Adlerian Family Therapy

Question 1

Assumptions?

Answer 1

• Each family has its own unique “Family Atmosphere”, which consist of the climate of relationships that exist between family members.
• The family is considered to be a system with each member exerting influence on every other member.
• Parents serve as role models defining relationships, work and participation in the world; additionally, they also act as emotional role models for children.
• Emphasis is placed on family value including the total value of all family members; support and cannot be overlooked.

Question 2

Motivations?

Answer 2

• Birth Order encourages later behavior
• Family members are motivated by goals
• Children are motivated to grow and become more capable by increasing their skills and achieving success.

Question 3

Dysfunction?

Answer 3

Children’s misbehavior arises from four goals:

• Attention getting
• Power Struggle
• Revenge
• Demonstrations of inadequacy

Question 4

Attention Getting

Answer 4

Stop and go interactions plus annoyance or irritation

Question 5

Power Struggle

Answer 5

Persistent or intensified interactions plus anger, defeat or challenge.

Question 6

Revenge

Answer 6

Intensified interactions plus hurt

Question 7

Demonstration of inadequacy

Answer 7

No interaction or the child wanting to be left alone plus despair.

Question 8

Dysfunction?

Answer 8

Mistaken goals of parents’ behaviors when dealing with a child include trying to demonstrate adequacy, attempting to display control, acting with revenge and responding with a display of inadequacy.

Question 9

Becomes stuck when?

Answer 9

Parents assume roles based on their expectations of children and children’s behaviors then conform to patterns based on their parents’ expectations and the whole family views these patterns as fixed and inevitable.

Question 10

Intervention?

Answer 10

Emphasize the family’s motivational patterns.

• The therapist should try to unlock mistaken goals and patterns of interaction.
• The main objective should be the reorientation of the family.
• Assist each family member to reach”social equality”, the conviction that each person in the family has an equal right to be valued and respected within the family.
• The therapist should help the children consider different options for current problems.
• By using encouragement and consequences (natural and logical), the therapist should teach the parents how to increase their leadership abilities; this should allow parents to rediscover their ability to work together as leaders.
• Generate new approaches that end mistaken interactions, leading to more democratic, harmonious and effective living within the family system.

Question 11

Techniques?

Answer 11

! Conduct therapy as an open forum where the therapist functions as a collaborator
who seeks to join the family
! Engage parents in a learning experience and a collaborative assessment through
conducting a Parent Interview.
• Objectives should include: acquiring problem descriptions and parental
concerns, identifying goals and understanding patterns of interaction that
occur in a typical day
! Use an educational model to counsel families with an emphasis on the family
atmosphere and family constellation
! Create a genogram of the family as a starting point for family communication
! Conduct a Child Interview to assess whether the children are aware of their
behaviors (goal disclosure) and to introduce alternative goals
! Using System Description, verbally reframe mistaken interactions in a manner that
highlights difficulties
• By describing these patterns aloud, the therapist helps the family take the first
step to unlocking them
! The technique of Goal Disclosure is most effective if the therapist is aware of
specific misbehaviors rather than generalities
! At the time of Reorientation, change is facilitated by highlighting the family’s
strengths
• The therapist should normalize relations within the family by validating the
interaction observed is typical of families with the same values and the same
number of children
! Between sessions, the therapist provides recommendations for the family to follow
that usually involve redirecting mistaken motivations

Question 12

Limitations?

Answer 12

! Techniques require the parents’ commitment to make changes
! Since this process relies on changes that happen at home rather than in the therapy
session, “lessons” apparently learned may not transfer to situations outside the
therapist’s office
! This approach relies on the therapist’s ability to correctly assess family interaction
and to form accurate hypotheses about the children’s mistaken goals

Question 13

Implications?

Answer 13

! Since Adlerian family therapy is based on the assumption the child is not mentally
disturbed, effects of this therapy may be limited if there is true mental dysfunction
! This type of therapy is dependent upon mutual respect; some families may not feel
comfortable being co-educators
! Some families resist the democratic nature of this approach