Family Therapy Techniques - Essay Example

?CIRCULAR QUESTIONING Circular Questioning: A Case Study Regarding Family Therapy Techniques Word Count 044 (4 pages List 2 content areas thatthese clients would likely come to see you. List three key process level issues that should be addressed at some time in therapy. How would you address them and why? Two content areas that these clients would probably be likely to come see me for would be for their sexual health as well as their mental health. Three key process level issues that need to be addressed are: George’s fulfillment at work; George’s obsession with the business; and Carol’s lack of satisfaction (sexual or otherwise) in the marriage. I would address these issues, because obviously George’s lack of fulfillment of work, as well as worrying about the business—are exacerbating Carol to the extent where she is not in right relationship with him anymore and it is causing their entire marriage to crumble before their eyes. I would address these issues because they are at the core of what is lying beneath the surface with regard to the problems that the couple is now experiencing as a result. Before anything else can happen, these issues must be summarily dealt with—and dealt with in a proper manner. 2. Give four process level questions. Four process level questions would include: 1) How is George going to find more fulfillment in his work? 2) How can George resolve the problems that he is having regarding his parents’ friends taking over the family business? 3) How can Carol find self-fulfillment within marriage? 4) How can Carol and George learn to mature and help each other along the way? 3. List 2 possible interventive questions. Explain how your question is interventive. Two possible interventive questions would be: 1) George, what is the area in which you think you can mature? 2) Carol, what is the area in which you think you can mature the most? These questions aren’t exactly leading questions, but what is good is that the therapist will help make George and Carol aware that what they are doing is actually hurting each other by not acting like adults about certain issues. For example, Carol has to realize that the fact that she cheated on George signals a very serious problem in the relationship, and she has to be willing to own up to that very adult mistake. She has to be willing to come to an understanding with George that this will never happen again and that she will remain faithful. Otherwise, if a marriage is interrupted by one partner cheating, there can be nothing but trouble down the road. Therefore, it’s important that Carol realize the importance of her mistake and what that signals. It points to a lack of conviction on her part that she actually does love George. Also, not only is it disrespectful to him, but she is disgracing herself and not being a good example of how to be a married woman to other women in her own social circle. Some people nowadays don’t necessarily take marriage as seriously as they used to, but George and Carol must be made to realize by the family therapist that if they don’t work on these issues now, they will come back down the road to haunt them later at some other point in time. It is so, so important that Carol and George both own up to their own mistakes and realize that, yes, marriage is not going to be perfect, but it’s something that they have to work at! Marriage is not easy, and perhaps they must be reminded that marriage is work. Every day, it takes someone to make a commitment and stick to it faithfully every day “till death do us part,” as the saying goes. Every day is another chance to prove one’s faithfulness to and love for one’s partner. It’s so important, therefore, that both partners are made to realize the true value and beauty of not only marriage itself, but a solid marriage built on a good foundation of friendship and trust. 4. How would Minuchin conceptualize this couple? Give your assessment (or hypothesis) and your treatment plan according to Minuchin. Reference your thoughts from the book. Minuchin would probably conceptualize this couple as functioning within a dysfunctional marriage atmosphere. According to Minuchin and Fishman (1981) “Families involved in unresolved conflicts tend to become stereotyped in the repetitive mishandling of interpersonal transactions…When they come to treatment, they present the more dysfunctional aspects of themselves; these are the areas seen as relevant to therapy” (pp. 277). My assessment is that this couple needs a lot of family therapy in order to overcome their particular challenges. My treatment plan, according to Minuchin’s theory, is that this couple would have to go through several sessions of therapy together, ideally to build their trust back with one another and to be able to help them reconnect on some deeper level—a level at which they can feel comfortable as husband and wife again. 5. Give two plausible and well thought reframes of Carol or George's behaviour. Two plausible reframes for Carol’s behavior is that she had an affair for either one of the following reasons: a) she was acting out of frustration; or b) she was seeking pleasure in a relationship that she was not experiencing at home with George—seeking self-fulfillment, in other words. In either case, Carol needs to realize that she has to find self-fulfillment with her spouse, because that is the only capacity in which she is ever going to be truly happy in this marriage or any marriage. So, it is important that she definitely try to mature as a person. 6. What is your prognosis for this couple? Be sure to give four points of evidence for your prognosis. The prognosis for this couple is not bad, but they must—for the sake of each other and for their marriage—consider maturing a bit on both of their parts. George, for his part, must stop grumbling about how unhappy he is with regard to how the business is going in terms of the family friend now owning the business. So, he must learn to not worry so much about that because it is something out of his control. As for Carol’s part, she must realize the error of her way in cheating on George Jr., who really did nothing to deserve such treatment. Perhaps Carol and George should be given homework in order to help them “reconnect,” and learn how to be together once again without having to worry about having the pressure of a family therapist with his or her nose in their business. They should be assigned time together in order to help work out their issues. As long as Carol remains faithful and George gets over his resentment about the family business having been handed over to a friend of the family—it seems that this couple will indeed be the happier for it, quite surely. REFERENCES Minuchin, S. & Fishman, H.C. (1981). Family therapy techniques. US: Harvard University Press. Read More