Week 4: Psychological Approaches: Beyond the Individual to Couple, Family, and Group Work Pt. 1 Flashcards
A framework that views individuals as parts of larger systems (like families).
Systemic Theory
Therapy that focuses on the entire family system, not just the individual.
It started developing out of system theory and out of cybernetic approaches in the 1950s, and argue a view of problems and ‘pathology’ as fundamentally interpersonal as opposed to individual.
Systemic Approaches / Systemic Family Therapy
Therapy that emphasizes that individuals are influenced by their relationships and social environment.
Factors like family, education, neighborhood, and cultural beliefs shape an individual’s development.
Systemic Therapy
A type of therapy that focuses on unconscious thoughts and feelings, often associated with Sigmund Freud.
Psychoanalytic
Approaches that study how systems interact and control each other, often used in engineering and biology
Cybernetic Approaches
The study of disease or abnormal conditions.
Pathology
Who pioneered systemic therapy from the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California?
Gregory Bateson
Don Jackson
John Weakland
Jay Haley
They applied anthropological methods of observation and social system theory to work with families of individuals presenting with schizophrenia.
Gregory Bateson
Don Jackson
John Weakland
Jay Haley
Communication has both a surface-level meaning (content) and a deeper meaning (intent).
Content Level vs Intent Level of Communication
The unspoken or implied message that accompanies verbal communication.
Meta-Communication
A situation where a person receives contradictory messages, making it difficult to respond appropriately.
People might say one thing but mean something completely different. This can create confusion and problems within the family.
Example: A parent tells a child, “Do whatever you want,” but their facial expression and tone of voice suggest disapproval.
Double-Blind Communication
A form of paradoxical communication in which contradictory and logically inconsistent messages are communicated.
A bit of, you’re doomed if you do and you’re doomed if you don’t.
Double-Blind Theory (1965)
This theory is used to describe how schizophrenic symptoms could be explained in the context of families.
Once the receiver perceived the world in these contradictory messages, the Palo Alto Group argued that they would feel confused, and trying to make sense of these messages may lead to schizophrenic symptoms.
Double Blind Theory (1965)
A state of equilibrium or stability within a system.
Homeostatic Balance
It is about maintaining a stable state, whether in a biological or social system.
For example, if a family member’s behavior is seen as disruptive or problematic, the other family members might unconsciously reinforce that behavior to maintain a sense of balance or normalcy.
Homeostatic Balance
Communication that is contradictory or illogical.
Paradoxical Communication
An American psychiatrist who made significant contributions to the study of family dynamics and schizophrenia.
He is particularly known for his research on the role of fathers in the development of mental health problems, especially schizophrenia.
Theodore Lidz (1910 -2001)
The people and groups that an individual interacts with.
Social Network
It recognizes that individuals are not isolated, but are part of a larger system (like a family).
Just as you can use your friends to help you move a heavy object, you can also use your relationships to help you cope with challenges.
Systemic Therapy
This refers to the idea that mental health problems are caused by something wrong with the individual.
Individual Pathology
This means bringing together resources or people to achieve a goal.
Mobilization
Acknowledges that individuals do not exist in a vacuum (no man is an island), but rather they exist in relation to significant people in their lives, and in relation to this social network.
Systemic Therapy
What do systemic therapists argue?
Psychotherapy should not be seen as the cure to mental illness, but as a way to help people strengthen their relationships - making disturbing symptoms less necessary or problematic.
What do systemic therapists argue?
Difficulties need to be explored in the context of an individual’s social environment.
Are a type of communication or discussion where opposing ideas or perspectives are presented and debated in order to arrive at a deeper understanding.
It’s like a conversation where two people with different viewpoints try to understand each other’s arguments and find common ground.
Dialectical Interactions
What influenced systemic therapy?
Modernism
Post-modernism
Social Constructionism
The idea that meanings are not fixed but can change depending on cultural context.
Relativity of Meaning
What is the systemic view resulting from social constructionist and post-modernist beliefs?
Reality per se does not exist - it is socially constructed by individuals in dialectical interactions.
Meanings and connotations individuals attach to objects/concepts are the result of socially agreed conventions.
These are philosophical and cultural movements that influenced the development of systemic family therapy.
Modernism: reason, progress, and the belief in the ability of science and technology to improve society
Post-Modernism: idea of objective truth and emphasized the role of culture, language, and power
This is the idea that reality is not fixed but is socially created and influenced by cultural beliefs and values.
Social Constructionism
This refers to the act of disagreeing with or opposing a prevailing opinion or policy, especially in a political or social context.
Dissent
A classification system used by mental health professionals.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM)
Is a Latin phrase that means “by itself” or “in itself.
Per se
The idea that everyone has their own unique perspective and understanding of the world.
Subjective Realities
The tools through which we create and share meaning.
Language and Communication
The narratives that families create to make sense of their experiences.
These stories can shape family dynamics and individuals’ beliefs about themselves.
Postmodern View: These are not objective but are socially constructed.
Family Stories / Family is the “maker of meanings”
is the study of control and communication in complex systems, especially those involving humans and machines.
It’s a field that draws from engineering, biology, mathematics, and computer science.
Cybernetics
It is used to understand how families function as complex systems, with each member influencing the others.
Cybernetics in Systemic Family Therapies
Traditional theories often see cause and effect as a linear process (A causes B). Cybernetics suggests a more circular process where effects can also influence causes.
Linear vs Circular Causation
The idea that actions and their consequences can create a cycle of feedback, influencing future behavior.
Feedback Mechanism
The idea that problems are caused by a cycle of events, rather than a single cause.
Circular Causation
What is the argument of systemic therapists on causation?
It doesn’t matter where/what started it, what matters I all units of the system are interconnected.
They reject linear cause-and-effect as potentially carrying blame and replace it with efforts to identify reciprocal influences/interconnectedness.
This therapy developed as a psychotherapeutic endeavor explicitly focused on altering interactions between family members, and sought to improve the functioning of the family as a unit.
The locus of the problem is between people rather than within the individual. This means that the problem is seen as arising from the interactions between family members, rather than from individual issues.
Family Therapy
The source or origin of a problem.
Locus
Features of Systemic Therapy
- New and different approach to psychotherapy
- Differs from individual-focused therapies (like CBT)
- Can help individuals feel less constrained by societal expectations and negative labels
- Looks at how relationships and family dynamics can affect mental health
What are the four phases of systemic family therapy?
First Order
Second Order
Third Order
Fourth Order
What are the characteristics of the Second Order SFT?
The early phase, influenced by modernist ideas of objective reality.
First Order SFT
What are some of the common variables used in structural and strategic approaches to systemic family therapy?
- Family roles
- Boundaries
- Hierarchies
- Communication Patterns
- Triangles
- Symptoms
A belief in the existence of an objective reality that can be studied scientifically.
Modernism
What are the characteristics of the Second Order SFT?
- Post-modern view
- Example: The Milan School
What are the characteristics of the Milan School/Approach?
Circularity (interconnectedness)
Neutrality (safe and no judgment space)
Paradoxical Interventions
It focuses on how problems are maintained by the family system as a whole, rather than blaming individuals.
Example: How the child’s behavior affects the parents, and how the parents’ reactions, in turn, influence the child’s behavior.
Circularity (interconnectedness)
These are strategies that involve prescribing seemingly counterintuitive behaviors or solutions.
The goal is to encourage the family to resist the therapist’s suggestions, which can lead to new insights and behaviors.
Paradoxical Interventions
Emphasizes the role of language in shaping meaning.
Third Order SFT
Focuses on integration with other approaches, including individual-focused therapies.
Fourth Order SFT
What are the characteristics of the Third Order SFT?
- Emerged from the social constructivist theory
- Emphasized the role of language in shaping meaning
What are the characteristics of the Fourth Order SFT?
- Proposed by Dallos and Draper
- Concerned with the integration of SFT with the integration of the intrapsychic and the interpersonal
Refers to processes that occur within the mind or psyche.
It describes the internal thoughts, feelings, and emotions that influence an individual’s behavior.
Intrapsychic
Focuses on understanding how a family is organized. It looks at who is in charge, how decisions are made, and how family members interact with each other.
It also looks at the different groups within a family, such as parents, children, and siblings, and how these groups influence each other.
Structural Family Therapy / Systemic Family Therapy (SFT)
The limits or rules that define the relationships between family members and subsystems.
Boundarie
A situation where family members are overly close and dependent on each other, blurring boundaries.
Enmeshment
The ability of individuals and subsystems to maintain their own identity while still being part of the larger family system.
Differentiation of Systems
This term might suggest a more complete separation or disconnection.
It implies that family members may have physically distanced themselves from each other or that they have emotionally withdrawn to the point where they no longer feel connected.
Detachment
This term often implies a sense of disinterest or lack of involvement.
It suggests that family members may still be physically present in each other’s lives, but they are emotionally distant and uninterested in connecting.
Disengagement
Refer to boundaries that are not clear or well-defined.
Porous Boundaries
Refer to boundaries that are too strict and inflexible.
Rigid Boundaries
