Transgenerational - Contextual Family Therapy Flashcards
Who are the founders/leaders of Contextual Family Therapy?
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy (commonly referred to as “Nagy”), a psychiatrist and neurologist.
Nagy was born in Hungary to a line of several generations of high judges, possibly explaining his focus on ethics within relationships. He immigrated to the US in the early 1950’s.
What are assumptions in Contextual Family Therapy?
- Values & ethics are transmitted across generations
- 4 dimensions intertwine to drive people’s behaviors and relationship dynamics: factual, psychological, relational, and ethical
- When relationships are not trustworthy, debts and entitlements must be paid back and may pile up. An unbalanced ledger gets balance in ways that may be destructive to individuals, relationships, & posterity (e.g. revolving slate; destructive entitlement).
- Facts, meaning, setting, and motive must all be considered in the work of therapy.
- People do not live in isolation; their lives are affected by present and past relationships
In Contextual Family Therapy, what four dimensions of reality are thought to drive behavior and relationship dynamics?
- Facts
- Individual psychology
- Systemic interactions
- Relational ethics
Facts are things about life/relationships that are difficult to change: biological facts, medical conditions, historical events, racial/cultural facts, personal circumstances.
Individual psychology describes how people transform information from their external environment into info, experiences, emotion, motivations, and memories. During this process, a person develops a view of self, others, and the world, and their interrelatedness – which becomes his or her personality.
Systemic interactions include power alignments, communication patterns, & family rules. This is considered objective since systemic interactions can be witnessed.
Relational ethics focuses in particular on the nature and roles of connectedness, caring, reciprocity, loyalty, legacy, guilt, fairness, accountability, and trustworthiness - within and between generations
Relational ethics is the balance of fairness – what people give and what they are entitled to receive from others. THIS DISTINGUISHED CONTEXTUAL THERAPY FROM ANY OTHER THERAPEUTIC APPROACH.
What are common criticisms of Contextual Family Therapy?
- It is too intellectual
- There is no empirical evaluation of efficacy.
What is the concept of loyalty in Contextual Family Therapy?
Loyalty is an ethical concept of obligation to another person in a close relationship. Being loyal involves accepting obligations in relatedness and sharing power.
Loyalty often transcends imbalances in the ledger of give and take, because of the human need to be loyal. Examples: accepting parents’ religion, or a partner’s profession; or a child’s mimicking of parents’ values, attitudes, or beliefs.
Loyalty can be invisible when one behavior substitutes for another, such as when a non-monogamous parent’s child is loyal to their spouse relationally, but has an “affair” with work, a hobby, etc.
What is the concept of entitlement in Contextual Family Therapy?
Entitlements are What is inherently and fairly due and what each accrues based on behavior toward one another
What is Constructive Entitlement in Contextual Family Therapy?
Constructive entitlement happens when family members receive a fair return from their giving (such as acknowledgement, praise, etc.). This allows the individual to maintain freedom and security.
What is Destructive Entitlement in Contextual Family Therapy?
When a person feels they’ve given more than they’ve received.
Destructive entitlement happens when old hurts are revenged, within that relationship or in new ones. A person feels entitled to act a certain way because of their history. This can lead to lack of remorse, as a partner or as a parent.
People who have experienced destructive entitlement from parents or partners refuse to blame them, and instead continue to earn destructive entitlement through remaining invisible, loyal, captive victims of the past.
What is the concept of parentification in Contextual Family Therapy?
Unfair/Asymmetrical relationships between parent and child.
Parentification is when parental authority is misused, when there is an asymmetrical relationship between parent and child (that is, a role reversal). Example: children who are forced to take care of their parents, or children who are infantilized to maintain the parents’ identity.
What is the concept of the “revolving slate” in Contextual Family Therapy?
When one person takes revenge in one relationship based on relational transactions in another relationship.
The revolving slate is a multigenerational transmission of injustice and destructive entitlement. This happens when parents have unresolved FOO issues and seek entitlement from their child, thus robbing that child of their own just entitlement. This leads to the same injustices and distrust being passed down to be repeated in the child’s experience of their family.
What is the concept of the “ledger of merits” in Contextual Family Therapy?
The ledger of merits is the balance of give and take within a relationship. All relationships should have balanced reciprocity in order to both individuals to feel they are being treated fairly. When this happens, people experience the relationship as trustworthy.
What is the main concept or assumption of Contextual Family Therapy?
The present dynamic is typically a continuation of past loyalties, injustices, and entitlements.
How many generations are evaluated in Contextual Family Therapy, and why?
Three generations, at least, are evaluated, because Nagy observed that destructive and dysfunctional patterns are passed down intergenerationally.
Generational evaluation allows the therapist to identify these patterns and themes, and then repair and restore healthy interactions and patterns.
What does “context” mean within Contextual Family Therapy?
The integration of facts, individual psychology, systemic interactions, and relational ethics that contribute to the dynamics of relational/family functioning.
Is Contextual Family Therapy integrative?
Nagy said yes, because it embraces biology, psychology, transactional patterns, and responsibility.
