Family therapy

Family therapy

Introduction

Structural family therapy is a method of psychotherapy developed by Salvador Minuchin dealing with performance problems within a family. Structural family therapists strive to delve into the family system in order to understand the invisible rules governing its operation, the map of the relationships between family members or between subgroups of the family, and ultimately affect the dysfunctional relationships within the family, causing them to stabilize in healthier patterns. Minuchin states that the pathology is not in the individual, but within the family system. Family therapy uses, not just single systems terminology, but also a means of representing key parameters of the family. Its focus is on family structure, including its various substructures (Vetere, Arlene, 2001). In this sense, Minuchin is a follower of the theory and communication systems, as their structures are defined by transactions between interrelated systems within the family. It adheres to the notions of the integrity of systems and finality, which are critical to their notion of change. An essential feature of structural family therapy is that the therapist actually enters, or "binds" with the family system as a catalyst that seeks to achieve positive change. Union with a family therapist is an objective of the beginning of their therapeutic relationship with the family (Vetere, Arlene, 2001).

What are the main components of multigenerational family therapy?

How are the beliefs, myths, ideas, values, the dilemma, and fears being transmitted across generations? This transmission is "almost automatically" (from one generation to another), because sometimes we do not even realize that we are repeating patterns of previous generations, and not only that, but we do not even stop to ask whether we believe in these patterns. For example, whether we like it or not, we are used to accepting particular values from our previous generations to make it our ...