Structural Family Therapy - Essay Example

Psychoanalysis therapy deals with individuals and analyzes their cognition with respect to the environment. Experiential Family Therapy views family problems as associated with emotions that members confide within themselves. Negative emotions work to maintain family problems and can only end upon the encouragement of open and honest communication among the members. This theory can help therapists to explore the possibility of negative emotions that lead to dysfunctional relationships, which maintain the given problems.

As explained by Nichols (2013), Structural Family Therapy holds that families are structures made of subsystems regulated by boundaries defining interpersonal relationships. With this theory, therapists can track history of the family and study the entire generational structures responsible for the given problems. Systems Family Therapy attributes family problems to dysfunctional hierarchies and unclear boundaries and roles. This sometimes makes children feel burdened with responsibilities that should belong to the elder parents and siblings (Nichols, 2013).

With this theory, therapists are able to investigate, analyze and evaluate family systems to understand and destroy dysfunctional relationships.