Family Systems Therapy

 

• FST is a combination of a variety of approaches and theories
• The theories and approaches focus on relational problems within the family
• Who;
• Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937)
• First therapist to use the family therapy
• Founded the Alderian therapy
• Later used family as a tool
• Used Alderian therapy as a family therapy tool
• Murray Bowen (1913 - 1990)
• Worked with schizophrenic individuals in families
• Believed that families could be understood better if you studied families from a three generation perspective
• Virginia Satir (1916 - 1988)
• Developed conjoint family therapy
• Intergenerational model that focuses on emotional experiences and communication
• Carl Whitaker
• Creator of symbolic - experimental family therapy
• Helped families open channels of interaction
• Helped clients develope individual autonomy
• Saw therapist as a coach and participant
• Shares with family creativity
• Applied pressure to clients to promote change
• Salvador Minuchin
• Developed structural therapy
• Worked with deliquent boys living in poverty
• Believes changes in the family needs to be worked out before addressing individual problems
• Taught clients to set boundaries
• Jay Haley (1923 - 2007)
• Founded the Washington School of Strategic Family Therapy
• Worked along side Salvador Minuchin for a brief time
• Blended concepts of hierarchy, strategic interventions and power
• Cloe Madanes
• Contributed to the development of brief, solution-oriented therapy
• Worked with Haley to reframe family directives
• Focused on solving problems in the present
• Treated problems as "real" and not a symptom for deeper problems
• Goals of Approach
• Help family members become aware of problems where the present solutions aren't working
• Help client by realizing his strengths and weaknesses
• Key Concepts
• Look for problems that have been passed down from generation to generation
• Relay the fact that the present is more important than the past
• Power coalition
• family oriented dynamics
• functional versus dysfunctional interaction patterns

• Techniques
• Change-talk with emphasis on clients lives when the problem did not exist
• Creative questioning
• The Miracle question
• Scaling Questions
• Help client discover cluse to compatence
• Assist client to find others that will support their change and new story
• Links;
• www.genopro.com/genogram/family-systems-theory