Family Systems and Structural Family Therapy - Essay Example

? Family Systems Family Systems The principal objective of most of the therapists is to avail a detailed explanation of how a family works and interacts. For the last one decade or so, the family therapy movement has made unrelenting efforts to offer a detailed elucidation of both the beauty and mystery of the family. It is worth noting that family therapy is grounded on the belief that a family is an outstanding social system, characterized with its own communication structures and patterns. Moreover, there are a number of factors which are well known for determining the aforementioned patterns. These may include such as the beliefs and values of the parents, the influence emanating from the extended family and the individual personalities of each and every member of the family (Hammond & Nicholas, 2008). There are specifically two concepts on which family therapy is based. The first one being illness in any of the members of the family. This can be a representative of the larger problem within the family. Treating only the hailing member may leave others within the family and are equally sick, unattended. Secondly, any change undergone by a member of the family not only affects each member of the larger family on an individual basis but also affects the family structure (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2004). Having so said therefore, this paper aims at addressing structural and multigenerational family therapies. The paper with also highlight the similarities as well as the differences between these two family therapies. Structural Family Therapy Structural family therapy is founded on the metaphor of a structure. A family, in a structural family therapist’s viewpoint, is a whole unit made up of individuals, boundaries, subsystems and hierarchies. In this model, individuals do come together to formulate rules, regulations and interactional patterns, which will see to it that the family remains intact. It is therefore worth noting that the three essential components of the structural family therapy include the structure, subsets and boundaries (Nicholas, 2009). In each and every family unit, there has to be a structure. This structure can be defined as an organized pattern which plays the role of making the families and the family members to interact. Included in the family structure is a set of rules and regulations, which do organize the manner in which members of the family relate with one another. Characteristically, structures are well known for resisting change. Nevertheless, it is this structure that facilitates the in-depth understanding of how specific family units act. In itself, the family structure denotes an invisible set of functional prerequisites shaping up the manner in which interactions among family members are facilitated. These interaction arrays are a necessity for the family to function regularly even in the event that the members of the family hardly realize that they are themselves part and parcel of the structure (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981). Each and every family has an outstanding structural flowchart, which shows which person is to oversee what as well the various responsibilities of each and every member of the family. The second principal component of the structural family therapy is the concept of subsystems. All families can be differentiated into various subsystems on the basis of gender, generation and function. These areas of differentiation are defined by interpersonal boundaries (Nicholas, 2009). On observing a family, a therapist may be in a position of realizing that the structure flowing from the same interaction patterns is contained within a certain specific substructure, and these substructures are in constant interaction with one another in the entire system as dictated by certain specific rules and/or boundaries. As Minuchin & Fishman (1981) argues out, each and every individual within a family is a member of a subsystem. This can be the dyad, generational, task or gender subsystem. On the other hand, family boundaries- being the third key component of the structural family therapy model- entail non-visible perimeters which do control the contact among members of the family (Nicholas 2009). The parental subsystem, for example, is obliged to establish healthy boundaries that ensure the safety of the entire family system, especially when it comes to the issue of intrusion by outsiders (Minuchin & Freshman, 1981). Structural family boundaries are classified into rigid, diffuse and clear boundaries. Multigenerational Family Therapy The multigenerational family therapy is also referred to as the intergenerational or trans-generational family therapy. According to this approach, a family can best be understood in the event that it is analyzed from a minimum of a three-generation perspective. This argument behind this being that a foreseeable outline of interpersonal rapports links the functioning of the members of a family across generations. Moreover, it is from this approach that we get to understand that the source of a problem to an individual can solely be understood by observing the role of a family in the capacity of an emotional unit. In this therapy, Bowen (2009) identifies eight principal concepts. However, these have been categorized into five assessment areas including differentiation of the self and emotional cutoff, the family projection process and the trans-generational transmission process, triangulation and the nuclear family emotional system, societal regression and sibling position. The multigenerational family therapy has four important elements. These include family patterns, the time frame of presenting problem, emotional triangles and the notion of differentiation of self. According to Robert (2001), family patterns, also referred to as relational patterns owe stout influence over an individual’s lives as well as the families in which they are members of. These patterns are so necessary in making one a differentiated individual. Moreover, it is through this concept of differentiation of self that therapists are able to make an assessment of the capability of the patient to preserve a considerably stout sense of self-identity while at the same time upholding the natural attachment in the family system (Nelson, 2003). Closely related to this concept of differentiation of self is the notion of motional triangles. In Bowen’s viewpoint, a triangle is comprised of a 3-person rapport structure, and this can be taken to be a core part of a considerably larger emotional system (Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, 2009). The smallest stable relationship unit to have been created in the event that a stressed state of affairs or an unsettled between two individuals is the triangle. The ability of an individual to break the triangle is dependent on the level of differentiation of self that this same individual has arrived at (Kerr, 1994). Moreover, the multigenerational family structure makes use of process question. Process question is a tool that has been drafted for purposes of helping individuals to focus, relax and concentrate in the way they think. Process question is necessary for making members of the family clearly understand that which is within and between them (Nicholas, 2009). The principal objective of the process question in to make members of the family come to the realization that it is not all about what others do, but the manner in which they react to the action of others. Having so discussed the family therapy in the two forms, it is evident that the two forms are applicable in combating inner family problems. However, the multigenerational family therapy demands the manner in which family emotional processes get to be passed over and upheld from one generation to the other. References Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. (2009). Triangles. Retrieved on 2 October 2012 from Goldenberg, H. & Goldenberg, I. (2004). Family Therapy: An Overview. Belmont, CA: Thomson. Hammond, R., & Nichols, M. (2008). How Collaborative is Structural Family Therapy? Family Journal, 16(2), 118. Kerr, M.E. (1994). Murray Bowen: Family Therapy in Clinical Practices. On S. Crow and H. Freeman (Eds.), The Book of Psychiatric Books. New York, NY: Jason Arson Inc. Minuchin, S. & Fishman, H.C., (1981), Family therapy techniques. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Nicholas, M. (2009). The essentials of family therapy, Boston, Massachusetts: Person Education, Inc. Robert, L.G. (2001) Transgenerational Family Therapy, In F.M. Dattilio & M. R. Goldfried (Eds.), Case Studies in Couple and Family Therapy: Systemic and Cognitive Perspectives. New York, NY: The Guilford Press Read More