Family Therapy Modalities

Major Marriage and Family Therapy Models

Initial Post

Throughout the course, you have been participating in discussions and conceptualizing case studies based on

specific therapeutic modalities. You will analyze the Floyd Family Case Study and create a therapeutic treatment plan

for the family as a unit. You are free to use any of the therapeutic modalities discussed in this course, as long as you

can establish an evidence-based practice. This is an opportunity to show your skills and understanding of best

practices in psychotherapy.

Read the articleIntimate Partner Violence.

Watch the Ted TalkWhy Domestic Violence Victims Don't

Leave.https://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_morgan_steiner_why_domestic_violence_victims_don_t_leave

ExploreTheHotline.orgto read about domestic violence.https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/

Read theFloyd Family Case Studyand answer the questions included in the document.

Use theFamily Therapy Treatment Modalities Handoutto develop a treatment plan for this family as if they were all

coming to your office for treatment together.

STRUCTURAL FAMILY THERAPY

LEADERS

Salvador Minuchin

Charles Fishman

ASSUMPTIONS:

Problems reside within a family structure

(although not necessarily caused by the

structure)

Changing the structure changes the

experience the client has

Don’t go from problem to solution, we

just move gradually

Children’s problems are often related to

the boundary between the parents (marital

vs. parental subsystem) and the boundary

between parents and children

CONCEPTS:

Family structure

Boundaries

oRigid

oClear

oDiffuse

oDisengaged

oNormal Range

oEnmeshment

oRoles

oRules of who interacts with whom, how,

when, etc.

Hierarchy

Subsystems

Cross-Generational Coalitions

Parentified Child

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Structural Change

o Clarify, realign, mark

boundaries

Individuation of family members

Infer the boundaries from the patterns

of interaction among family members

Change the patterns to realign the

boundaries to make them more closed or

open

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Perturb the system because the structure is too rigid

(chaotic or closed) or too diffuse (enmeshed)

Facilitate the restructuring of the system

Directive, expert—the therapist is the choreographer

See change in therapy session; homework solidifies

change

Directive

ASSESSMENT:

Assess the nature of the boundaries, roles

of family members

Enactment to watch family

interaction/patterns

INTERVENTIONS:

Join and accommodate

o mimesis

Structural mapping

Highlight and modify interactions

Unbalance

Challenge unproductive assumptions

Raise intensity so that system must change

CHANGE:

Raise intensity to upset the system, then

help reorganize the system

Change occurs within session and is

behavioral; insight is not necessary

Emotions change as individuals’

experience of their context changes

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 2

Structural Family Therapy, Continued

Interventions

disorganize and reorganize

Shape competence through Enactment

(therapist acts as coach)

TERMINATION:

Problem is gone and the structure

has changed (2nd order change)

Problem is gone and the structure

has NOT changed (1st order change)

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

The therapist joins with the system to facilitate the

unbalancing of the system

Caution with induction—don’t get sucked in to the content

areas, usually related to personal hot spots

EVALUATION:

Strong support for working with psychosomatic children, adult drug addicts, and anorexia nervosa.

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Minuchin, S., & Fishman, H. C. (1981). Family therapy techniques. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Minuchin, S., Rosman, B. L., & Baker, L. (1978). Psychosomatic families. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Press.

Fishman, H. C. (1988). Treating troubled adolescents: A family therapy approach. New York: Basic Books.

Fishman, H. C. (1993). Intensive structural therapy: Treating families in their social context. New York: Basic

Books.

NOTES

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 3

STRATEGIC THERAPY (MRI)

LEADERS:

John

Weakland

Don Jackson

Paul

Watzlawick

Richard Fisch

ASSUMPTIONS:

Family members often perpetuate problems by their own actions (attempted

solutions) --the problem is the problem maintenance (positive feedback

escalations)

Directives tailored to the specific needs of a particular family can sometimes bring

about sudden and decisive change

People resist change

You cannot not communicate--people are ALWAYS communicating

All messages have report and command functions-- working with content is not

helpful, look at the process

Symptoms are messages -- symptoms help the system survive (some would

say they have a function)

It is only a problem if the family describes it as such

Based on work of Gregory Bateson and Milton Erickson

Need to perturb system – difference that makes a difference (similar enough to be

accepted by system but different enough to make a difference)

Don’t need to examine psychodynamics to work on the problem

CONCEPTS:

Symptoms are messages

Family homeostasis

Family rules -- unspoken

Cybernetics

oFeedback Loops

oPositive Feedback

oNegative Feedback

First order change

Second order change

Reframing

Content & Process

Report & Command

Paradox

Paradoxical Injunction

“Go Slow” Messages

Positive Feedback Escalations

Double Binds

“One down” position

Patient position

Attempted solutions maintain problems and

become problems themselves

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Help the family define clear, reachable goals

Break the pattern; perturb the system

First and second order change- ideally second

order change (we cannot make this happen-- it is

spontaneous)

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Expert position

Responsible for creating conditions for change

Work with resistance of clients to change

Work with the process, not the content

Directive

ASSESSMENT:

Define the problem clearly and find out what

people have done to try to resolve it

Elicit goals from each family member and

then reframe into one, agreed-upon goal

Assess sequence patterns

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 4

Strategic Therapy (MRI), Continued

Interventions

Skeptical of change

Take a lot of credit and responsibility for change;

however, therapist tells clients that they are

responsible for change

Active

INTERVENTIONS:

Paradox

Directives

o Assignments (“homework”) that interrupt

sequences

Interrupt unhelpful sequences of interaction

“Go slow” messages

Prescribe the symptoms

CHANGE:

Interrupting the pattern in any way

Difference that makes a difference

Change occurs outside of session; insession

change is in viewing; homework changes

doing

Change in viewing (reframe) and/or doing

(directives)

Emotions change and are important, but are

inferred and not directly available to the

therapist

TERMINATION:

Client decides when to terminate with the help of the

therapist

When pattern is broken and the client reports that the

problem no longer exists

Therapist decides

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Therapist needs to be VERY careful with

ethics in this model; it can be very

manipulative (paradox) and a lot of

responsibility is on the therapist as an expert

EVALUATION:

Very little research done

Do clients report change? If so, then it is effective

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J., &, Fisch, R. (1974). Change: Principles of problem formation and problem

resolution. New York: Norton.

Fisch, Richard, John H. Weakland, and Lynn Segal (1982). The tactics of change: Doing therapy briefly.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Watzlawick, P., J. B. Bavelas, and D. J. Jackson. (1967). Pragmatics of human communication. New York: W.

W. Norton.

Lederer, W. J., and Don Jackson. (1968). The mirages of marriage. New York: W. W. Norton.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 5

STRATEGIC THERAPY (Haley & Madanes)

LEADERS:

Jay Haley

Cloe Madanes

Influenced by

Minuchin

ASSUMPTIONS:

Family members often perpetuate problems by their own actions (attempted

solutions) --the problem is the problem maintenance (positive feedback

escalations)

Directives tailored to the specific needs of a particular family can sometimes bring

about sudden and decisive change

People resist change

You cannot not communicate--people are ALWAYS communicating

All messages have report and command functions-- working with content is not

helpful, look at the process

Communication and messages are metaphorical for family functioning

Symptoms are messages -- symptoms help the system survive

It is only a problem if the family describes it as such

Based on work of Gregory Bateson, Milton Erickson, MRI, and Minuchin

Need to perturb system – difference that makes a difference (similar enough to be

accepted by system but different enough to make a difference)

Problems develop in skewed hierarchies

Motivation is power (Haley) or love (Madanes)

CONCEPTS:

Symptoms are messages

Family homeostasis

Family rules – unspoken

Intergenerational collusions

First and second order change

Metaphors

Reframing

Symptoms serve functions

Content & Process

Report & Command

Incongruous Hierarchies

Ordeals (prescribing ordeals)

Paradox

Paradoxical Injunction

Pretend Techniques (Madanes)

“Go Slow” Messages

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Help the family define clear, reachable goals

Break the pattern; perturb the system

First and second order change- ideally second order change

(we cannot make this happen-- it is spontaneous)

Realign hierarchy (Madanes)

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Expert position

Responsible for creating conditions for change

Work with resistance of clients to change

Work with the process, not the content

Directive

Skeptical of change

Take a lot of credit and responsibility for change;

however, therapist tells clients that they are

responsible for change

Active

ASSESSMENT:

Define the problem clearly and find out what

people have done to try to resolve it

Hypothesize metaphorical nature of the

problem

Elicit goals from each family member and

then reframe into one, agreed-upon goal

Assess sequence patterns

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 6

Strategic Therapy (Haley & Madanes), Continued

INTERVENTIONS:

Paradox

Directives

o Assignments (“homework”) that interrupt

sequences

Interrupt unhelpful sequences of interaction

Metaphors, stories

Ordeals (Haley)

“Go slow” messages

Prescribe the symptoms (Haley)

“Pretend” techniques (Madanes)

CHANGE:

Breaking the pattern in any way

Difference that makes a difference

Change occurs outside of session; insession

change is in viewing; homework changes

doing

Change in viewing (reframe) and/or doing

(directives)

TERMINATION:

Client decides when to terminate with the help of

the therapist

When pattern is broken and the client reports that

the problem no longer exists

Therapist decides

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Therapist needs to be VERY careful with

ethics in this model; it can be very

manipulative (paradox) and a lot of

responsibility is on the therapist as an expert

EVALUATION:

Very little research done

Do clients report change? If so, then it is effective

RESOURCES:

Madanes, Cloe. (1981). Strategic family therapy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Madanes, Cloe. (1984). Behind the one-way mirror: Advances in the practice of strategic therapy. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Madanes, Cloe. (1990). Sex, love, and violence: Strategies for transformation. New York: W. W. Norton.

Madanes, Cloe. (1995). The violence of men: New techniques for working with abusive families. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

Haley, Jay. (1980). Leaving home. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Haley, Jay. (1984). Ordeal therapy: Unusual ways to change behavior. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Haley, Jay. (1987). Problem-solving therapy (2nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 7

MILAN FAMILY THERAPY

LEADERS:

Boscolo

Palazzoli

Prata

Cecchin

ASSUMPTIONS:

problem is maintained by family’s attempts to fix it

therapy can be brief over a long period of time

clients resist change

CONCEPTS:

family games (family’s patterns that maintain the

problem)

odirty games

opsychotic games

there is a nodal point of pathology

invariant prescriptions

rituals

positive connotation

difference that makes a difference

neutrality

hypothesizing

therapy team

circularity, neutrality

incubation period for change; requires long periods of

time between sessions

GOALS OF THERAPY:

disrupt family games

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

therapist as expert

neutral to each family member – don’t get sucked into

the family game

curious

ASSESSMENT:

Family game

Dysfunctional patterns (patterns that

maintain the problem)

INTERVENTIONS:

Ritualized prescriptions

Rituals

Circular questions

Counter paradox

Odd/even day

Positive connotation

“Date”

Reflecting team

Letters

Prescribe the system

CHANGE:

Family develops a different game

that does not include the symptom

(system change)

Requires incubation period

TERMINATION:

Therapist decides, fewer than 10-12 sessions

EVALUATION:

Not practiced much, therefore not

researched

Follow up contraindicated

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Campbell, D., Draper, R., & Huffington, C. (1989). Second thoughts on the theory and practice of the

Milan approach to family therapy. New York: Karnac.

Campbell, D., Draper, R., & Crutchley, E. (1991). The Milan systemic approach to family therapy. In

A. S. Gurman & D. P. Kniskern (Eds.), Handbook of Family Therapy (Vol. II) (pp. 325-362).

New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Cecchin, G. (1987). Hypothesizing, circularity, and neutrality revisited: An invitation to curiosity.

Family Process, 26(4), 405-413.

Cecchin, G. (1992). Constructing therapeutic possibilities. In S. McNamee & K. J. Gergen (Eds.),

Therapy as social construction (pp. 86-95). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Palazzoli, M. S., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., & Prata, G. (1978). Paradox and counterparadox: A new

model in the therapy of the family in schizophrenic transaction. New York: Jason Aaronson.

Palazzoli, M. S., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., & Prata, G. (1978). A ritualized prescription in

family therapy: Odd days and even days. Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling,

48, 3-9.

Palazzoli, M., & Palazzoli, C. (1989). Family games: General models of psychotic processes in the

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 8

Milan Family Therapy, continued

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 9

SOLUTION-FOCUSED BRIEF THERAPY

LEADERS:

Steve de

Shazer

Insoo Kim

Berg

Yvonne

Dolan

Eve Lipchik

ASSUMPTIONS:

Clients want to change

There’s no such thing as resistance (clients are telling us how they cooperate)

Focus on present and future except for the past in terms of exceptions; not focused on

the past in terms of cause of changing the past

Change the way people talk about their problems from problem talk to solution talk

Language creates reality

Therapist and client relationship is key

A philosophy, not a set of techniques or theory

Sense of hope, “cheerleader effect”

Nonpathologizing, not interested in pathology or “dysfunction”

Don’t focus on the etiology of the problem: Solutions are not necessarily related to

problems

Assume the client has strengths, resources

Only need a small change, which can snowball into a bigger change

The problem is not occurring all the time

CONCEPTS:

Problem talk/ Solution talk

Exceptions

Smallest difference that makes a

difference

Well-formed goals (small, concrete,

measurable, important to client,

doable, beginning of something, not

end, presence not absence, hard work)

Solution not necessarily related to the

problem

Clients are experts on their lives and

their experiences

Therapeutic relationships:

customer/therapist,

complainant/sympathizer, visitor/host

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Help clients to think or do things differently in order to

increase their satisfaction with their lives

Reach clients’ goals; “good enough”

Shift the client’s language from problem talk to solution talk

Modest goals (clear and specific)

Help translate the goal into something more specific (clarify)

Change language from problem to solution talk

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Cheerleader/Coach

Offer hope

Nondirective, client-centered

ASSESSMENT:

Assess exceptions—times when problem isn’t there

Assess what has worked in the past, not necessarily related to the

problem; client strengths

Assess what will be different when the problems is gone (becomes

goal that might not be clearly related to the stated problem)

INTERVENTIONS:

Help set clear and achievable goals (clarify)

Help client think about the future and what they

want to be different

Exceptions: Amplify the times they did things that

“worked” when they didn’t have the problem or it

was less severe

Compliments:

-“How did you do that?”

-“Wow! That must have been difficult!”

- “That sounds like it was helpful; how did

you do that?”

-“ I’m impressed with....”

-“You sound like a good....”

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 10

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Continued

Interventions

Formula first session task: Observe what happens in their

life/relationship that they want to continue

Miracle question:

-Used when clients are vague about complaints

-Helps client do things the problem has been obstructing

-Focus on how having problems gone will make a difference

-Relational questions

-follow up with miracle day questions and scaling questions

-pretend to have a miracle day

Scaling questions

Midsession break (with or without

team) to summarize session,

formulate compliments and bridge,

and suggest a task (tasks used less in

recent years; clients develop own

tasks; therapist may make

suggestions or suggest

“experiments”), sometimes called

“feedback” (feeding information

back into the therapy with a

difference)

Predict the next day, then see what

happens

TERMINATION:

Client decides

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Accept responsibility for client/therapist relationship

Expert on therapy conversation, not on client’s life or experience of the

difficulty

EVALUATION:

Therapy/Research:

Simple (not necessarily easy)

Can be perceived that therapist as insensitive- “Solution

Forced Therapy”

Crucial that clients are allowed to fully express

struggles and have their own experiences validated,

BEFORE shifting the conversation to strengths

Techniques can obscure therapist’s

intuitive humanity

Many outcome studies show effectiveness,

but no controlled studies

Progress of therapy:

Can clients see exceptions?

Are they using solution talk?

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

de Shazer, S. (1982). Patterns of brief family therapy: An ecosystemic approach. New York: Guilford.

de Shazer, S., Dolan, Y., Korman, H., Trepper, T., McCollum, E., & Berg, I. K. (2007). More than

miracles: The state of the art of solution-focused brief therapy. New York: Haworth.

Berg, I. K., & Miller, S. (1992). Working with the problem drinker. New York: Norton.

Berg, I. K. (1994). Family-based services: A solution-focused approach. New York: Norton.

De Jong, P., & Berg, I. K. (2007). Interviewing for solutions (3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Dolan, Y. (1992). Resolving sexual abuse. NY: W.W. Norton.

Lipchik, E. (2002). Beyond technique in solution focused therapy. New York: Guilford.

Miller, S. D., Hubble, M. A., & Duncan Barry L. (Eds.). (1996). Handbook of solution-focused brief therapy.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Nelson, T. S., & Thomas, F. N. (Eds.). (2007). Handbook of solution-focused brief therapy: Clinical

applications. New York: Haworth.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 11

NARRATIVE THERAPY

LEADERS:

Michael

White

David Epston

Jill Freedman

Gene Combs

ASSUMPTIONS:

Personal experience is ambiguous

Reality is shaped by the language used to describe it – language and experience

(meaning) are recursive

Reality is socially constructed

Truth may not match historic or another person’s truth, but it is true to the client

Focus on effects of the problem, not the cause (how problem impacts family;

how family affects problem)

Stories organize our experience & shape our behavior

The problem is the problem; the person is not the problem

People “are” the stories they tell

The stories we tell ourselves are often based on messages received from society or

our families (social construction)

People have their own unique filters by which they process messages from society

CONCEPTS:

Dominant Narrative - Beliefs, values, and practices

based on dominant social culture

Subjugated Narrative – a person’s own story that is

suppressed by dominant story

Alternative Story: the story that’s there but not

noticed

Deconstruction: Take apart problem saturated story

in order to externalize & re-author it (Find missing

pieces; “unpacking”)

Problem-saturated Stories - Bogs client down,

allowing problem to persist. (Closed, rigid)

Landscape of action: How people do things

Landscape of consciousness: What meaning the

problem has (landscape of meaning)

Unique outcomes – pieces of deconstructed story that

would not have been predicted by dominant story or

problem-saturated story; exceptions; sparkling

moments

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Change the way the clients view themselves

and assist them in re-authoring their story in

a positive light; find the alternative but

preferred story that is not problem-saturated

Give options to more/different stories that

don’t include problems

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Genuine curious listener

Question their assumptions

Open space to make room for possibilities

ASSESSMENT:

Getting the family’s story, their experiences

with their problems, and presumptions about

those problems.

Assess alternative stories and unique

outcomes during deconstruction

INTERVENTIONS:

Ask questions

oLandscape of action & landscape of

meaning

oMeaning questions

oOpening space

CHANGE:

Occurs by opening space; cognitive

Client can see that there are numerous

possibilities

Expanded sense of self

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 12

Narrative Therapy, Continued

Interventions

oPreference

oStory development

oDeconstruction

oTo extend the story into the future

Externalize problems

Effects of problem on family; effects of family on

problem

Restorying or reauthoring

o Self stories

Letters from the therapist

Certificates of award

TERMINATION:

Client determines

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Therapist’s ideas, values,

prejudices, etc. need to be

open to client,

“transparent”

Expert on conversation

EVALUATION:

No formal studies

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Freeman, Jennifer, David Epston, and Dean Lobovits. (1997). Playful approaches to serious problems:

Narrative therapy with children and their families. New York: W.W. Norton.

Freedman, Jill, and Gene Combs. (1996). Narrative therapy: The social construction of preferred realities. New

York: W. W. Norton.

White, Michael, and David Epston (Eds.). (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. New York: W.W.

Norton.

White, Michael. (2007). Maps of narrative practice. New York: W.W. Norton.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 13

COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

LEADERS:

Ivan Pavlov

Watson

Thorndike

B. F. Skinner

Bandura

Dattilio

ASSUMPTIONS:

Family relationships, cognitions, emotions, and behavior mutually influence one

another

Cognitive inferences evoke emotion and behavior

Emotion and behavior influence cognition

CONCEPTS:

Schemas- core beliefs about the world, the

acquisition and organization of knowledge

Cognitions- selective attention, perception,

memories, self-talk, beliefs, and expectations

Reinforcement - an event that increases the future

probability of a specific response

Attribution- explaining the motivation or cause of

behavior

Distorted thoughts, generalizations get in way of

clear thinking and thus action

GOALS OF THERAPY:

To modify specific patterns of thinking and/or

behavior to alleviate the presenting symptom

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Ask a series of question about assumptions, rather

than challenge them directly

Teach the family that emotional problems are

caused by unrealistic beliefs

ASSESSMENT:

Cognitive: distorted thoughts, thought processes

Behavioral: antecedents, consequences, etc.

INTERVENTIONS:

Questions aimed at distorted assumptions (family

members interpret and evaluate one another

unrealistically)

Behavioral assignments

Parent training

Communication skill building

Training in the model

CHANGE:

Behavior will change when the contingencies of

reinforcement are altered

Changed cognitions lead to changed affect and

behaviors

TERMINATION:

When therapist and client determine

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Not discussed

EVALUATION:

Many studies, particularly in terms of marital therapy and parenting

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 14

RESOURCES:

Jacobson, N. S., & Margolin, G. (1979). Marital therapy: Strategies based on social learning and behavior

exchange principles. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Jacobson, N. S., & Christensen, A. (1998). Acceptance and Change in Couple Therapy: A Therapist's Guide to

Transforming Relationships. New York: Norton.

Epstein, N. B., & Baucom, D. H. (2002). Enhanced cognitive-behavioral therapy for couples. Washington, DC:

APA Books.

Resources

Dattilio, F. M. (1998). Case studies in couple and family therapy: Systemic and cognitive perspectives. New

York: Guilford.

Dattilio, F. M., & Padesky, C. (1990). Cognitive therapy with couples. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource

Press.

Beck, A. T., Reinecke, M. A., & Clark, D. A. (2003). Cognitive therapy across the lifespan: Evidence and

practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 15

CONTEXTUAL FAMILY THERAPY

LEADERS:

Ivan

Boszormenyi

-Nagy

ASSUMPTIONS:

Values and ethics are transmitted across generations

Dimensions: (All are intertwined and drive people’s behaviors and relationships)

oFacts

oPsychological

oRelational

oEthical

Trustworthiness of a relationship (relational ethics): when relationships are not

trustworthy, debts and entitlements that must be paid back pile up; unbalanced ledger

gets balanced in ways that are destructive to individuals and relationships and

posterity (e.g., revolving slate, destructive entitlement)

CONCEPTS:

Loyalty: split, invisible

Entitlement (amount of merit a person has based on

trustworthiness)

Ledger (accounting)

Legacy (we behave in ways that we have been programmed

to behave)

Relational ethics

Destructive entitlement (you were given a bad ledger and it

wasn’t fair so it’s ok to hand it on to the next person—

acting out, neglecting important others)

Revolving slate

Posterity (thinking of future generations when working with

people) this is the only model that does

Rejunctive and disjunctive efforts

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Balanced ledger

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Directive

Expert in terms of assessment

ASSESSMENT:

Debts

Entitlements

Invisible loyalties

INTERVENTIONS:

Process and relational questions

Multi-directional impartiality: Everybody and nobody feel

special—all are attended to but none are more special

Exoneration: Help people understand how they have been

living out legacies and debts-ledgers—exonerate others

Coach toward rejunctive efforts

CHANGE:

Cognitive: Awareness of legacies, debts

and entitlements

Behavioral: Very action oriented—

actions must change

TERMINATION:

Never- totally up to

the client

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Must understand own legacies,

entitlements, process of

balancing ledgers, exoneration

EVALUATION:

No empirical evaluation

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Boszormenyi-Nagy, I. (1987). Foundations of contextual therapy: Collected papers of Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy.

New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Boszormenyi-Nagy, I., & Krasner, B. (1986). Between give and take: A clinical guide to contextual therapy.

New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Hargrave, T. D., & Pfitzer, F. (2003). The new contextual therapy: Guiding the power of give and take.

New York: Brunner-Routledge.

van Heusden, A., & van den Eerenbeemt, E. (1987). Balance in motion: Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy and his vision

of individual and family. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 16

Contextual Family Therapy, Continued

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 17

BOWEN FAMILY THERAPY

LEADERS:

Murray

Bowen

Michael Kerr

(works with

natural

systems)

Edwin

Friedman

ASSUMPTIONS:

The past is currently influencing the present

Change can happen—individuals can move along in the process of differentiation

Differentiation: ability to maintain self in the face of high anxiety (remain autonomous

in a highly emotional situation)

oChange in experience of self in the family system

oChange in relationship between thinking and emotional systems

Differentiation is internal and relational—they are isomorphic and recursive

Anxiety inhibits change and needs to be reduced to facilitate change

High intimacy and high autonomy are ideal

Emotions are a physiological process—feelings are the thoughts that name

and mediate emotions, that give them meaning

Symptoms are indicators of stress, anxiety, lower differentiation

Anyone can become symptomatic with enough stress; more differentiated people will

be able to withstand more stress and, when they do become symptomatic, recover

more quickly

CONCEPTS:

Intimacy

Autonomy

Differentiation of Self

Cutoff

Triangulation

Sibling position

Fusion (within individual and within relationships)

Family projection process

Multigenerational transmission process

Nuclear family

Emotional process

4 sub-concepts (ways people manage anxiety; none of

these is bad by itself – it’s when one is used to

exclusion of others or excessively that it can become

problematic for a system):

oConflict

oDysfunction in person

oTriangulation

oDistance

Societal emotional process

Undifferentiated family ego mass

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Ultimate—increase differentiation of self

(thoughts/emotions; self/others)

Intermediate—detriangulation, lowering

anxiety to respond instead of react

Decrease emotional reactivity—increase

thoughtful responses

Increased intimacy one-on-one with

important others

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Coach (objective)

Educator

Therapist is part of the system (non-anxious and

differentiated)

Expert—not a collaborator

ASSESSMENT:

Emotional reactivity

Degree of differentiation of self

Ways that people manage anxiety/ family

themes

Triangles

Repeating intergenerational patterns

Genogram (assessment tool)

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 18

Bowen Family Therapy, Continued

INTERVENTIONS:

Genogram (both assessment and change tool)

Plan for intense situations (when things get hot, what

are we going to do – thinking; process questions)

Process questions-- thinking questions: “What do you

think about this?” “How does that work?”

Detriangulating one-on-one relationships, one person

with the other two in the triangle

Educating clients about the concepts of the model

Decrease emotional reactivity—increase thoughtful

responses

Therapist as a calm self and calm part of a triangle

with the clients

Coaching for changing own patterns in family of

origin

CHANGE:

Reduced anxiety through separation of

thoughts and emotions – cognitive

Reduced anxiety leads to responsive

thoughts and actions, changed affect,

changed relationships

When we think (respond), change occurs

(planning thinking) -- when you know

how you would like to behave in a certain

emotional situation, you plan it, it makes it

easier to carry through with different

consequences

TERMINATION:

Ongoing—we are

never fully

differentiated

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Important with this

model; differentiated,

calm therapist is main

tool

We don’t need to join the

system

We must be highly

differentiated so we can

recognize and reduce

reactivity

Our clients can only

become as differentiated

as we are; we need

coaching to increase our

own differentiation of

self

EVALUATION:

Research suggesting validity: not much,

not a lot of outcome

Did not specify symptom reduction

Client report of different thoughts, actions,

responses from others, affect is evidence

of change

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York: Jason Aaronson.

Friedman, E. (1987). Generation to generation: Family process in church and synagogue. New York:

Guilford.

Kerr, M. E., & Bowen, M. (1988). Family evaluation: An approach based on Bowen theory. New York: W. W.

Norton and Company.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 19

PSYCHODYNAMIC FAMILY THERAPY (OBJECT RELATIONS)

LEADERS:

Freud

Erik Erikson

Nathan Ackerman

Several others who were

trained, but their models

were not primarily

psychodynamic: Bowen,

Whitaker, etc.

Object relations: Scharff

& Scharff

Attachment theory:

Bowlby

ASSUMPTIONS:

Sexual and aggressive drives are at the heart of human nature

Every human being wants to be appreciated

Symptoms are attempts to cope with unconscious conflicts over sex and

aggression

Internalized objects become projected onto important others; we then

evoke responses from them that fit that object, they comply, and we

react to the projection rather than the real person

Early experiences affect later relationships

Internalized objects affect inner experience and outer relationships

CONCEPTS:

Internal objects- mental images of self and others built from

experience and expectation

Attachment- connection with important others

Separation-individuation- the gradual process of a child

separating from the mother

Mirroring- When parents show understanding and

acceptance

Transference-Attributing qualities of someone else to

another person

Countertransference – Therapist’s attributing qualities of

self onto others

Family Myths- unspoken rules and beliefs that drive

behavior, based on beliefs, not full images of others

Fixation and regression-When families become stuck they

revert back to lower levels of functioning

Invisible loyalties- unconscious commitments to the family

that are detrimental to the individual

GOALS OF THERAPY:

To free family members of

unconscious constraints so that they

can interact as healthy individuals

Separation-Individuation

Differentiation

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Listener

Expert position

Interpret

ASSESSMENT:

Attachment bonds

Projections (unrealistic attributions)

INTERVENTIONS:

Listening

Showing empathy

Interpretations

(especially projections)

Family of origin

sessions (Framo)

Make a safe holding

environment

CHANGE:

Change occurs when family members expand their insight to realize that

psychological lives are larger than conscious experience and coming to

accept repressed parts of their personalities

Change also occurs when more, full, real aspects of others are revealed

in therapy so that projections fade

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 20

Psychodynamic Family Therapy (Object Relations), Continued

TERMINATION:

Not sure how therapy is terminated

EVALUATION:

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Sander, F. (2004) Psychoanalytic Couples Therapy: Classical Style in Psychoanalytic Inquiry Issue on

Psychoanalytic Treatment of Couples ed. By Feld, B and Livingston, M. Vol 24:373-386.

Scharff, J. (ed.) (1989) Foundations of Object Relations Family Therapy . Jason Aronson, Northvale N.J.

Slipp, S. (1984). Object relations: A dynamic bridge between individual and family treatment. Northvale, NJ:

Jason Aronson.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 21

EXPERIENTIAL FAMILY THERAPY

LEADERS:

Carl Whitaker

Virginia Satir

ASSUMPTIONS:

Family problems are rooted in suppression of feelings, rigidity, denial of impulses,

lack of awareness, emotional deadness, and overuse of defense mechanisms

Families must get in touch with their REAL feelings

Therapy works from the Inside (emotion) Out (behavior)

Expanding the individual’s experience opens them up to their experiences and helps

to improve the functioning of the family group

Commitment to emotional well being

CONCEPTS:

Honest emotion

Suppress repression

Family myths

Mystification

Blaming

Placating

Being irrelevant/irreverent

Being super reasonable

Battle for structure

Battle for initiative

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Promote growth, change, creativity, flexibility, spontaneity,

and playfulness

Make the covert overt

Increase the emotional closeness of spouses and disrupt

rigidity

Unlock defenses, enhance self-esteem, and recover potential

for experiencing

Enhance individuation

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Uses their own personality

Must be open and spontaneous,

empathic, sensitive, and demonstrate

caring and acceptance

Be willing to share and risk, be

genuine, and increase stress within

the family

Teach family effective

communication skills in order to

convey their feelings

Active and directive

ASSESSMENT:

Assess individual self-expression and levels of defensiveness

Assess family interactions that promote or stifle individuation

and healthy interaction

INTERVENTIONS:

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 “stances” (Satir)

Use of self

CHANGE:

Increasing stress among the family members leads to

increased emotional expression and honest, open

communication

Changing experience changes affect; need to get out of

head into emotions; active interventions change

experience, emotions

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 22

Experiential Family Therapy, Continued

TERMINATION:

Defenses of family members are broken

down

Family communicating openly

Family members more in touch with their

feelings

Members relate to each other in a more

honest way

Openness for individuation of

family members

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Through the use of humor, spontaneity, and personality,

the therapist is able to unbalance the family and bring

about change

The personality of the therapist is key to bringing about

change

EVALUATION:

This model fell out of favor in the 80s and 90s due to its focus on the emotional experience of the individual

while ignoring the role of family structure and communication in the regulation of emotion

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (Sue Johnson) and Internal Family Systems Therapy

(Richard Schwartz) are the current trend

Need to assess in-therapy outcomes as a measure of success due the fact that they often result in deeper

emotional experiences (and successful sessions) that have the potential to generalize outside of therapy

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Satir, V. (1967). Conjoint family therapy. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.

Satir, V. (1972). Peoplemaking. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.

Napier, A. Y., & Whitaker, C. A. (1978). The family crucible. New York: Harper & Row.

NOTES:

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 23

EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED THERAPY

LEADERS:

Susan

Johnson

Les

Greenburg

ASSUMPTIONS:

“The inner construction of experience evokes interactional responses that

organize the world in a particular way. These patterns of interaction then reflect,

and in turn, shape inner experience” (Johnson, 2008, p. 109)

Individual identity can be formed and transformed by relationships and

interactions with others

New experiences in therapy can help clients expand their view and make sense of

the world in a new way

Nonpathologizing, not interested in pathology or “dysfunction”

Past is relevant only in how it affects the present.

Emotion is a target and agent of change.

Primary emotions generally draw partners closer. Secondary emotions push

partners away.

Distressed couples get caught in negative repetitive sequences of interaction

where partners express secondary emotions rather than primary emotions.

CONCEPTS:

Attachment needs exist

throughout the life span.

Negative interactional

patterns

Primary and secondary

emotions

Empathic attunement

Cycle de-escalation

Blamer softening

Withdrawer re-engagement

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Identify and break negative interactional patterns

Increase emotional engagement between couple

Identify primary and secondary emotions in the context of

negative interactional pattern

Access, expand, and reorganize key emotional responses

Create a shift in partners’ interactional positions.

Foster the creation of a secure bond between partners

through the creation of new interactional events that redefine

the relationship

ROLE OF THERAPIST:

Client-centered, collaborative

Process consultant

Choreographer of relationship

dance

ASSESSMENT:

Assess relationship factors such as:

oTheir cycle

oAction tendencies (behaviors)

oPerceptions

oSecondary emotions

oPrimary emotions

oAttachment needs

Relationship history, key events

Brief personal attachment history

Interaction style

Violence/abuse/drug usage

Sexual relationship

Prognostic indicators:

oDegree of reactivity and escalation- intensity of

negative cycle

oStrength of attachment/commitment

oOpenness – response to therapist – engagement

oTrust/faith of the female partner (does she believe he

cares about her).

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 24

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Continued

INTERVENTIONS

Reflection

Validation

Evocative questions and empathic conjecture

Self-disclosure

Tracking, reflecting, and replaying interactions

Reframe in an attachment frame

Enactments

Softening

Heightening and expanding emotional

experiences

TERMINATION:

Therapy ends when the therapist and clients

collaboratively decide that the following changes

have occurred:

Negative affect has lessened and is regulated

differently

Partners are more accessible and responsive

to each other

Partners perceive each other as people who

want to be close, not as enemies

Negative cycles are contained and positive

cycles are enacted

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Accept responsibility for client/therapist

relationship

Expert on process of therapy, not on client’s

life or experience of the difficulty

Collaborator who must sometimes lead and

sometimes follow

EVALUATION:

Therapy/Research:

Difficult model to learn

When using the EFT model, it is

important to move slowly down the

process of therapy. This can be difficult

to do.

Learning to stay with deepened emotions

can sometimes be overwhelming, but the

therapist must continue to reflect and

validate.

Empirically validated, 20 years of

research to back up.

CHANGE:

Change happens as couples have a new corrective

emotional experience with one another.

When couples are able to experience their own

emotions, needs, and fears and express them to

one another and experience the other partner

responding to those emotions, needs, and fears in

an accessible, responsive way.

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS:

RESOURCES:

Johnson, S. M. (2004). The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Johnson, S. M., Bradely, B., Furrow, J., Lee, A., Palmer, G., Tilley, D., & Wolley, S. (2005). Becoming an

emotionally focused couple therapist: The workbook. New York: Routledge.

Johnson, S. M. (2008). Emotionally focused couple therapy. In A. S. Gurman (Ed.), Clinical handbook of couple

therapy (4th ed., pp. 107-137). New York: Guilford.

Johnson, S. M., & Greenburg, L. S. (1994). The heart of the matter: Perspectives on emotion in marital therapy.

New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 25

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Continued

Notes:

Background

Evidently, the Floyd family has been embroiled in a number of challenges in recent years and as

illustrated in the case study, these challenges have now morphed into a crisis. The key problems facing this

family include; intimate partner violence (IPV), drug and substance abuse and addiction, and child abuse

and neglect. These are challenges that are adversely affecting each and every member of the family hence

the need for urgent intervention and solution to restore peace and stability for the family. Below is a

treatment plan that will serve as the roadmap that the Floyd family will follow on their journey through

treatment. This treatment plan follows the Strategic Therapy (MRI).

Problem/symptom

Family conflict as manifested by Intimate partner violence (IPV), drug and substance abuse, and hid

abuse and neglect. IPV as manifested by volatile outbursts and escalating physical altercations will be

ended and will no longer affect the couple and their children. Drug and substance abuse that is affecting

both Jerry and Skipper will be significantly reduced in order to ensure it does not adversely affect the peace

and stability of the family. Child abuse and neglect that has forced the children to be placed in foster

homes.

Long-term goal/objective: Reduce Floyd's family conflict and increase. This goal will be measured by

reducing intimate family violence in the family to 1 time a week for the next 4 consecutive weeks. Reduce

Jerry Floyd volatile outbursts, physical altercations towards Skipper. Child abuse and neglect

Short-term Goals/Objectives

i. Jerry will stop committing IPV on Skipper.

ii. Jerry and Skipper will overcome drug and substance abuse.

iii. Help Jerry and Skipper to stop child abuse and neglect.

iv. Jerry and Skipper will learn communication and conflict resolution skills.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 26

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Continued

Intervention

Strategic Therapy (MRI) will help the Floyd family learn and implement coping skills to help them

overcome IPV, drug and substance abuse, and child abuse and neglect. Essentially, this modality assumes

that family members often perpetuate problems by their own actions and this is precisely the case with

Floyd family (Quick, 2014). Also, this modality assumes that all symptoms are messages and such

symptoms help the system survive and it is only a problem if the family describes it as such. The Floyd has

already admitted that there is needed a conflict in the family and it is adversely affecting their lives. For this

reason, it is necessary to help the family to cope and solve the problem in order to set them on a recovery

journey.

Much of the challenges the family is facing are purposely caused by the actions of various family

members, particularly Skipper and Jerry. Also, this modality assumes that directives tailored to the specific

needs of a particularly fairly can sometimes bring about sudden and decisive change. Drug and substance

abuse is at the core of the challenges bedeviling this family, however with the proper professional help and

commitment from the family members they can help solve this challenge.

This therapy will help the family define and understand the problem they are facing in order to

develop the necessary skills to overcome these problems. The therapy will be divided into two; family

therapy and individual therapy.

Family therapy

This will explore and help the Floyd family understand the root cause of their predicament, the

possible solutions, and more importantly, their role in implementing these solutions. The symptoms,

problems, and progress of each member will be monitored and necessary improvements/changes

implemented. With a proper understanding of the root because it will be easier for the Floyd family and the

therapist to avoid treating symptoms instead of the actual problem that has been ailing the family for quite

some time now.

Individual family

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 27

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Continued

Explore, process, and resolve IPV and child abuse, and to reinforce using good conflict resolutions

measures and coping at home. As evidenced in the case study both Jetty and Skipper some of the necessary

conflict resolution skills and this is why Skipper moved out of the home on February 14, 2017.

Involvement of Family

The father and mother will take part in family therapy and work on homework assignments to

improve their family functioning. Skipper and the children will support Jerry in overcoming his substance

abuse problem and becoming more responsible. It is always important to involve all the family members

when faced with such a problem because these members often have a powerful influence on the patient and

they are helpful in identifying the precipitants of the challenges ailing this family. Family-based risk factors

can potentially influence the onset and the course of the illness and this includes low relationship

satisfaction realization of the family developmental task, and commitment to the family (Patterson, 2018)..

For these reasons, it is necessary to involve the entire family in finding solutions to the challenges facing the

Floyd family in order to ensure them and support each in overcoming their predicament. By working

together, both the father and other will be involved in the family therapy and will also be assigned light

homework assignments in order to enhance their functioning.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 28

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Continued

Reference

Quick, E. K. (2014). Core competencies in the solution-focused and strategic therapies: Becoming a highly

competent solution-focused and strategic therapist. Routledge.

Patterson, J. E. (2018).Essential skills in family therapy: From the first interview totermination.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 29

Gottman Method Couple Therapy

LEADERS:

John Gottman

Julie Gottman

ASSUMPTIONS:

Therapy is primarily dyadic

Couples need to be in emotional states to learn how to cope with and

change them

Therapy should be primarily a positive affective experience

Positive sentiment override and friendship base are needed for

communication and affect change

CONCEPTS:

Negative interactions (four horsemen)

decrease acceptance of repair attempts

Most couples present in therapy with low

positive affect

Sound marital house

Softened startup

Love maps

GOALS OF THERAPY:

Empower the couple

Problem solving skills

Positive affect

Creating shared meaning

ROLE OF THE THERAPIST:

Coach

Provide the tools that the couple can use with

one another and make their own

ASSESSMENT:

Four horsemen are present and repair

is ineffective

Absence of positive affect

Sound marital house

INTERVENTIONS:

Sound Marital House

Dreams-within-conflict

Label destructive patterns

Enhancing the Marital friendship

Sentiment override

CHANGE:

Accepting influence

Decrease negative interactions

Increase positive affect

TERMINATION:

When couples can consistently develop their

own interventions that work reasonably well

SELF OF THE THERAPIST:

Not discussed

EVALUATION:

Theory is based on Gottman’s research

SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS

RESOURCES:

Gottman, J. (1994). Why marriages succeed or fail. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Gottman, J. M. (1999). The marriage clinic. New York: Norton.

Marriage and Family Therapy Models Page 30

Gottman Method Couple Therapy, continued

NOTES

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