Experiential Family Therapy - Carl Whitaker and Virginia Satir

 

While Carl  and Virginia believed that emotional suppression is both the cause as well as the effect of problems in family, former thought self fulfillment depends on family cohesiveness whereas later believed importance of communication to solve problem in families.

Carl's approach was more pragmatic. He believes that theory often works more negatively than positively. A therapist should be open to first establish a relationship with client which is more important than confining to a theory which reduces the anxiety of therapist while dealing with a client. This therapy believes that each family has the right to be themselves, family is an integrated whole rather collection of individuals and family togetherness and cohesion are associated with personal growth. This is a bold approach with lots of creativity and importance being on genuineness. 

Reason behind actions :

1. to express one's own individuality, express oneself freely

2. be autonomous as well a feel one with family

3. have intimacy

4. self actualization

Where comes trouble :

problem in family arises from lack of family cohesiveness, lack of emotional closeness and sharing among family members. the needs of the family may be suppressing the rights of the individual. personal choice being compromised. family undergoing societal pressures and often use unhealthy methods to maintain family peace.                                         

GOALS OF THERAPY:

1. Promote growth, change, creativity, flexibility, spontaneity, and playfulness

2. Make the covert overt

3. Increase the emotional closeness of spouses and disrupt rigidity

4. Unlock defenses, enhance self-esteem, and recover potential for experiencing

5. Enhance individuation

Therapist Role 

Active and directive, personal involvement, help family members open up and be themselves by freely experiencing what they think and feel, uses here and now technique, unmask family secrets and aim higher intimacy. Teach family members effective ways of communication.

Process

engagement, involvement and disentanglement 

Techniques

presence of co therapist to improve objectivity, open room therapy, bring the family to the emotional stress and intensify the emotional climate and ease the turmoil through coaching them. to facilitate the process between each members in family in non defensive way. sculpting,  Choreography,  Conjoint family drawing,  Role playing,  Use of humor,  Puppet interviews,  Reconstruction,  Sharing feelings and creating an emotionally intense atmosphere,  Modeling and teaching clear communication skills (Use of “I” messages)  Challenge, use of self.

CONCEPTS:

 Honest emotion

 Suppress repression

 Family myths

 Mystification

Communication concepts

 Blaming

 Placating

 Being irrelevant/irreverent

 Being super reasonable

 Battle for structure

 Battle for initiative

Limitations : unstructured approach solely based on the therapists ability to handle families through intense emotional climate thus making it difficult to train others in the same area. Not recommended for fragile families. More towards quality of life rather alleviating symptoms.

Reference

http://www.powershow.com/view1/83f06-ZDc1Z/Experiential_Family_Therapy_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

http://www.powershow.com/view/11d3d3-M2IzZ/Experiential_Family_Therapy_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

http://www.powershow.com/view/3c81ea-ZjFhN/Communications_and_Experiential_Family_Therapy_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

Adlerian Family Therapy

Background

Alfred Adler (1870–1937), though an early collaborator with Sigmund Freud, was one of the first major figures to break away from Freudian psychoanalysis to establish an independent school of personality and psychotherapy. Adler’s formulations challenged Freudian theory, which understood human motivation as being biologically and instinctually driven. For Adler, individuals were social beings and were motivated by the drive to overcome feelings of inferiority and to achieve a sense of self-esteem, adequacy, and power within their social and relational worlds. A person’s character and personality including behaviors, perceptions, feelings, and thoughts illuminate how he or she fits into the social milieu (Sherman & Dinkmeyer, 1987).Alder and laterAdlerians viewed the family as the primary social matrix that exerts an influence on the formation of personality. A person’s sense of self-esteem, self-worth, and ability to establish healthy human
relations emerges from observing and interacting with parental models. With a focus on relationships and parenting strategies, Adlerian psychology clearly formed the basis for the child guidance movement. Most important,Alder with his emphasis on understanding the self within the social context provided a conceptual
framework for understanding human motivation as relational and social rather than individualistic and autonomous.

concepts :

Family atmosphere :

 each family has a unique family atmosphere which consists of the climate of relationships that exists between family members. because the family is a system according to adlerians and  each member influence others in the family/system. this is unique to each family and differs from one family to other. Parents serve as a role model for defining relationships, work and participation in the world also they act as emotional role model for children.

Family constellation and birth order :

Adler  often noted that the family system or constellation consisted of the parents, children, and even extended family members, but then he would immediately shift to a discussion of birth order. Adler made reference to essentially fi ve birth positions: only, oldest, second of only two, middle, and youngest.

Mistaken goals

There are two goals as described by adlerians. Life goals for the development of lifestyle and immediate goals for everyday behavior. for children who are misbehaving in family dreikurs lists four goals as motivational typology they are attention getting, power struggle, revenge and demonstration of inadequacy. additional goals include getting (attitude that they should get whatever they want) avoidance and self elevation. There is similar goals for adults as well. mistaken goals of parents when dealing with children include trying to demonstrate adequacy, attempting to display control, acting with revenge and responding with display of inadequacy .By keeping these interactive goal patterns in mind, Adlerians are able to make sense of both the children’s behaviors and the parental actions and reactions reported in family process. Goal recognition and disclosure is central to Adlerian family counseling and therapy.

Therapy goals : establish and support parents as effective leaders of the family

Techniques : goal disclosure, motivation modification

Therapist role : collaborator who seeks to join the family working with both the children and parent in an open forum counselling.

Limitation : process relies of changes effected by family members outside therapeutic setting which is not observable and more emphasis of therapists ability to assess family interaction and  make assumptions on mistaken goals. the democratic nature of the approach may not suit across all cultures and even all euro american families.

the following videos should help you guys in quick recall or to refresh your memory when you want to come back again after detailed study of the source given in reference section.

 

Reference

http://www.mapsadler.org/uploads/AdlerianThoeryTechniques.pdf