Structural Flashcards
3 Core Concepts in Structural
- Structure
- Subsystems
- Boundaries
Family Structure
The way a family is organized into subsystems and how the interaction among those subsystems is regulated by boundaries.
Structural: what is the process
The process of the family’s interaction in like the patterns of conversation at the dinner table
Structural: what is the structure
The structure of the family is like where family members sit in relation to one another
Structural: what are boundaries
invisible barriers that regulate contact with others
Structural: Disengagement
Independence over intimacy
Structural: Enmeshment
Intimacy over independence
Structural Stance of the Therapist (4 things)
- Active in Sessions
- Views families as resilient
- Pays attention to content and process
- Oscillates b/w first and second order cybernetic stance
Structural Theory of Dysfunction (3)
- When subsystems, boundaries and roles do not adapt to changing needs
- When subsystems, boundaries and roles do not support healthy balance of closeness AND autonomy between members
- Usual way of responding has become rigid without adaptation.
3 overlapping phases of structural family therapy
- Joining in a position of leadership (director)
- Mapping the underlying structure
- Intervenes to transform this structure
7 SFT Steps to Therapy
- Joining and Accommodating
- Enactment
- Structural Mapping
- Highlighting and Modifying interactions
- Boundary Making
- Unbalancing
- Challenging unproductive assumptions
What is Mimesis?
Structural: refers to the therapist’s attempts to mirror and match the family’s attitudes, behavior, and posture to further communicate that they are temporarily part of the system
Structural Mapping: What does ——- mean?
Clear boundary
Structural Mapping: What does . . . . . . mean?
Diffuse boundary
Structural Mapping: What does _____ mean?
Rigid boundary
