FOUNDATION MODELS

Family Therapy Foundation Models

Abstract

Family therapy systems provide effective support to family members related to conflicts that arise due to various factors. This paper analyzes the Structural Family Therapy Model, integration approach, key concepts and goals for the family members in therapeutic process. Main objective of family therapy model is to help families in readjusting to the changing circumstances. Structural family therapy integration requires cultural awareness of family's dominant practices. Process of assessment and evaluation goals are highly essential for determining the effectiveness of the structural family therapy for facilitating change in intervention process. In direct intervention strategy, the family therapist attempts to interrupt self-reinforcing patterns of interaction.

Family Therapy Foundation Models

Introduction

Family therapy is a relative newcomer to the mental health arena. Family therapy has emerged in a field that traditionally sees the family as an oppressive force. The field of family therapy is unique in its use of a systemic perspective, or an orientation that is relational and contextual. Family therapists focus on understanding individuals in the context of their relationships, and they focus on understanding families in the context of the society. Rather than assessing individuals in isolation, the family therapy requires assuming interdependence and interconnectedness. Instead of searching for the causes of problems, family therapy makes a person more involved in what is going on, in terms of how the problem is being maintained.

Family therapy is a process used to address behavioral problems, school problems, chronic or acute illnesses, critical transitional periods, cultural adaptation, and/or communication difficulties. Social problems such as poverty, addiction or imprisonment, and/or separation and divorce that may be found within the family unit may benefit from family therapy (Santisteban, 2006). When physical or pathological conditions occur, family therapy may work to alleviate the placing of blame and instill positive alternatives of treatment. This reflective paper presents information about the Family Therapy Model, integration approach, with perspectives on roles and functions in counseling and therapy under eight lenses and tailoring interventions.

Family Therapy Model

The goal of family therapy is to increase the flexibility of these underlying structures. The task of therapy is to help the family in readjusting to the changing circumstances. Family therapy model that I would adopt as foundational model is 'Structural Family Therapy'. Structural family therapy was developed by Salvador Minuchin. In this model psychotherapy is aimed at the individual and circle context in which he resides (Hoffman, 2002). This model will be adopted as the foundation model of family therapy because causal relationships are circular and each part of the system affects another part of the family. Accordingly, every person in a family diffuses boundaries involving enmeshment with everyone.

Central to the structural family theory is the idea of the organization. Structural family therapy differs from other areas of psychotherapy that offers an explicit explanation of the structure surrounding the individual (Hoffman, 2002). The application of structuralism to the clinical work involves the study of the relationship between social ecosystem, immediate family, extended family, as well as between the family system and other ...