Week 2: Traditional Approaches to Family Therapy Flashcards
What is structuralism?
The foundational epistemology of all first order family therapy approaches
What is the structuralist way of looking at reality?
It is the way of looking at reality that has emerged from modernist positioning
What does structuralism assume?
It assumes that we can know reality directly as an objective observer external to that which we are observing.
What is “understanding” from a structuralism perspective?
To understand a thing we must understand the structure within which it is locted
What does structuralism focus on?
Focuses on the structure of what is under study, and attempts to differentiate dysfunctional, pathological or distorted structures from functional healthy or ordered structures
What implications does structuralism lead to?
- development of ideas about ‘Normal Family Functioning’
- The production of theories that facilitate the interpretation of people’s expressions (behaviour/transactions)
- The construction of systems of analyses and systems of classification founded on these theories
- The development of professional techniques of remediation
- The power relations of expert knowledge
What did Murray Bowen say about multi-generaltional family therapy?
“You have inherited a lifetime of tribulation. Everybody has inherited it. Take it over, make the most of it and when you have decided you know the right way, do the best you can with it”
Who was Murray Bowed?
Bowen was a psychiatrist who did pioneering work with families of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.
What is Bowen Family systemic theories considered?
BFST is considered one of the most elegant approaches among systemic theories
What did Bowen focus on?
Focused on the analysis of the process of ‘differentiation’ drawing on his personal family experiences
what is multi-generaltional family therapy based on?
Therapy is based on facilitating understanding of multigenerational patterns and facilitating increased differentiation
It is not necessarily a therapeutic model as a way of thinking about relationships and family
what tools does multi-generaltional family therapy use?
Genograms
How are genograms used in multigenerational therapy?
For mapping at lease three generations of family to track replicating patters
What is the role of the therapist in multigenerational therapy?
The therapist acts as a coach and expert often working with an individual.
What does differentiation lead to?
Differentiation leads to the existential possibility of a ‘self’. This idea is based on the concept that opposing forces exist in any system along with togetherness; separateness; sameness and difference. This is understood as a fundamental process in nature and the way in which systems can evolve and change
What factors contribute to differentiation?
emotional separation autonomous function balance of togetherness-separation validation of difference adult to adult communication - I messages Boundaries emotional regulation
What is “responsibility for feelings” in differentiation?
Not being infected by the feelings of other family members
What did Bowen say the emotional system includes?
“the emotional system includes the force that biology defines as instinct, reproduction, the automatic activity controlled by the autonomic nervous system, subjective emotional and feeling states are the force that govern relationship systems… in broad terms, the emotional system governs the dance of life in all living things”
What did Bownen believe regarding anxiety contageon?
Bowen held the understanding that there is a chronic anxiety in all living systems that comes with the territory of being alive. This idea of anxiety is not worries or neurosis but rather something much more fundamental to the living systems and it was understood to be transmitted multi-generally
What does Bowne’s anxiety promote?
The anxiety or force was understood to be the primary promoter of all symptoms within a family, from schizophrenia through the health concerns and were seen to show up in the following places:
- the marital relationship
- The health of one of the partners (mental or physical_
- or in the children
How did Bowen describe multigenerational transmission?
Bowen further understood that the force of anxiety was transmitted across generations. More specifically in terms of the presence of past emotional response both in their nature and degree
What does less differentiation of an individual lead to?
The less differentiated the individual form the system, the more likely that the emotional contagion would occur
What do the Bowen models of family focus on?
Bowen based family origin of work is often focused not only on any particular symptom or form in any one generation, but rather one the systemic emotional factors that are present within the history of the system
How did Bowen understand the triad or emotional triangle?
Bowen understood the triad or emotional triangle as the most stable form of relationship. He understood triangles to form as a function of the anxiety present within a two person system, where another member is drawn into the relationship to stabilise and reduce anxiety
