Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide 2023, Exams of World Religions

Download Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide 2023 and more Exams World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! COUN 5364 -Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide 2023. William Glasser - ✅✅Founder of choice theory, the essence of reality therapy, now taught all over the world, is that we are all responsible for what we choose to do. Robert Wubbolding - ✅✅(1) Director of the Center for Reality Therapy (2) Extended the theory and practice of reality therapy with his conceptualization of the WDEP system. The difference between Choice Theory and Reality Therapy? - ✅✅(1) Reality Therapy is a term used to describe the counselor and client's work together; Choice Theory is the theoretical construct which guides such work. It is a belief system based on an integration of psychology, behavior, systems, and genetics. I usually think of these as "bookends" and note I need both all of the time. (2) Reality Therapy is the vehicle through which we are able to apply Choice Theory concepts. In a nutshell, Reality Therapy is comprised of the following questioning loop--What do I/you want? (Refers to Quality World), What am I/are you doing? (Refers to Total Behavior), Is it working? (Evaluation/Processing) and What else can I/you do? (Reorganization of our Behavioral System). Via the Reality Therapy loop, we 2. We are attempting to behave in a way that gives us the most effective control over our lies 3. Some pictures may be blurred, and the therapist's role is to help the client clarify them. 4. Pictures exists in priority for most people, yet clients may have difficulty identifying their priorities. Total behavior - ✅✅(1) Teaches that all behavior is made up of four inseparable but distinct components—acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology—that necessarily accompany all of our actions, thoughts, and feelings. What are the four components of total behavior? - ✅✅(1) acting, (2) thinking, (3) feeling, and (4) physiology Why does Choice Theory use verbs (e.g., angering) instead of nouns (e.g., anger)? - ✅✅(1) Glasser says that to speak of being depressed, having a headache, being angry, or being anxious implies passivity and lack of personal responsibility, and it is inaccurate. (2) It is more accurate to think of these as parts of total behaviors and to use the verb forms to describe them. (3) It is more accurate to think of people depressing or angering themselves rather than being depressed or being angry. How is contemporary RT more relationally focused than in the past? - ✅✅(1) Focuses on the authentic encounter between therapist and client (2) Therapy relationship as a key factor in treatment success (3) Relationship characterized by kindness, connection, and a genuine desire to help the client combined with teaching choice theory principles. (4) Emphasis on connection raising the question, "Is what you are choosing to do getting you what you want and need" (3) The role of the therapist is to challenge client to examine what they are doing. (4) Reality therapists assist clients in evaluating their own behavioral direction, specific actions, wants, perceptions, level of commitment, possibilities for new directions, and action plans. (5) The job of the therapists is to convey the idea that no matter how bad things are, there is hope. (CONT.) What are characteristics and behaviors of a reality therapist? - ✅✅The therapeutic relationship: A fundamental task is for the therapist to create a good relationship with the client. Therapists are then able to engage clients in an evaluation of all their relationships with respect to what they want and how effective they are in getting this. Therapists find out what clients want, ask what they are choosing to do, invite them to evaluate present behavior, help them make plans for change, and get them to make a commitment. The therapist is a client's advocate, as long as the client is willing to attempt to behave responsibly. What are the clients' responsibilities in the process of RT? - ✅✅(1) Clients are not expected to backtrack into the past or get sidetracked into talking about symptoms. (2) Neither will much time be spent talking about feelings. (3) They can expect to begin to use what they are taught in their life. What is meant by "the cycle of counseling"? - ✅✅(1) The practice of reality therapy can best be conceptualized as the cycle of counseling, which consists of two major components Creating the counseling environment Self-evaluation questions: Is what you're doing helping or hurting? Is what you want realistically attainable? Does your self-talk help or impede need satisfying choices? What occurs in the PLANNING phase of the WDEP process? - ✅✅PLANNING - Much of the significant work of the counseling process involves helping clients identify specific ways to fulfill their wants and needs. Once clients determine what they want to change, they are generally ready to explore other possible behaviors and formulate in action plan. b. Plans should be SAMIC Simple Attainable Measurable Immediate, and Involved Controlled by the planner What are key strengths of RT from a multicultural perspective? - ✅✅(1) Focus is on clients making their own evaluation of behavior (including how they respond to their culture). (2) Through personal assessment clients can determine the degree to which their needs and wants are being satisfied. (3) The can find a balance between retaining their down ethic identity and integrating some of the vales and practices of the dominant society. What are key shortcomings of RT from a multicultural perspective - ✅✅(1) This approach stresses taking charge of one's own life, yet some clients are more interested in changing their external environment. (2) Counselor needs to appreciate the role of discrimination and racism and help clients deal with social and political realities. (5) 3) Some clients are very reluctant to directly verbally express what they need. Their culture and norms may not reinforce them in assertively asking for what they want. Who are the main influences/developers of contemporary FT? - ✅✅Jean Baker Miller Carolyn Zerbe Enns Olivia M. Espin iv) Laura S. Brown Jean Baker Miller - ✅✅Dr. Miller collaborated with diverse groups of scholars and colleagues on the development of relational-cultural theory. She made important contributions toward expanding this theory and exploring new applications to complex issues in psychotherapy and beyond, including issues of diversity, social action, and workplace change. Carolyn Zerbe Enns - ✅✅Her most recent efforts are directed toward articulating the importance of multicultural feminist therapy, exploring the practice of feminist therapy around the world (especially in Japan), and writing about multicultural feminist pedagogies. Olivia M. Espin - ✅✅specializes in counseling and therapy with women from different cultures and Latin American Studies. She is a pioneer in the theory and practice of feminist therapy with women from different cultural backgrounds and has done extensive research, teaching, and training on multicultural issues in psychology. Laura S. Brown - ✅✅a founding member of the feminist Therapy Institute. Dr. Brown has made particular contributions to thinking about ethics and boundaries, and the complexities of ethical practice in small communities. Her current interests include feminist forensic psychology and the application of feminist principles to treatment of trauma survivors. What are the main differences between the second and third waves of feminism? - ✅✅(1) Second wave of feminism is identified by four enduring feminist philosophies: (iv) deterministic (assuming that personality patterns and behavior are fixed at an early stage of development), and (v) Having an intrapsychic orientation (attributing behavior to internal causes, which often results in blaming the victim and ignoring sociocultural ad political factors). (b) Worell and Remer describe the constructs of feminist theory as being gender fair, flexible-multicultural, interactionist, and life-span-oriented. Gender-fair approaches explain differences in the behavior of women and men in terms of socialization processes rather than on the basis of our "innate" natures, thus avoiding stereotypes in social roles and interpersonal behavior. (ii) A flexible-multicultural perspective uses concepts and strategies that apply equally to individuals and groups regardless of age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation. (iii) The interactionist view contains concepts specific to the thinking, feeling, and behaving dimensions of human experience and accounts for contextual and environmental factors. (iv) A life-span perspective assumes that human development is a lifelong process and that personality and behavioral changes can occur at any time rather than being fixed during early childhood. (2) Personality Development - Feminist therapist emphasize that societal gender-role expectations profoundly influence a person's identity from the moment of birth and become deeply ingrained in adult personality. Gilligan recognized that theories of moral development were based almost exclusively on research with males. Women's sense of self and morality is based on issues of responsibility and care for other people and is embedded in a cultural context. Concepts of connectedness and interdependence— virtually ignored in male-dominated development theories—are central to women's development (ii) In feminist therapy women's relational qualities are seen as strengths and as pathways for healthy growth and (3) Women's and girl's voices and ways of knowing are valued and their experiences are honored (4) The counseling relationship is egalitarian (5) A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress (6) All types of oppression are recognized The personal is political - ✅✅This principle is based upon the assumption that the personal or individual problems that individuals bring to counseling originate in a political and social context. Commitment to a social change - ✅✅Feminist therapy aims not only for individual change but for social change. The goal is to advocate a different vision of societal organization that frees both women and men from the constraints imposed by gender-role expectations. Women's and girl's voices and ways of knowing are valued and their experiences are honored - ✅✅Women's perspectives are considered central I understanding their distress. Traditional therapies that operate on androcentric norms compare women to the male norm and find them deviant. The counseling relationship is egalitarian - ✅✅Attention to power is central in feministic therapy. Feminist therapists recognize that there is a power imbalance in the therapeutic relationship, so they strive for an egalitarian relationship, keeping in mind that clients are the experts on their own lives. The intent is to shift power and privilege to the voices and experiences of those who come to counseling and away from those who deliver it. A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress - ✅✅Feminist therapy has a "conflicted and ambivalent relationship" with diagnostic labeling and the "disease models" of mental illness. Psychological distress is reframed, not as disease but as a communication about unjust systems. When contextual variables are considered, symptoms can be reframed as survival strategies. Feminist therapists talk about problems in the limitations of gender-role socialization. To confront all forms of institutional policies that discriminate or oppress on any basis. What are key characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using FT? - ✅✅(1) The therapeutic relationship is based on empowerment and egalitarianism (2) Therapists actively break down the hierarchy of power and reduce artificial barriers by engaging in appropriate self- disclosure and teaching clients about the therapy process (3) Therapist actively focus on the power their clients have in the therapeutic relationship and make this part of their informed consent processes. (4) Therapist encourage clients to identify and express their feelings, to become aware of the ways they relinquish power in relationships with others as a result of socialization or as a means for survival, and to make decisions with this knowledge as the basis. (5) Therapists strive to create a collaborative relationship in which clients can become their own expert. (6) Therapist work to demystify the counseling relationship by sharing with the client their own perceptions about what is going on in the relationship, by making the client an active partner in determining any diagnosis, and by making use of appropriate self-disclosure. (7) A defining theme of the client-counselor relationship is the inclusion of clients in both the assessment and the treatment process, keeping the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian as possible. What is the role of the client in FT? - ✅✅(1) Clients are active participants in the therapeutic process. (2) Appropriate self-disclosure is affirmed within feminist therapy. (3) Feminist therapists do not restrict their practice to female clients; the relationship is always a partnership. a diagnosis usually assigned to and critical of women. (6) Feminist therapists do not refuse to use the DSM-IV-TR in this age of managed care and the prevalence of the medical model of mental health, but therapists who participate in the process of diagnosis have a responsibility to challenge the current diagnostic system. (7) Diagnosis, when used, results from a shared dialogue between client and therapist. Empowerment - ✅✅(1) Enns and Byars- Winston point out that many of the strategies of multi-cultural feminist therapy are part of the general umbrella of empowerment, which enables people to see themselves as active agents on behalf of themselves and others. (2) At the heart of feminist strategies is the goal of empowering the client. The process of feminist therapy begins with the informed consent process, referred to as "empowerment consent." Informed consent offers a place to begin a relationship that is egalitarian and collaborative. gender-role analysis - ✅✅A hallmark of feminist therapy, gender-role analysis explores the impact of gender-role expectations on the client's psychological well-being and draws upon this information to make decisions about future gender-role behaviors. gender-role intervention - ✅✅(1) Using this technique, the therapist responds to the client's concern b placing it in the context of society's role expectations for women. (2) The aim is to provide the client with insight into the ways social issues are affecting her. (3) By placing the client's concern in the context of societal expectations, the therapist gives the client insight into how these expectations have affected her psychological condition ad have contributed to her feeling anxious about judgment from others. group work - ✅✅(1) Groups share a common denominator emphasizing support for the experience of women. activities can empower clients and help them see the link between their personal experiences and the sociopolitical context in which they live. How might FT be useful for working with male clients? - ✅✅(1) Feminist therapy can be practiced with male clients. (2) The principles and practices of feminist psychotherapy are useful in working with male clients. (3) Social mandates about masculinity such as restrictive emotionality, overvaluing power and control, the sexualization of emotion, and obsession with achievement can be limiting to males. (4) Any presenting issue can be dealt with from a feminist perspective. What are key strengths of FT from a multicultural perspective? - ✅✅(1) Focus is on both individual change and social transformation. (2) A key contribution is that both the women's movement and the multicultural movement have called attention to the negative impact of discrimination and oppression for both women, and men. (3) Emphasizes the influence of expected cultural roles and explores client's satisfaction with and knowledge of these roles. . What are key shortcomings of FT from a multicultural perspective? - ✅✅(1) This model has been criticized for its bias toward the values of White, middle-class, heterosexual women, which are not applicable to many other groups of women nor to men. (2) Therapists need to assess with their clients the price of making significant personal change which may result in isolation from extended family as clients assume new roles and make life changes. What are key contributions of FT? - ✅✅(1) The feminist perspective is responsible for encouraging increasing members of women to question gender stereotypes and to Steve de Shazer - ✅✅one of the pioneers of solution-focused brief therapy Michael White - ✅✅cofounder with David Epston, of the narrative therapy movement David Epston - ✅✅one of the co-developers of narrative therapy What are the main tenets of postmodern/social constructivism? - ✅✅(1) Postmodernist, believe that realities do not exist independent of observational processes. Social constructionism is a psychological expression of this postmodern worldview; it values the client's reality without disputing whether it is accurate or rational. (2) The collaborative partnership in the therapeutic process is considered more important than assessment or techniques. (3) In social constructionism the therapist disavows the role of expert, preferring a more collaborative or consultative stance. (4) Social constructionist theory is grounded on four key assumptions which form the basis for the difference between postmodernism and traditional psycho- logical perspectives Social constructionist theory invites a critical stance toward taken-for-granted knowledge. Social constructionists believe the language and concepts we use to generally understand the world are historically and culturally specific Social constructionists assert that knowledge is constructed through social processes. What we consider to be truth" is a product of daily interactions between people in daily life. Negotiated understandings are considered to be practices that affect social life rather than being abstractions from it. What is meant by a counselor taking a not- knowing position when working with (4) Behavior change is viewed as the most effective approach to assisting people in enhancing their lives. (5) In SFBT, clients choose the goals they wish to accomplish; little attention is given to diagnosis, history taking, or exploring the emergence of the problem. Positive orientation - SFBT is grounded on the optimistic assumption that people are healthy ad competent and have the ability to construct solutions that can enhance their lives. Looking for what is working - SFBT has parallels with positive psychology, which concentrates on what is right and what is working for people rather than dwelling on deficits, weaknesses, and problems. The emphasis of SFBT is to focus on what is working in clients' lives, which stands in stark contrast to the traditional models of therapy that tend to be problem-focused. Basic Assumptions guiding practice - Walter and Peller think of solution-focused brief therapy as a model that explains how people change and how they can reach their goals. What are the goals of SFBT? - ✅✅(1) The SFBT therapist believes people have the ability to define meaningful personal goals and that they have the resources required to solve their problems. (2) Goals are unique to each client and are constructed by the client to create a richer future. (3) SF Therapist concentrate on small, realistic, achievable changes that can lead to additional positive outcomes. (4) SF offers several forms of goals: changing the viewing of a situation or a frame of reference, changing the doing of the problematic situation, and tapping client strengths and resources. What are characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using SFBT? - ✅✅(1) Much of what the therapeutic process is about involves counseling addresses what clients see as being important. (3) Three types of relationships may develop between therapists and their clients: Customer - client and therapist jointly identify a problem and a solution to work toward. Complainant - client describes a problem but is not able or willing to assume a role in constructing a solution, believing that a solution is dependent on someone else's actions. Visitor - the client comes to therapy because someone else thinks the client has a problem. Pre-therapy change - ✅✅(1) Simply scheduling an appointment often sets positive change in motion. (2) These changes cannot be attributed to the therapy process itself, so asking about them tends to encourage clients to rely less on their therapist and more on their own resources to accomplish their treatment goals. The miracle question - ✅✅(1) Therapy goals are developed by using what de Shazer calls the miracle question, which is a main SFBT technique. (2) The therapist asks, "If a miracle happened and the problem you have was solved overnight, how would you know it was solved, and what would be different?" (3) This question has a future focus in that clients can begin to consider a different kind of life that is not dominated by a particular problem. (4) This intervention shifts the emphasis from both past and current problems toward a more satisfying life in the future. Scaling Questions - ✅✅(1) Solution-focused therapists also use scaling questions when change in human experiences are not easily observed, such as feelings, moods, or communication, and to assist clients in noticing that they are not completely defeated by their problem. (2) Scaling questions enable clients to pay closer attention to what they are doing and (2) During this break therapists formulate feedback that will be given to clients after the break. (3) There are three basic parts to the structure of the summary feedback Compliments - genuine affirmations of what clients are already doing that is leading toward effective solutions. A bridge - links the initial compliments to the suggested tasks that will be given. This bridge provides the rationale for the suggestions. Suggesting a task. - can be considered homework. Observational tasks ask clients to simply pay attention to some aspect of their lives. (ii) This self-monitoring process help clients note the differences when things are better, especially what was different about the way they thought, felt, or behaved. (iii) Behavioral tasks require that clients actually do something the therapist believes would be useful to them in constructing solutions. (iv) A therapist's feedback to clients addresses what they need to do more of and do differently in order to increase the chances of obtaining their goals. Terminating - ✅✅1. From the very first solution-focused interview, the therapist is mindful of working toward termination. 2. Once clients are able to construct a satisfactory solution, the therapeutic relationship can be terminated. 3. The initial goal-formation question that a therapist often ask is, "What needs to be different in your life as a result of coming here for you to say that meeting with me was worthwhile?" 4. Prior to ending therapy, therapists assist clients in identifying things they can do to continue the changes they have already made into the future. 5. The ultimate goal of solution-focused counseling is to end treatment. interpretive stories, which are ten treated as "truth." (2) Therapy is, in part, a reestablishment of personal agency from the oppression of external problems and the dominant stories of larger systems. (3) Focus of Narrative Therapy - The narrative therapy approach involves adopting a shift in focus from most traditional theories. Therapists are encouraged to establish a collaborative approach with a special interest in listening respectfully to clients stores; to search for times in clients' lives when they were resourceful; to use questions as a way to engage clients and facilitate their exploration; to avoid diagnosing and labeling clients or accepting a totalizing description based on a problem; to assist clients in mapping the influence a problem has had on their lives; and to assist clients in separating themselves from the dominant stories they have internalized so that space can be opened for the creation of alternative life stories. (4) The role of stories - We live our lives by stories we tell about ourselves and that others tell about us. These stories actually shape reality in that they construct and constitute what we see, feel, and do. The stories we live by grow out of conversations in a social and cultural context. Therapy clients do not assume the role of pathologized victims who are leading hopeless and pathetic lives; rather, they emerge as courageous victors who have vivid stories to recount. The stories not only change the person telling the story, but also change the therapist. (5) Listening with an open-mind - All social constructionist theories emphasize listening to clients creative and imaginative thought, which is often found in their resistance to dominate discourse. What are the goals of NT? - ✅✅(1) A general goal of narrative therapy is to invite people to describe their experience in new and fresh language. In doing this, they open up new visas of what is possible. (2) This new language enables clients to develop new meanings for problematic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (3) Narrative therapy almost always includes an awareness of the impact of various aspects of dominant culture on human life. (4) Narrative practitioners seek to enlarge the perspective and focus and facilitate the discovery or creation of new options that are unique to the people they see. What are characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using NT? Pg. 412 - ✅✅(1) Narrative therapists are active facilitators (2) The concepts of care, interest, respectful curiosity, openness, empathy, contact, and even fascination are seen as a relational necessity. (3) The not-knowing position, which allows therapists to follow, affirm, and be guided by the stories of their clients, creates participant-observer and process-facilitator roles for the therapist and integrates therapy with a postmodern view of human inquiry. (4) A main task of the therapist is to help clients construct a preferred story line. (5) Like the Solution-focused therapist, the narrative therapist assumes the client is the expert when it comes to what he or she wants in life. (6) The narrative therapist tends to avoid using language that embodies diagnosis, assessment, treatment, and intervention. (7) When it comes to the effective practice of narrative therapy, there are no set formulas or recipes to follow What is the role of the counselor-client relationship NT? - ✅✅(1) Narrative therapists place great importance on the values and (4) Through the process of asking questions, therapists provide clients with an opportunity to explore various dimensions of their life situations. (5) The questioning process helps bring out the unstated cultural assumptions that contribute to the original construction of the problem. (6) The therapist is interested in finding out how the problems fist became evident, and how they have affected clients' views of themselves. (7) Narrative therapist attempt to engage people in deconstructing problem-saturated stories, identifying preferred directions, and creating alternative stories that support these preferred directions. Externalization and Deconstruction - ✅✅(1) Narrative therapists believe it is not the person that is the problem, but the problem that is the problem. (2) These problems are often products of the cultural world or of the power relations in which this world is located. (3) Externalization is one process for deconstructing the power of a narrative. This process separates the person from identification with the problem. When clients experience the problem as being located outside of themselves, they create a relationship with the problem. Separating the problem from the individual facilitates hope and enables clients to take a stand against specific story lines, such as self-blame. (4) The method used to separate the person from the problem is referred to as externalizing conversation, which opens up space for new stories to emerge. Externalizing conversations counteract oppressive, problem- saturated stories and empower clients to feel competent to handle the problems they face. Two stages of structuring externalizing conversations are (1) to map the influence of the problem in the person's life, and (2 to (ii) How do you think knowing this has affected my view of you as a person? (iii) Of all those people who have known you, who would be least surprised that you have been able to take this step in addressing your problem's influence in your life? (iv) What actions might you commit yourself to if you were to more fully embrace this knowledge of who you are? (b) Circular Questions (the development of unique outcome stories into solution stories) Now that you have reached this point in life, who else should know about it? (ii) I guess there are a number of people who have an outdated view of who you are as a person. What ideas do you have about updating these views? (iii) If other people seek therapy for the same reasons you did, can I share with them any of the important discoveries you have made? Alternative stories and reauthoring - ✅✅(1) The point in the narrative interview when clients make the choice of whether to continue to live by a problem-saturated story or create an alternative story. (2) The therapist works with clients collaboratively by helping them construct more coherent and comprehensive stories. Documenting the evidence - ✅✅(1) Narrative practitioners believe that new stories take hold only when there is an audience to appreciate and support them. (2) One technique for consolidating the gains a client makes is by writing letters. (3) The letter that the therapist writes provide a record of the session and may include an externalizing description of the problem and its influence on the client, as well as an account of the client's strengths and abilities that are identified in a session. (4) Letters can be read again at different times, and the story that they are part of can be re-inspired. (5) The letter highlights the struggle the client has had with the problem ad draws distinctions between the problem-saturated identified within social, cultural, political, and relational contexts rather than existing within individuals. They are very much concerned with considering the specifications of gender, ethnicity, race, disability, sexual orientation, social class, and spirituality and religion as therapeutic issues. Therapy becomes a place to re- author the social constructions and identify narratives that clients are finding problematic. (5) Narrative therapy is a relational and anti- individualistic practice. (6) Therapist do not approach clients with a preconceived notion about their experience. What are key shortcomings of NT from a multicultural perspective - ✅✅(1) A potential shortcoming of the postmodern approaches pertains to the not-knowing stance the therapist assumes, along with the assumption of the client-as-expert. (2) Individuals from many different cultural groups tend to elevate the professional as the expert who will offer direction and solutions for the person seeking help (3) If the therapist is telling the client, "I am not really an expert, you are the expert, I trust in your resources for you to find solutions to our problems, then this may engender lack of confidence in the therapist. What are key contributions of NT? - ✅✅(1) The optimistic orientation of the postmodern approaches that rest on the assumptions that people are competent and can be trusted to use their resources in creating better solutions and more life- affirming stories. (2) The narrative approach to counseling also tends to be based on brief methods. (3) The non-pathologizing stance characteristic of practitioners with a social constructionist, solution-focused, or narrative orientation is a major contribution to the counseling profession. their particular approach, is that the client is connected to living systems. (3) Attempts at change are best facilitated by working with and considering the family or set of relationships as a whole. (4) It is not possible to accurately assess an individual's concern without observing the interaction of the other family members, as well as the broader contexts in which the person and the family live. (5) Family therapy perspectives call for a conceptual shift because the family is viewed as a functioning unit that is more than the sum of the roles of its various members. (6) Actions by any individual family member will influence all the others in the family and the reactions will have a reciprocal effect on the individual. How is this perspective different than one that focuses on the individual? - ✅✅(1) Systemic therapists do not deny the importance of the individual in the family system, but they believe an individual's systemic affiliations and interactions have more power in the person's life than a single therapist could ever hope to have. (2) By working with the whole family system, the therapist has a chance to observe how individuals act within the system and participate in maintaining the status quo; how the system influences (and is influenced by) the individual; and what interventions might lead to changes that help the couple, family, or large system as well as the individual expressing pain (3) Rather than losing sight of the individual, family therapists understand the person as specifically embedded in larger systems. What are the common themes that resonate across most family therapy approaches? - ✅✅(1) The family as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts taken separately. The family maintains a collective identity that is different from the individual identities of each of its members. Why behavior occurs within the family is not the focus of a counselor working