Couples and Family Therapy Flashcards
Couples and Family Therapy
Focus on disturbed relationships that give rise to problems, not individuals in the relationship.
– emphasize communication patterns
Couples and Family Therapy : Diagnosis
The client isn’t the individual, its the relationship/system of relationships… so how do you label the problem?
– will still use the DSM 5 to label individual problems but have started to include relational problems in the DSM under ‘Other Conditions that could be a focus of clinical therapy’
Couples Therapy
Couples normally seek it for problems with affection or communication.
- -> may start with self report on communication skills before treatment begins.
- Most times see both members of couple at same time –> COJOINT THERAPY
- other times - SEPARATION COUNSELING - see each partner separately for all/some sessions.
- Most tend to emphasize problem solving –> teach couple how to comm and negotiate more effectively with each other:
- -> how to build better communication?
1) teach to accept mutual responsibility for working through problems
2) current problems > old grudges
3) express preferences > demands
4) negotiate compromises to problems that couple can’t solve
*need to avoid: TRIANGULATION - being put in the middle of the couple’s disagreements (don’t take sides, don’t allow couple to take charge of session, don’t get hooked into the past)
Family Therapy
Change maladaptive patterns in family interactions.
– arose because recognized problems of individual clients occur in social contexts and have social consequences.
- Begin with focus on fan member who is having noticeable problems – the ID’d client
- -> then therapist reframe problems in terms of disturbed family processes or communication
- encourage all members to see their role in the problem
- MULTISYSTEMIC THERAPY: conceptualizes fame from systemic, ecological perspective and uses behavior methods to treat.
- BEHAVIORAL PARENT TRAINING/ PARENT MGMT TRAINING: behavior methods used to treat oppositional defiant disorder and aggression. (externalizing behavior problems in kids)
- –> first identify just 2-3 behaviors to try to start modifying, not all at once..
- –> can be effective with just one parent
-PARENT CHILD INTERACTION THERAPY: based on attachment theory; - directly coaches parents how to interact with child. Effective for ODD, depression, and anxiety in kids.
Couples and Family Therapy: Social Contexts
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