Family Therapy

Question 1

What is general systems theory?

Answer 1

General systems theory defines a system as an entity that is maintained by the mutual interactions of its components and assumes that the actions of interacting components are best understood by studying them in their context.

Question 2

General systems theory views the family as a(n) _____ system that continuously receives input and discharges output to the environment and is adaptable to change

Answer 2

open

Question 3

The influence of general systems theory on family therapy is evident in the concept of _______, which is the tendency for a family to act in ways that maintain the family’s equilibrium or status quo.

Answer 3

homeostasis

Question 4

(Cybernetics) A ______ reduces deviation and helps a system maintain the status quo, while a _____ amplifies deviation or change and thereby disrupts the system

Answer 4

negative feedback loop; positive feedback loop

Question 5

child psychiatrist eventually known as the “grandfather of family therapy”; integrated psychoanalysis with a systems approach, and saw families together in therapy

Answer 5

Nathan Ackerman

Question 6

What is double-bind communication?

Answer 6

As originally defined by Bateson, Jackson, Haley, and Weakland (1956), double-bind communication is an etiological factor for schizophrenia and involves conflicting negative injunctions - e.g., “do that and you’ll be punished” and “don’t do that and you’ll be punished” - with one injunction often being expressed verbally and the other nonverbally. In addition, the recipient of the contradictory injunctions is not allowed to comment on them or seek help from someone else.

Question 7

(Communication/Interaction Family Therapy) A _____ function is the content (informational) aspect of the communication, while a ____ function is conveyed nonverbally and makes a statement about the relationship between communicators

Answer 7

report; command

Question 8

(Communication/Interaction Family Therapy) In a _____ interaction, two people mirror each other’s behavior; reflects equality between communicators but may escalate into a competitive “one-upsmanship” game in which each participant tries to outdo the other. In a _____ interaction, one person’s behavior complements the other person’s behavior; reflects inequality and maximizes differences between communicators (e.g., one participant assumes a dominant role while the other is submissive)

Answer 8

symmetrical; complimentary

Question 9

What is the goal of Communication/Interaction family therapy?

Answer 9

to modify dysfunctional interactions that are maintaining the family’s current problems

Question 10

(Bowen) ____ refers to a person’s ability to separate his/her intellectual and emotional functioning, which helps keep the person from becoming “fused” with the emotions that dominate the family.

Answer 10

differentiation

Question 11

(Bowen) A(n) ______ develops when a two-person system attempts to reduce instability or stress by recruiting a third person into the system

Answer 11

emotional triangle

Question 12

What is the process and goal of Bowenian family therapy?

Answer 12

The therapist often sees two members of the family (spouses) and forms a therapeutic triangle in which the therapist comes into emotional contact with the family members but avoids becoming emotionally triangled. The goal is to increase the differentiation of all family members.

Question 13

(Bowen) occurs when increasingly lower levels of differentiation are passed down from one generation to the next

Answer 13

family projection process

Question 14

What type of family therapy emphasizes altering the family’s structure in order to change the behavior patterns of family members?

Answer 14

Minuchin’s structural family therapy

Question 15

(Minuchin) occurs when a parent and child consistently “gang up” against the other parent

Answer 15

stable coalition

Question 16

(Minuchin) occurs when each parent demands that the child side with them against the other parent

Answer 16

triangulation

Question 17

(Minuchin) occurs when both parents focus on a child either by overprotecting or blaming them for the family’s problems

Answer 17

detouring

Question 18

Haley’s strategic family therapy focuses on ____ (rather than insight)

Answer 18

symptom relief

Question 19

Haley’s strategic family therapy uses specific strategies, especially _______ (e.g., ordeals, prescribing the symptom, reframing) that are designed to alter the behavior of family members by helping them see a symptom in an alternative way or recognize they have control over their behaviors or by using their resistance in a constructive way.

Answer 19

paradoxical

Question 20

What type of family therapy focuses on transactional patterns and views symptoms as interpersonal events that serve to control relationships?

Answer 20

Haley’s strategic family therapy

Question 21

What family therapy prioritizes the first session of therapy and has four stages: the social stage, the problem stage, the interaction stage, and the goal-setting stage?

Answer 21

Haley’s strategic family therapy

Question 22

What type of therapy uses a therapeutic team in which 1-2 members of the team meet with the family during sessions, while the remaining team members observe sessions behind a one-way mirror, and team members will have strategy conferences?

Answer 22

Milan Systemic Family Therapy

Question 23

What are the 2 goals of Milan’s Systemic Family Therapy?

Answer 23

to help family members see their choices and to assist them in exercising their prerogative of choosing

Help family members to understand their relationships and problems in alternative ways, which paves the way to seeing new solutions and making new choices

Question 24

Object Relations: A primary source of dysfunction is _____, which occurs when a family member projects old introjects onto another family member and then reacts to that person as though he/she actually has the projected characteristics or provokes the person to act in ways consistent with those characteristics.

Answer 24

projective identification

Question 25

What is the primary goal of object relations family therapy?

Answer 25

The primary goal of therapy is to resolve each family member’s attachment to family introjects and involves addressing multiple transferences (i.e., transferences of one family member to another, transferences of each member to the therapist, and transferences of the family as a whole to the therapist).

Question 26

According to Ridley, when working with an African American client exhibiting “healthy cultural paranoia”, an Anglo therapist would be best advised to:

Answer 26

help the client bring feelings of suspiciousness, frustration, and antipathy toward whites into conscious awareness