Structural Family Therapy

Question 1

What are the four part of structural family therapy theory?

Answer 1

Subsytems
Boundaries
Hierarchies
Alliances

Question 2

How do the four parts of structural family therapy interact?

Answer 2

A subsystem evolves boundaries that evolve patterns of communication and interactions. These boundaries are affected by hierarchies and alliances.

Question 3

What kinds of boundaries can you have in structural family therapy?

Answer 3

Diffuse

Rigid

Question 4

What is the name of the devisor of structural family therapy?

Answer 4

Salvador Minuchin

Question 5

When children are young, what should the boundaries be like?

Answer 5

Outer, circular boundary = rigid

Inner, horizontal boundary = diffuse

Question 6

What are boundaries about?

Answer 6

Flow of information

Question 7

How should boundaries change?

Answer 7

They should be modified according to the developmental needs of the family.

Question 8

What do subsystems and their boundaries aim to promote?

Answer 8

Autonomy and belonging

Question 9

What are the trade offs in structural family therapy?

Answer 9

Autonomy and belonging

Diffuseness and rigidity

Question 10

What is enmeshment termed as in current psychological jargon?

Answer 10

Emotional overinvolvement

Question 11

What are the goals of Structural Family Therapy?

Answer 11

Restructuring and create changes within boundaries.

Question 12

How does Structural Family Therapy aim to achieve its goals?

Answer 12

Block unhelpful behaviours

Encourage helpful unused behaviours

Question 13

Give three ways of noticing enmeshment in therapeutic settings.

Answer 13

Someone answering for the other
Someone looking to another to answer for them
One person becomes upset because another does

Question 14

What are the techniques used in structural family therapy?

Answer 14

Joining
Tracking/Enactment
Intensificaton
Unbalancing
Reframing
Task Setting

Question 15

What is Tracking/Enactment?

Answer 15

Going through how the ‘problem is done’ microslice by microslice, enactment is acting it out in session.

Question 16

What is intensification?

Answer 16

Pushing people beyond their usual loggerhead to problem solve

Question 17

What is the jargon part of the definition of intensification?

Answer 17

Pushing.

Question 18

What kinds of task setting could you do for Structural Family Therapy?

Answer 18

Take it turns weekly or daily to use alternate methods of problem solving.

Question 19

What are some of the limitations of Structural Family Therapy?

Answer 19

Pre-social constructionism so still going from symptoms to one problem
Leaves out interpersonal processes
Helpful/Unhelpful => judgements

Question 20

When might Structural Family Therapy be helpful?

Answer 20

To give a coherent framework for a family assessment.

Question 21

What is the theory of change which informs Structural Family Therapy?

Answer 21

Change occurs when you block one unhelpful behaviour to allow new more helpful things to be developed.