Gladding Ch. 9 - Psychodynamic Family Theory Flashcards
Prominent Theorist: Nathan Ackerman
◆ Founder & the most influential advocate of Psychodynamic Family Therapy.
◆ During the 1930’s was when Ackerman shifted his interests from child psychiatry to
families and their influences on mental health.
◆ Ackerman’s initial clinical work was at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.
◆ Ackerman was mostly interested in the psychosocial dynamics of families and utilizing
the application of psychoanalytic principles.
◆ In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Ackerman was the leading family therapist for the East Coast.
◆ In 1957, Ackerman opened the Family Mental Health Clinic at Jewish Family Service in
New York.
Nathan Ackerman, ctd
In 1960, Ackerman opened the Family Institute in New York.
◆ In 1961, Ackerman was announced as the cofounder of the first family therapy journal,
Family Process.
◆ Ackerman influenced many psychodynamically oriented professionals and clinicians by
encouraging them to see the intrapsychic conflict that divided family members
underneath the perceivable unity of the family.
◆ Established the American Academy of Psychoanalysis in 1955, which allowed nonmedical
specialists access to the field of psychoanalysis.
◆ Concepts that Ackerman emphasized/initiated:
(1) Scapegoat (2) Tickling of Defenses (3) Complementarity
(4) Focusing on Strengths (5) Interlocking Pathology
Guiding Principles & Premises
➔ Based on the work from Sigmund Freud
◆ Theorists Heinz Kohut, James Framo, Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy helped apply Freud’s
approach to families.
➔ Conflict arises from negative emotions
◆ To resolve conflict: (1) defenses must be strengthened against a conflicted wish, and (2) a
relaxation of defenses to authorize gratification.
Guiding Principles & Premises, ctd
➔ Interlocking Pathology
◆ Explains how families remain dysfunctional.
➔ Object Relations Theory
◆ Bridges Freud’s theory and family therapy
◆ Generational relationships can be explained
◆ Provides reasons for marital and family patterns
➔ Splitting
◆ Representations are either all good or all bad
Techniques & Interventions
➔ Emphasize the unconscious, early memories, and object relations.
➔ Therapeutic techniques utilized include:
(1) Transference (6) Confrontation
(2) Underlying Issues (7) Focusing on Strengths
(3) Dream Analysis and Day Dream Analysis (8) Life History
(4) Divergent Subjective Experiences (9) Complementary
(5) Projective Identification (10) Interpretation
Role of Therapist
he Role of the Therapist
➔ Teacher
◆ Teaches the family basic psychoanalytic terms and how they apply personally and
interpersonally.
➔ “Good enough mother” (now referred to as a “good enough parent”)
◆ Therapist acts as a nurturer by providing encouragement
➔ Catalyst
◆ Therapist initiates challenges, confrontations, interpretations, and integration of family
processes.
➔ Therapists must be especially intentional in emphasizing family and individual interactions.
Crucial for family members to have extensive and free-flowing interchanges and the therapist is
not overly involved in or central in the process
Course, Processes, Outcomes
➔ Key goal in psychodynamic family therapy is to liberate the members of a family from
unconscious restrictions.
◆ This goal is achieved via the therapist’s interpretation of important events and insights at
the preconscious level.
➔ A secondary goal in psychodynamic family therapy is to help family members interact with one
another based on current realities in healthy manners.
◆ This goal is accomplished once unconscious restrictions have been worked through.
◆ The outcome of this goal is displayed through changes described as, dif erentiation of
self.
➔ IF the goal of differentiation of self is not achieved, crisis resolution is the next course of action.
◆ Focus is on symptom reduction, supporting defense mechanisms, and the enhancement
of communication
Unique Aspects
➔ Prioritizes on how much the unconscious influences human behavior.
◆ Interventions and treatments help increase a family members’ awareness of how invisible
loyalties encourage cohesion or divergence.
➔ Analyzes twelve basic defense mechanisms and how they contribute to family dynamics.
(1) Repression (5) Undoing (9) Reaction Formation
(2) Identification (6) Projection (10) Displacement
(3) Denial (7) Rationalization (11) Dissociation
(4) Regression (8) Intellectualization (12) Compartmentalization
➔ Emphasizes historical origins of family dysfunction.
Comparison w/ Other Family Approaches
➔ Follows a more linear approach (i.e., making the unconscious conscious).
➔ Focuses on a cause and effect relationship.
➔ Demands more commitment in regard to time and finances.
➔ Requires a higher level of intellectual ability.
➔ Favors non-empirical and non-quantitative studies rather than empirical research.
Multicultural Implications
➔ Not always applicable to family systems.
◆ Limited to only the individual or is not comprehensive enough to include family life.
➔ May be counterproductive for clients with collective identities.
➔ Unavailable to family clients with a lack of time and money.
➔ Potentially inappropriate for family clients who think more concretely than abstractly.
➔ Lack of empirical evidence/research.
transgenerational
one of 2 theories considered to be transgenerational (other is Bowen family therapy). examines interactions of families across generations as a way to understand current problems and predict future challenges
founders
ackerman, boszormenyi-nagy, framo, lidz, paul, williamson, skynner, wynne
heart of treatment
belief that changes in families and their members occur best when the family is examined in the context of its history and development. conscious and unconscious process are collectively and individuall the focus of therapeutic interventions.
Ackerman initated and emphasized…
concepts such as the scapegoat, tickling of defenses (provoking family members to open up), complementarity, focusing on strengths, interlocking pathology
resolving conflict
- strengthening of defenses against a conflicted wish
2. sufficient relxation of defenses to permit some gratification
human nature
based on drives. mental conflict arises when children learn and mislearn that expressing basic impulses will lead to punishment. conflict is signaled by unpleasant affect: anxxiety or depression
interlocking pathology
unconscious process takes place between fam members that keeps them together
object relations theory
bridge betewen freudian theory, with its emphasis on individual drives, and family therapy, with its emphasis on social relationships.
object relations theory, ctd
“relations between persons involved in ardent emotional attachments. these attachments can exist in the outer world of reality or as residues of the past – that is, inner presences, often unconscious, that remain vigorious and very much alive with us.” an object is something that is loved, usually a person.
object relations theory, ctd
relationships across generations can be explained. humans have fundamental motivation to seek objects, starting at birth. as children grow, they internalize (interject) good and bad characteristics of these objects win themselves
splitting
object representations are either all good or all bad. result is a projection of good and bad qualities onto persons within one’s environment.
transference
projection of feelings, attitudes, or desires onto a significant other such as a therapist. used in family therapy in order to understand dominant feelings w/in a family unit and delineate what emotions are being directed toward which people.
major goal of psychodynamic family therapy
to free family members of unconscious restrictions. outcome is sometimes achieved through therapist’s interpretation of events and insight on the part of family members regarding events. interpretation is best offered by the therapist at a preconscious level
differentiation of self
individuals have reached a level of maturity at which they can balance their rational cognitive and emotional selves and can separate themselves from others in a nonanxious way.
what sorts of interactions does psychodynamic theory focus on
cause-and-effect interactions
premise
unconscious processes link family members. unconscious forces must be worked through; interlocking pathologies must be broken up
treatment
individuals are the units of treatment. goal to break dysfunction interactions. transference, dream analysis, confrontation, focus on strengths, life history, complementarity, interpretation
process/outcome
work through unconscious restrictions and insights; assist family members to interact on basis of current realities
emphases
potency of uncionscious in influencing behavior
defense mechanisms
historical perspective on development of problems
compaarison
primarily linear; focuses on individuals
expensive
not for concrete thinkers
lacks empirical research
