Satir’s human validation process model emphasizes:

Week 5: Overview

Experiential and Structural Models of Family Therapy

If you can allow yourself to think of the “here and now moment” in therapy, then you can begin to think like an experiential family therapist. If however, you prefer to think about the family in terms of organizational metaphors, then your thoughts are more in line with the structural model of family therapy. This is not to suggest that one approach is better than the other. However, both approaches are worthy of consideration. Therefore, this week we will explore both experiential and structural models of family therapy. We will examine their basic philosophy, as well as highlight some of the leading figures of each model. Lastly, we will outline the therapeutic goals of each model. You will participate in three discussion activities, and respond to one peer for two different discussion questions, as well as complete your mid-term exam. Remember to properly integrate and cite the readings in your discussion posts and include a reference list.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, you will:

· Recognize the basic philosophy of both experiential and structural models of family therapy.

· Identify the leading figures for experiential and structural models of family therapy.

· Discuss the therapeutic goals of experiential and structural models of family therapy.

Readings

Please read the following for this week as well as All Week 5 Online Course Materials:

· Goldenberg, H., & Goldenberg, I. (2013): Chapters 9 and 10

· Media: Here are instructions on how to access this video.

· Soothing the Threatened Brain Links to an external site.

·

· Basic Philosophy

· Both experiential and structural models of family therapy have been widely studied. The experiential model of family therapy dates back to the 1960s during its development from phenomenological techniques. Experiential Models of Family Therapy consist of Symbolic-experiential family therapy (S-EFT), Gestalt Family Therapy, The Human Validation Model, and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy. The structural model of family therapy took center stage in the 1970s, but some may argue that its influence has always been present, since its concepts consist of basic family therapy vocabulary.

· Family therapists who work from an experiential model minimize theory and instead focus on maximizing therapeutic conditions for personal growth and enhanced family interaction; while family therapists who work from a structural model focus on the way in which the family organizes itself.

· Dysfunctional behavior, according to the experiential model is deemed the result of a failure in the growth process, while structural family therapists believe that dysfunctional structures point to inoperative rules that govern family interactions. Structural family therapists believe that the family members relate according to certain arrangements. Structuralists are therefore interested in how the parts of the system, or family members interact and how balance is achieved. Specifically, the family structure is the covert set of functional codes that organize the way in which family members interact with each other.

· We will now explore the leading figures of these models.

Leading Figures

Key figures for Experiential Models of Family Therapy are Carl Whitaker, Walter Kempler, and Virginia Satir, Susan Johnson, and Les Greenberg. Minuchin is identified as a key figure for the Structural Model of Family Therapy. These individuals have made both significant and unique contributions to the field of family counseling.

David Kantor, Fred and Bunny Duhl are three experiential family therapists who contributed to the birth of the Experiential Family Therapy. They cofounded the Boston Family Institute and developed the family sculpting technique.

Carl Whitaker initially came to be known for his attempt to redefine a schizophrenic’s symptoms as signs that an individual was stuck in the process of growth. Most profoundly, Carl Whitaker was of the belief that the therapist must be committed to his or her own personal and professional growth in order to promote growth in others. Carl Whitaker developed Symbolic-experiential family therapy.

Walter Kempler is one of the most well known Gestalt Family Therapists, who studied with Perl and adapted his work. Kempler believes that the family holds the key to the growth and development of its members. He also used confrontational interventions with family members.

Virginia Satir developed the Human Validation Process Model, which is also experiential in nature. This approach allows the therapist and family to work together to promote healthy family interactions. She was also a part of the trailblazing efforts, which ultimately became the Mental Research Institute. What makes Virginia Satir unique is that she believed people wanted to be sensitive and genuine, which is why she sought to uncover healthy intentions in every individual. She was less concerned with conducting assessments and focused instead on improving family communication.

Susan Johnson and Les Greenberg are the originators of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, which is considered to be the best evidenced based couples intervention. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy borrows from the client-centered approach as well as Gestalt Therapy by guiding clients to greater awareness. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy is also influenced by Satir’s congruent communication and Bowlby’s attachment theory.

Salvador Minuchin initially began his journey to the development of the Structural Model for Family Therapy by creating a set of techniques in response to problems arising from the “under-organized” structures of the low-income, minority families with whom he worked. He began to examine the affects that living in poverty can have on a family. Minuchin therefore made it his mission to find therapeutic ways to change family context.

 We will now turn to the therapeutic goals for each of these approaches.

Therapeutic Goals

Experiential and Structural Models have very distinct goals for working with a family. The goals for each school of thought are discussed below. Keep in mind that it is useful for counselors-in-training to have a clear understanding of all theoretical approaches, even though you may not adopt them all for use in your professional practice. However, with an awareness of the therapeutic interventions and techniques that each theory has to offer comes a greater appreciation for the field and its contributors as a whole.

Remember that within Experiential Models exist Symbolic-experiential family therapy (S-EFT), Gestalt Family Therapy, The Human Validation Process Model, and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. These family therapy approaches can be described as existential. Therefore, they exist as more of an orientation to understanding human behavior, as opposed to a school of psychotherapy. Existential therapies encourage clients to examine and be accountable for their own lives.

The goal of Symbolic-experiential family therapy is to help the family members create a balancing act of being connected while also having a sense of autonomy for the overall goal of the family’s growth. The Symbolic-experiential family therapist focuses on engaging the entire family; thereby permitting them to examine the basis of their existence. It should be noted that Whitaker did not focus on symptoms presented in an “identified patient”. Whitaker proposed that Symbolic-experiential family therapy evolves in four stages, a pretreatment or engagement phase, a middle phase, a late phase, and a separation phase.

Gestalt Therapy in general focuses on how humans perceive their existence. Therefore, a major treatment goal is for the client to gain greater self-awareness in order to become more centered. Specifically, Gestalt Family Therapists focus attention on the immediate for the ultimate goal of confronting and resolving discordant elements. Kempler encourages self-disclosure by family members as a vehicle for helping the family solve their problems. All family members as well as the family therapist are directed to become more aware of what they are doing, saying, or feeling. Gestalt Family therapy encourages open and honest expression of emotion, emphasizes individual growth and development, and requires the counselor to model desired behavior.

The Human Validation Process Model emphasizes the collaborative efforts of the therapist and family members in order to achieve family wellness. The goal is to release the potential viewed as inherent in the family, through clear and congruent communication, as well as the building of self-esteem. Virginia Satir focused on teaching people congruent ways of communicating by helping them to get in touch with what they are feeling. The Human Validation Process Model also requires the family therapist to be caring and self-disclose his or her honest and immediate feelings. Satir believed that the way the family communicates is often a reflection of the feelings of self-worth harbored by its members. She established five communication patterns to consist of the placater, the blamer, the super-reasonable, the irrelevant, and the congruent communicator.

Virginia Satir also developed family reconstruction, which assists clients with unlocking dysfunctional patterns that stem from their families. The goals here are to reveal to family members the source of their old learning, to enable them to develop a more realistic picture of their parents, and to begin the process of helping family members discover their own identity.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy assists couples with examining what guides their experiences. An opportunity for change is therefore created when couples gain new emotionally meaningful experiences. Therefore, emotionally focused couple therapy attempts to help clients restructure negative interactive patterns. The goal of therapy is to modify the key emotional experiences of both partners in order to help the couple build secure emotional bonds. Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy is unique in that there is a step-by-step treatment manual that outlines the therapy process.

From a structural perspective, a family’s boundaries and subsystems are examined to order to understand its structure. Structural family therapists hone in on a family’s transactional patterns as this provides insight on the family’s boundaries, and structure, which affect the family’s ability to gain stability. Structural Family Therapists pay attention to the family’s adaptability to change and how well family members resolve conflict. Structuralists use the assessment process as an opportunity to develop a road map for their work with and into the family unit. Enactments, boundary making, unbalancing, and reframing are therapeutic techniques used by structural family therapists in order to restructure the family’s transactional rules by developing more appropriate boundaries. The goal of Structural Family Therapy is to challenge the family’s patterns of interaction, and encourage the family members to look beyond the issues presented by the “identified patient” in order to view all family members’ behavior within the context of family structures. The purpose of this process is to help the family change their interactive patterns and redefine their relationships, which supports family members in dealing with the stress in their lives.

As stated at the start of this week's lecture, family therapists may approach their work with families from different perspectives and perhaps even with different ways of reaching their goals, in mind. Developing a clear understanding of these models will help to begin shaping the work that you will ultimately engage in as a family counselor.

Week 5: Activities

Readings

Please read the following for this week as well as All Week 5 Online Course Materials:

· Goldenberg, H., & Goldenberg, I. (2013): Chapters 9 and 10

· PowerPoint Handout: Chapter 9 & 10 pdf Preview the document

Media

· BC428 Unfolding the Laundry Session 1 (Links to an external site.) BC428 Unfolding the Laundry Session 1

· Virginia Satir USSR 1988 (Links to an external site.) Virginia Satir USSR 1988

Assignments

· Week 5 Case Study & Discussion - Structural/Experiential

videos links

https://youtu.be/leIVxF-kpos

https://youtu.be/I36XM6_vsf4

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