The Narrative Family Therapy by Michael White - Assignment Example

Family Therapy Order No. 245832 No. of pages: 8 Premium 6530 The Narrative Therapy The Narrative therapy was gradually developed between the 1970’s and 1980’s basically by Michael White an Australian and his colleague and friend David Epston from New Zealand. In 1990, they published their book titled “Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, which helped to initiate this approach in North America. The Narrative Family therapy is based on the fact that our identity is groomed by the stories or narratives of our life which may be either personal or cultural. Narrative Therapy is defined as a therapy that binds our identities that had previously been shaped on the stories or narratives of our lives. Narrative therapy s used by Narrative therapist when a person suffers major setbacks due to problems that had a great influence on his present life. This approach is essentially used by the therapist to help the person to describe the different trajectories or stories of their lives to understand how it impacted on their present situation. The person needs to describe his mode of living and the different possibilities associated with them to give the therapist a better advantage of meting out the right treatment. The focal point of the narrative therapy is not to focus on the problem itself, but to project how these problems have influenced and taken their toll on the person. Such an approach is termed as “externalization” or “objectification”. The Narrative” approach helps the person to re-frame, re- group or re-author various conversations, values and incidents that have had a powerful influence on them and has created a great impact on their present lives. The Narrative approach enables the person to understand their beliefs, principles and skills in a better light and thereby encourages them to weigh the pros and cons, examine and evaluate themselves and their relationships after a thorough investigation. The primary duty of the therapist is to pose such questions that would encourage the patient to externalize the problem and thereby investigate it to find the right solution. The therapist poses questions that help the person to examine the bitter areas and find alternatives to the problem which had caused all the pain. By talking to the person, the therapist is in a position to help him change the direction of his thoughts and restore some of the values and principles that were lost due to its influence. By the end of the session, the therapist would know clearly, whether there is scope for turning around the problems in a positive manner or if the problems have been too strong and has destroyed the person altogether. Particularly, in Narrative therapy, besides relatives and friends, outside witnesses are called in to contribute by listening in on a consultation and then reflecting on their experiences and how it influenced them. In the words of White, 2005, pp 15) Lastly, the outsider is asked in what ways they may feel a shift in how they experience themselves from when they first entered the room (White, 2005, pp 15). Multigenerational Family Therapy The Family as a whole has a great influence on the development of the individual. The pathology of the family is looked at from a role related standpoint that is passed down from one generation to the next and which has an adverse impact on the unique and matured personality of the individual. In this approach, the therapist has to find a pathway to rational thinking in order that the person will be in a position to differentiate between “self” and the “family”. The therapist has to create a kind of psychological separation of the person’s emotion and intellect and the independent self away from others. If the person finds difficulty in separating self from his family and others, due to dominant family patterns then we refer to this as “undifferentiated”. In case a person is capable of being guided by his own thoughts, ideas and emotions, we refer to this as “differentiated.” In the case of family dynamics being unproductive due to the transmission of thoughts and customs by undifferentiated individuals, the therapist has a tough job of guiding the person towards self – identity even while he still maintains close relations with his family. Any change to one section of the family system, upsets or affects the whole system. In order to negotiate in a multi-generational family therapy system, a ‘triangulation’ is created by bringing in a third party to reduce or minimize the fears and anxiety in the relationship of the couple. When a new third member is introduced, once again the balance is maintained. The therapist has to highly professional and differentiated in order not to become part of the triangulation. The main aim of the multi-generational Family therapy is to bring to a close the transmission of thoughts as well as problems from generation to generation thereby minimizing or bringing to an end fears and anxiety of the individual and also to raise the level of differentiation within the individual. The multigenerational therapy involves Genoram work which means examining the last 3 generations of the family, their different characteristics, critical turning points within the family’s emotional process and asking different questions related to the person’s involvement within the family and its members. Such an approach helps to bring about a lot of change within the family and lessens fears and anxiety and relieves them of adverse symptoms. The therapist here tries to bring about a healthy fusion within the family to help its members understand each other in a better light and thus learn to live in peace and harmony with each other without resentment and hate, but with a lot more understanding and a give and take policy. The third party in the triangulation process serves as a sort of rudder to the vulnerable members, but finally proves very successful in effecting the emotional turn around of the family members which is the ultimate goal of this model. Experiential Family therapy The experiential family therapy is a more free- wheeling, intuitive yet outrageous therapy approach, that does not give allowance for hiding things since it is n approach that unmasks pretence. It serves to liberate the individual and the family members and encourages them to be their own natural selves. The Experiential Family has a very pragmatic approach and is atheoretical in nature. By this it is meant that theory only hinders the clinical work instead of enhancing it. At most times, theory is an outlet for creating distance between the therapist and the clients in order that anxiety would be controlled to a certain extent. The atheoretical way of approach helps to give the therapist a chance to tap secrets hidden deep within the family and which is the cause of all the problems. This is one theory that believes interventions create confusion or turmoil within the goings on in the family. The therapy understands that every family member has a right to be their natural selves and as such tends to the subjective needs of each family member. In the course of the therapy, the therapist will come to know if any individual family member’s rights are being suppressed. The chief goal of the Experiential Family therapy is its authenticity about not placing emphasis on what is right or what is wrong. It also serves to facilitate an individual’s autonomy even while cultivating a sense of belonging within the family and between all its members. The Experiential Family therapy approach seeks to enable individuals achieve a close intimacy among its members by making them aware of them and their experiences. It also serves to encourage all the members within the family to move, react and express themselves freely about their different feelings and emotions as also their thoughts and ideas and likes and dislikes. This therapy helps the individuals to channelize their energies towards spontaneity and creativity. It encourages them to come out of themselves and behave in gay abandon by being playful and willing to be “crazy”. The duty of the therapist here is to initiate turmoil within the family and then coach or guide them as to how to extricate themselves from it. This approach is a highly involved therapist model, where the therapist has to maintain transparency at all costs, take a lot of risks and get himself totally involved in the sessions conducted within the family. The family experiences the presence of the therapist during all the sessions. The following are the three different phases of the sessions within the family – Engagement – This session is the most powerful of the three. Involvement – Here there would be a dominant parent figure/ advisor. Disentanglement – This session has less involvement because it is on a more personal level. Structural Family Therapy The Structural Family therapy focuses mainly on the interactions within the family and tries to understand the structure or organization within the family. By family structure we mean or refer to a set of invisible functional rules or regulations that keep in check the way different family members have to relate to each other. Some of these hidden sets of rules include the manner in which they address or speak to each other, who said what and to whom it is said and what is the result after that. The by-product of structural failings results in different symptoms which expose themselves. Therefore, before the symptoms of the individual could be treated, structural changes need to occur. The techniques used in the Structural Family therapy are well- planned or thought out in advance and is effectively directed for good results. The main focus rests on the family as to when and how things took shape and the relationships between the different members of the family. Some of the sub- systems within the family are – Spousal – Husband and wife. Parental – Mother and father. Siblings – Children Extended – Grandparents and other relatives. Therefore every family member has different roles to play in each of these sub- systems and therefore there is a constant struggle if one sub-system dominates or intrudes into the other sub-system within the structural frame- work. Problems are sure to occur if matters go beyond these boundaries and tend to create dents in the emotional barriers. Another problem would be being very rigid in ones outlook or very detached or disengaged about what is going on in the family. At times the individual depends so much on the support from the parents that he seems enmeshed in a net. On the other hand, being able to manage or balance a healthy Sense of personal identity and yet build a sense of belonging within the family system. Some of the main goals of Structural Therapy are to minimize or bring to a close the symptoms of dysfunction and bring about healthy structural changes by modifying the rules and regulations within the family, maintaining the right balance towards the different boundaries and developing other appropriate ones. Another of its important goals is to create a very effective and workable hierarchical structure for the family because a faulty family structure is very rigid and has sub-systems that are are not only inappropriate but also more harmful than workable. In the Structural Family Therapy the therapist has to actively take part in the family sessions but taking the position of a leader and keenly making observations about the framework of the structure within the family, so it would help him to reorganize the and transform the dysfunctional structure and get the family to follow a more workable one which will keep everyone happy. This approach would help to increase the flexibility within the family and make the boundaries more clearer and easier to maintain. This would go a long way in solving family conflicts and make the family members look at the problems that arise in a new light and with an open mind. References: White, M. (2005). Narrative practice and exotic lives: Resurrecting diversity in everyday life. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications. Family Therapy- PPT www.coping.org/write/C6444/Family Therapy.ppt Family Therapy www.academic.udayton.edu/JohnKorte/family_therapy-364.htm Read More