The Capstone Project

Case Study: Experiential Family Therapy

Cassandra Howery

Marriage and Family

American Public University

July 12th, 2015

Case Study: Experiential Family Therapy

I would use experiential family therapy with Judy. From the doctor's diagnosis, it is apparent that Judy's drastic weight loss is due to anorexia nervosa. This eating disorder is not directly linked to food and weight problems but rather caused by feelings of depression, insecurity, loneliness, feeling out of control or pressure from family, friends or the society to be perfect. Anorexia may also occur when individuals try to distract themselves from painful emotions. In other words, this condition acts like a way to fulfill a particular need in someone's life. For this reason, employing the experiential therapy can help Judy to discover her emotional need that her poor eating habit fulfills. Nevertheless, it is important to comprehend that anorexia is not only caused by psychological as well as family and social pressures but also caused by biological grounds. Research shows that the genetic disposition to anorexia may run in generations. Therefore, there is a possibility that a family member from Judy's generational family had the disorder and hence the family therapy will help both Judy and her family to understand better the disorder.

The experiential family therapy entails movements, actions and activities rather than the customary talk-therapy. It inspires patients to recognize and address the subconscious issues though performing activities such as guided imagery, role-playing and other active encounters (Gerstein, 2013). Since Judy is possibly suffering from hidden emotional issues, this therapeutic approach will help her to identify and unravel her problems. Throughout the therapy period, the experiences and activities that are key to assisting Judy may provide a frontier to observe her response and behavior particularly in cases where she may appear unfocused on the therapy.

Furthermore, since anorexia involves both the body and mind, a combined strategy is the best treatment. Treating the disorder involves three major phases: regaining the healthy weight, eating more food and changing one's thought regarding himself and food. Thus, besides employing the experiential technique, Judy must first focus on getting back to her healthy weight through beginning to eat more nutritious food. The therapy session will assist to recognize the negative thoughts and feelings that influence Judy's eating disorder and substitute them with less distorted and healthier beliefs (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006). Notably, experiential therapy will aid in teaching Judy to deal with challenging emotions, family problems, stress, and other pressures in a productive, instead of a self-destructive manner. Moreover, involving the other family members in the therapy will further give Judy the support and encouragement to address her issue since they will understand the emotional problems that she faces.

Through this therapeutic approach, Judy will have an opportunity to identify obstacles, experience success, develop enhanced self-esteem as well as take responsibility for her actions. The regular activities performed during the sessions will result in change, personal empowerment, and emotional growth (Gerstein, 2013). Research suggests that the experiential therapy strategy helps patients to focus on the activity at hand hence are likely to act in a genuine and more guarded way (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006). Therefore, this approach will assist in better understanding Judy's behavior that will in turn help to identify her emotional needs. At the same time, Judy will have an opportunity to evaluate her behaviors throughout the experiential therapy as well as the prior encounters and thoughts that may have triggered those behaviors.

Experiential therapy also offers a wide variety of other treatments like yoga, art therapy, adventure therapy and other experiential techniques. These treatments allow patients to re-enact momentous experiences, relationships or feelings in their lives and address the depression. Through working out the trauma, individuals develop skills that help them to avoid masking their emotional issues with eating disorders, drugs, alcohol and other unhealthy managing methods. Thus, Judy will most likely benefit from this approach since she will ultimately find ways to deal with her emotional pain.

Based on recent studies, individuals who have engaged in experiential therapy have recounted success in the counseling technique and recorded several benefits. First, the technique leads to increased self-confidence and self-belief in their abilities (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006). For Judy, it is likely that she has a low self-esteem, and she believes she is a total failure thereby concentrates on pleasing others. She is hiding these emotional problems through having a negative attitude towards food and starving herself. Therefore, this therapeutic mechanism will likely heighten her self-esteem and confidence.

Secondly, the same reports state that the individuals who have participated in experiential therapy possess a greater ability to concentrate on the present as well as trust themselves (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006). The experiences and activities they undertake during the sessions help them to discover themselves as well as focus on the positive aspects of life. The individuals also report having felt more connected with themselves as the process enhanced their communication and self-expression skills (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006). Ultimately, they realized reduced feelings of anxiety, hopelessness and depression while at the same time improved their problem-solving skills. Moreover, so, based on this studies, it is apparent that the experiential therapy is the most effective technique to assist Judy to counter her eating disorder.

Additionally, Gerstein (2013) states that the technique provides a therapeutic experience with family members, inspiring mutually open, truthful and direct expression of feelings and emotions. Its self-disclosure role has four major functions. It helps to model an honest and open communication of feelings among family members. As such, Judy's family can develop a more open relationship and truthful relationship with each other that can assist in reducing the family pressure that is likely to affect her. The method also helps to lessen the distance between the therapist and patient as well as the family members. This is because the process involves a series of activities that bond both the therapist and the family members. As a result, the patient and the family members can learn the origin of the problem and develop amicable ways to solve them. On the other hand, the therapist can easily observe the progress of the family members together with the patient and assess the next course of action. Judy's family will most likely benefit since the method serves as a faster and easier way to treat her anorexia nervosa.

Thirdly, the process helps to enhance the degree of empathy in the counseling context. It also provides feedback on how a patient's behavior affects the rest of the family members. This will in turn help to formulate ways to deal with a patient in such circumstances. For instance, Judy's family can learn how to encourage her to take up good eating habits so that she regain a healthy weight. Also, Judy will be in a position to reveal and share her innermost thoughts and feelings that are likely to be masked by defensive and distancing behaviors. The sharing of emotions and thoughts will thus strengthen the emotional bonds in Judy's family (Frisch, Franko, & Herzog, 2006).

In conclusion, experiential therapy provides an active, charismatic and careful technique of counseling that does not undermine a patient's autonomy. In other words, it provides a self-healing approach where the session is facilitative instead of instructive. As a result, patients can identify and address their emotional issues without coercion. Accordingly, this method will help Judy to identify her emotional needs and find ways to deal with them since they are the source of her eating disorder. Moreover, Judy's family members will learn how to deal with and support Judy throughout her challenging time.

References

Frisch, M. J., Franko, D. L., & Herzog, D. B. (2006). Arts-based therapies in the treatment of eating disorders. Eating Disorders, 14(2), 131-142.

Gerstein, J. S. (2013). Sticking Together: Experiential Activities For Family Counselling. New York: Taylor & Francis.