interaction.
Focus on how current family relationships contribute
to the development and maintenance of symptoms.
Family therapy as a whole
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Role of goals and values
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Specific goals are determined by family and
therapist
Global goal is to reduce family’s distress
How family change
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Cognitive, emotional, or behavioral changes
Change needs to happen in relationships, not
just within the individual
Family therapy as a whole
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Techniques of family therapy
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Techniques are tools for achieving therapeutic
goals
Personal characteristics (respect, empathy,
sensitivity) are even more important
Always consider what is in the best interests
of the family.
From a multicultural perspective
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Contributions
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Many ethnic and cultural groups place great
value on the extended family
Approach each family as unique culture
Limitations
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Few limitations for multicultural counseling
Summary and Evaluation
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Contributions
 Inclusion of all parts of the system rather than being
limited to the “identified patient”
 Rather than blaming either “identified patient” or the
family, the entire family has an opportunity (1) to
examine the multiple perspectives and interactional
patterns that characterize the unit and (2) participate
in finding solutions.
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Limitations
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lose sight of the individual by focusing on the
broader system