The Use Of Structural Family Therapy

Additional limitations can be found in some of the treatment methods discussed in this paper. Specifically, when discussing the different approaches to family based cognitive behavioral therapy, it is evident that these approaches are used to improve family interactions, but there is a lack of fundamental proof that these approaches help interactions when ADHD is present. Although behavioral management training, problem solving and communication training and structural family therapy has been observed to help balance a healthy family/relationship dynamic, very little research has been conducted to see how these therapies help alleviate the negative effects ADHD may be having on these relationships. Furthermore, the treatment method of Imago Relationship Therapy has been used to help couples communicate their emotions better, the same issue remains. More empirical evidence is needed to support the inference that IRT helps couples when the variable of ADHD is present. It would be ideal to incorporate these different

The movie Ordinary People is a movie which looks at a family struck by tragedy, It shows how an upper middle-class family handles life when tragedy strikes unexpectedly, and family order is turned into chaos. The movie in essence sheds light into a family, due to a tragedy, has turned into separate individuals living in the same house, who lack of communicating their grief effectively. The movie was shown through a realistic lens, without over dramatization; looked into misplaced guilt at every level. The inability of the family to work through the tragedies lead them to a place where they each felt a breakdown within each other as well as the family dynamic.

Structural family therapy is associated with the work of Salvador Minuchin and is an evidence based therapy influenced by brief strategic and eco-systemic structural family therapy (Gerhart, 2014). Structural family therapists are active in the counseling sessions and will want to have all of the members of the family participate in the counseling sessions. The therapist is then able to map family structures in order to resolve relation problems between family members. The therapist will then make assessments and set goals to restructure the family interactions while focusing on family strengths.

Structural Family Therapy (SFT) has a few interventions within the theoretical model that I could see myself using with clients (families) from diverse backgrounds with diverse presenting problems. I am in agreement with the way this model looks at the different types of families and the types of issues they present with such as the patterns common to troubled families; some being "enmeshed," chaotic and tightly interconnected, while others are "disengaged," isolated and seemingly unrelated. This model also helped me understand that families are structured in "subsystems" with "boundaries," their members not seeing these complexities and problems that are going on

Salvador Minuchin, born and raised in Argentina, is known as the founder of structural family therapy (Colapinto, 1982). Before creating what would be known as his most lasting contribution, Minuchin spent years paving his way to his success. Traveling back and forth from Israel to the United States, Minuchin finally settled down in the year 1954 where he began training in psychoanalysis at the William Alanson White Institute in the United States (Nichols, 2014). Following the White Institute, Minuchin began working at the Wiltwyck School, which consisted of delinquent boys from unsystematic, multi-problem, underprivileged families (Colapinto, 1982). At the time Minuchin began working there, therapists had found that certain clinical populations were not responding to traditional psychotherapy (Lappin, 1988). In fact, the population of delinquent children, like those that Minuchin was working with at Wiltwyck, resisted even more so than other populations to this traditional psychotherapy (Lappin, 1988). This was due to the fact that the traditional psychotherapeutic techniques used, were developed for middle-class patients who were verbally articulate (Colapinto, 1982). It was then when Minuchin realized that a new model of change was needed, particularly one that worked with unprivileged, delinquent boys (Lappin, 1988).

Structural family therapy is a model of treatment based on systems theory that was developed by Salvador Minuchin. Structural family therapy features emphasis is mostly on structural change as the main goal of therapy; it pays close attention to the individual but also acknowledges the importance of family in the healing process of the individual.

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy employed to assist members of a family in improving communication systems, conflict resolution, and to help the family to deal with certain problems that manifest in the behavior of members. In most cases, deviance in a family member is an indication of underlying family dysfunctions. This paper looks the counselling procedure that can be applied to help the Kline family solve their problems. It answers certain questions including those of the expected challenges during therapy and ways of dealing with the challenges.

My first assumption of family therapy was to involve the parents and the individual that had the problem. This book explored further what it

Research is continually being conducted everyday with this common disorder. Many parents main concerns is the use of medication to treat their child. Many doctors nowadays show the parents the current research of studies being done and their effectiveness as well as providing papers for families for their willingness to participate in ongoing studies to better help understand their childs disorder and the best way to treat it ( Görtz-dorten, Breuer, Hautmann, Rothenberger, Döpfner, 2011).

A common issue to be brought up during the sessions will be Frank’s abandonment along with his alcohol and drug use, inability to care for others, and all-around selfishness. Frank will experience blame from Fiona and the rest of the family. Fiona’s newfound guardianship of her siblings, and role confusion will be identified and obvious during the counseling sessions. Debbie’s pregnancy will also be brought into the session often, as it was what brought the family to counseling. Debbie will present as silent and unwilling to come to a solution. A common theme of the sessions and counseling may be lack of trust in Frank by Fiona and Debbie. Depending on the result of Debbie’s pregnancy decisions, there may be continuing arguments, disapproval, and triangulation occurring in the subsequent sessions.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare an annotated bibliography on family therapy with emphasis on ethnicity and sociocultural influences on the problems of communication. This research includes twelve resources on authors with the following annotations: Delineation of the main focus or purpose of each author 's work; Background and credibility of each author; Intended audience for the work; Any unique feature of the work; Theoretical understandings; Family therapy strategies or techniques; and a Conclusion or observations presented in the work.

You brought out some good points referring to the ideal family will encounter inevitable difficulties but will be able to recognize the need for change in family structure in order to maintain appropriate balance and success (Becvar & Becvar, 2013). Regarding structural family therapy the therapist has to enter into the family system to understand the rules that administers the functioning of the system. Then plan and obtain an understanding of the relationship between the family members (subsystems), upset the dysfunctional relationships with the family subsystem and then cause the family to become more stable and healthy. For example; John, his wife Wanda, and their two sons Andrew and Andre appear to be the perfect family. But underneath

It’s normal for a child to occasionally forget to do their homework, get fidgety when they lose interest in an activity, or speak out of turn during class time. But inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are all signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a neuro-development disorder and can start as early as three years old throughout adulthood. People with ADHD have trouble focusing on tasks and activities, this can have a negative impact on the individual in different ways. It can make the child feel alone, incompetent, and powerless and those that don’t understand this behavior only intensified their struggle. Family and schools have a major impact on the life of a child suffering with ADHD. Parents who

The participants for the study consisted of 915 youth between the ages of 6 to 19, most of which were recruited from the local schools. 242 of these children were sibling pairs, 484 siblings in total. Out of the total 915 students, 389 were diagnosed with ADHD (27% of which who were taking a prescribed medication) and 384 without. The last 142 students were classified as having some ADHD symptoms, but not enough or too infrequent to be diagnosable. Parents and teachers were asked to complete multiple surveys asking them to rate and identify observed symptoms and behaviors of their child/children. The researchers made sure that diagnoses regarding ADHD and other similar disorders were made carefully and professionally. (Among all the various tests and surveys, the parent’s and teacher’s ratings were looked at the most, pertaining to ADHD symptoms and behaviors.) The participants were then asked to complete an IQ test and various academic assessments to get a sense of their academic levels. Additionally, the researchers obtained information about past disorders and health complications from both the children’s and their family’s history. Each student’s parent/guardian was asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire about the pregnancy, birth, and early development of their child. They were also asked about the mother’s substance use, specifically tobacco, and

The purpose of the research was to compare families with children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to families without children with ADHD by comparing the dysfunction and adversity of each family. Study revealed that families that have children with ADHD tend to have more family dysfunction than those families without children with ADHD. According to DSM-IV-TR at the time, ADHD behaviors were classified into two categories “a persistent patterns of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity” (Foley, 2011). ADHD can affect multiple aspects of a child/adolescent’s life. Inattentive behaviors can be being preoccupied with thoughts and not paying attention to detail, make careless mistakes, carelessness, forgetful, not following directions, and easily sidetracked. Behaviors that are associated with hyperactive can be impulsive behaviors, increased activity, have difficulty waiting for their turn, overly talking, and interrupting. “A clinical diagnosis for ADHD includes the presence of six or more symptoms in either of the two groups; symptoms must be present before age 7 and problematic for at least 6 months” (Foley, 2011). The more adversity indicators (large family, maternal psychiatric illness, paternal criminality, foster care placement) present, the greater the likelihood for childhood problems. Family dysfunction such as ineffective communication, parental conflicts, and unorganized family were higher in families with children who had ADHD versus