COUN 5364 -Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide, Exams of Theories of Democracy

Download COUN 5364 -Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide and more Exams Theories of Democracy in PDF only on Docsity! COUN 5364 -Graduate Theories of Counseling - Final Exam Latest Guide 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 are always investigating new ways to meet our needs. What are the five needs addressed in Choice Theory? - ✅✅(1) The need to survive (2) The need to belong (3) The need to gain power (4) The need to be free (5) The need to have fun Quality world - ✅✅1. Choice therapy teaches that we do not satisfy our needs directly. What we do, beginning shortly after birth and continuing all our lives, is to keep close track of anything we do that feels very good. We store information inside our minds and build a file of wants, called our quality world, which is at the core of our life. 2. It is our personal world, the world we would like to live in if we could. 3. It is completely based on our wants and needs, but unlike the needs, which are general, it is very specific. 4. The quality world consists of specific images of people, activities, events, beliefs, possessions, and situations that fulfill our needs 5. Our quality world is like a picture album. Picture album - ✅✅1. We develop an inner picture album of specific wants as well as precise ways to satisfy these wants. 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 What are the key underlying characteristics of reality therapy? - ✅✅(1) Emphasize choice and responsibility (2) Reject transference (3) Keep the therapy in the present (4) Avoid focusing on symptoms (5) Challenge traditional views of mental illness 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. What are the overall key contributions of RT? - ✅✅(1) This is a positive approach with an action orientation that relies on simple and clear concepts that are easily grasped in many helping professions. (2) It can be used by teachers, nurses, ministers, educators, social workers, and counselors. (3) Due to the direct methods, it appeals to many clients who are often seen as resistant to therapy. (4) It is short-term approach that can be applied to a diverse population, and it has been a significant force in challenging the medical model of therapy. What are the overall key limitations of RT? - ✅✅(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. (3) 1) In working with clients from certain ethics groups, RT may not take fully into account some very real environmental forces that operate against them in their everyday lives. (4) 2) Some RT therapist may make the mistake of too quickly or too forcefully stressing the ability of their clients to take charge of their lives. (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: liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminism. (2) Third wave feminism embraces diversity with its inclusion of women of color, lesbians, and the postmodern and constructivist viewpoints espoused by many of the most recent generation of feminist women. New developments in feminism also include global and international perspectives. How does feminist theory differ from traditional theories in regard to human nature and personality development? - ✅✅(1) Human Nature - Many of the traditional theories grew out of a historical period in which social arrangements were assumed to be rooted in one's biologically based gender. Men were assumed to be the norm and were the only group studied or understood within the normative construct. It was also assumed that because of biological gender differences women and men would pursue different directions if life. Worell and Remer are critical of traditional theories for being androcentric (using male-oriented constructs to draw conclusions about human, including female, nature), (ii) gendercentric (proposing two separate paths of development for women and men, (iii) heterosexist (viewing a heterosexual orientation as normative and desirable and devaluing lesbian, gay male, and bisexual orientations), (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 development instead of being identified as weaknesses or defects. What is relational-cultural theory? - ✅✅(1) The founding scholars of relational cultural theory suggest that a woman's sense of identity ad self-concept develop in the context of relationships. (2) According to Bern, men, as the dominant group, define and determine the roles that women play. Because women occupy a subordinate position, to survive and thrive in society they must be able to interpret the needs and behaviors of the dominant group. To that end, women have developed "women's intuition" and have included in their gender schema an internalized belief that women are less important than men. (3) Understanding and acknowledging internalized oppression is central in feminist work. (4) Women and men who reject traditional roles are saying that they are entitled to express the complex range of characteristics that are appropriate for different situations and that they are open to their vulnerability as human beings What are the six core principles of FT according to your text? Differentiate between each. - ✅✅(1) The personal is political (2) Commitment to a social change (3) Women's and girl's voices and ways of knowing are valued and their experiences are honored (4) The counseling relationship is egalitarian (4) Using the DSM-IV-TR, depression is diagnosed twice as often in women as in men. Feminist therapist believe women have many more reasons to experience depression than do men, and they often frame depression as a normative experience for women. (5) Perhaps the potentially most damaging diagnosis is borderline personality disorder, 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. (2) Groups can provide women with a social network, decrease feelings of isolation, create an environment that encourages sharing of experiences, and help women realize that they are not alone in their experiences. (3) Groups provide a supportive context where women can share and begin to critically explore the messages they have internalized about their self-worth and their place in society. power analysis - ✅✅(1) Power analysis refers to the range of methods aimed at helping clients understand how unequal access to power and resources can influence personal realities. (2) Together therapists and clients explore how inequities or institutional barriers often limit self-definition and well-being. (3) Interventions are aimed at helping the client learn to appreciate herself as she is, regain her self-confidence based on the personality attributes she possesses, and set goals that will be fulfilling to her within the context of her cultural values. social action - ✅✅(1) Social action, or social activism, is an essential quality of feminist therapy. (2) As clients become more grounded in their understanding of feminism, therapist may suggest that clients become involved in activities such as volunteering at a rape crisis center, etc. Participating in such 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 reject limited views of what a woman is expected to be. (2) It is paving the way for gender-sensitive practice and bringing attention to the gendered uses of power in relationships. (3) The unified feminist voice brought attention to the extent and implications of child abuse, incest, rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. (4) Feminist principles and interventions can be incorporated in other therapy approaches. What are key limitations of FT? - ✅✅(1) A possible limitation is the potential for therapists to impose a new set of values on clients—such as striving for equality, power in relationships, defining oneself, freedom to pursue a career outside the home, and the right to an education. (2) Therapists need to keep in mind that clients are their own best experts, which means it is up to them to decide which values to live by. Who are some of the founders of contemporary postmodern therapies? - ✅✅(1) Insoo Kim Berg (2) Steve de Shazer (3) Michael White (4) David Epston Insoo Kim Berg - ✅✅co-developer of the solution-focused approach. 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. 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 how they can take steps that will lead to the changes they desire. Formula First Session Task - ✅✅(1) The formula first session task (FFST) is a form of homework a therapist might give clients to complete between their first and second sessions. (2) The therapist might say, "Between now and the next time we meet, I would like you to observe, so that you can describe to me next time, what happens in your marriage that you want to continue to have happen." (3) This kind of assignment offers clients hope that change is inevitable. It is not a matter of if change will occur, but when it will happen. (4) This intervention tends to increase clients' optimism and hope about their present and future situation. (5) The FFST technique emphasizes future solutions rather than past problems. (6) FFST intervention can be used after clients have had a chance to express their present concerns, views, and stories. (7) It is important that clients feel understood before they are directed to make changes. Therapist Feedback to clients - ✅✅(1) Solution-focused practitioners generally take a break of 5-10 minutes toward the end of each session to compose a summary message for clients. (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. 6. Because this model of therapy is brief, present-centered, and addresses specific complains, it is very possible that clients will experience other developmental concerns at a later time. Application to Group Counseling - ✅✅1. The solution-focused group practitioner believes that people are competent, and that given a climate where they can experience their competency, they are able to solve their own problems, enabling them to live a richer life. 2. From the beginning, the facilitator sets a tone of focusing on solutions in which group members are given an opportunity to describe their problems briefly. 3. The group leader works with members in developing well-formed goals as soon as possible. 4. The facilitator asks members about times when their problems were not present or when the problems were less severe. 5. The art of questioning is a main intervention used in solution-focused groups. 6. Solution-focused group counseling offers a great deal of promise for practitioners who want a practical and time- effective approach to interventions in school settings. What is narrative therapy (NT)? - ✅✅(1) Individuals construct the meaning of life in 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 without judgment or blame, affirming and valuing them. Narrative practice goes further in deconstructing the system of normalizing judgment that are found in medical, psychological, and educational discourse. Normalizing judgment is any kind of judgment that locates a person on a normal curve and is used to assess intelligence, mental health, or normal behavior. Narrative practitioners might be said to invite people to pass judgment on the judgments that have been working them over. Narrative therapists make efforts to enable clients to modify painful beliefs, values, and interpretations without imposing their value systems and interpretations. They want to create meaning and new possibilities from the stories clients share rather than out of a preconceived and ultimately imposed theory of importance and value. During the narrative conversation, attention is given to avoiding totalizing language, which reduces the complexity of the individual by assigning an all-embracing single description to the essence of the person. The narrative perspective focuses on the capacity of humans for creative and imaginative thought, which is often found in their resistance to dominate discourse. (4) The therapist talks to the client about moments of choice or success regarding the problem. (5) It is within the account of unique outcomes that a gateway is provided for alternative versions of a person's life. Questions that lead to the elaboration of preferred identity stories: What do you think this tells me about what you have wanted for your life and about what you have been trying for in your life? (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 story and the developing new and preferred story. (6) Epston has developed a special facility for carrying on therapeutic dialogues between sessions through the use of letters. (7) Letters documenting changes clients have achieved tend to strengthen the significance of the changes, both for the client and for others in the client's life. Application to Group Counseling - ✅✅Many of the techniques described in this chapter can be applied to group counseling. What are key strengths of NT from a multicultural perspective - ✅✅(1) Social constructionism is congruent with the philosophy of multiculturalism. (2) With the emphasis on multiple realities and the assumption that what is perceived to be a truth is the produce of social construction, the postmodern approaches are a food fit with diverse worldviews. (3) The second constructionist approach to therapy provides clients with a framework to think about their thinking and to determine the impact stories have on what they do. (4) Narrative therapy is grounded in a sociocultural context, which makes this approach especially relevant for counseling culturally diverse clients. Narrative therapists operate on the premise that problems are 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. (4) Brief therapy has been shown to be effective for a wide range of clinical problems. (5) Studies that have compared brief therapies with long-term therapies have generally found no difference in outcomes. (6) Outcome studies generally show that most clients receiving SFBT report accomplishing their treatment goals. What are key limitations of NT? - ✅✅(1) McKenzie and Monk express their concerns over those counselors who attempt to employ narrative ideas in a mechanistic fashion. They caution that a risk in describing a map of a narrative orientation lies in the fat that some beginners will pay more attention to following the map than they will to following the lead of the client. Subsequently, mechanically using techniques will not be effective. Although narrative therapy is based on some simple ideas, it is not a simple process. What is meant by a family systems perspective? - ✅✅(1) Family systems perspective = is that the client is connected to living systems. (2) One central principle agreed upon by family therapy practitioners, regardless of 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. From Whitaker, the field of family therapy learned to tolerate and sometimes create anxiety in families—and then how to join families in their struggles to become more real and more transparent. Salvador Minuchin - ✅✅began to develop structural family therapy in the 1960's through his work with delinquent boys from poor families at the Wiltwyck School in NY. He refined the theory and practice of structural family therapy. Focusing on the structure, or organization of the family, the therapist helps the family modify its stereotyped patterns and redefine relationships among family members. He believes structural changes in families must occur before individual members' symptoms can be reduced or eliminated. From Minuchin, family therapy developed an understanding of power, organization, and alignments in family life, and family therapists learned how to use themselves to set boundaries and even unbalance dysfunctional family systems. Jay Haley and Cloe Madanes - ✅✅founded the Washington School of strategic family therapy. Haley blended structural family therapy with the concepts of hierarchy, power, and strategic interventions. Madanes contributed to the development of a brief, solution-oriented therapy approach. What is the content of a genogram? - ✅✅(2) Most therapist start with a map of the family that comes to therapy. (3) The parents are listed with their name, age, and date of birth in either a rectangle (for men) or a circle (for women). (4) If there are multiple relationships involved in the parental subsystem, they are generally indicated in chronological order with men listed on the left and women on the right. (5) The genogram should show at least three generations (i.e., self and siblings, parents and their siblings, and grandparents). If you have children and grandchildren, you may include them on the chart as well. (6) Parents, siblings (7) Children, miscarriages (8) Marriages, divorces (9) Use squares to represent males: and circles for females: (10) Use double lines around the square or circle to indicate yourself, the index person. (11) Names, dates for birth and/or death should be written above or below the symbol. (12) Place an X inside the figures of those who are deceased: (13) Marital relationships are shown by connecting lines that go down and across between the partners. The husband is on the left and the wife on the right. Divorce is indicated with two slashes (//) in the horizontal marriage line. The dates for marriage and divorce, if applicable, should be written above the marriage line (14) Vertical lines are drawn below marriage lines for the children of the marriage, with the oldest child on the left and the youngest child on the right. (15) Special Circumstances: (16) Diverging lines connect twins to parents. Identical twins are connected by a bar between the children. (17) Miscarriages are noted with a small filled-in circle. (18) Dotted lines connect adopted children. (19) Pregnancies are illustrated by a triangle. (20) Conflicts in a relationship (21) Problems with alcohol. (22) Death occurred What is the purpose of a genogram? - ✅✅(1) The genogram is a pictorial graph of the structure and characteristics of a family across three or more generations. (2) It serves as both a guide to the people and the processes that influence the client's life. What are key strengths of FST from a multicultural perspective? - ✅✅(1) One of the strengths of the systemic perspective in working from a multicultural framework is that many ethnic and cultural groups place great value on the extended family. (2) Families cannot escape the sexism and patriarchy that are inherent in all cultures. The roles for men and women are prescribed in different societies, but in every culture women tend to come out on the short end more often than not. Because family life is where the roles of women can be most limited, a consideration of gender issues in families is an essential framework for family therapy. Perhaps the most difficult integration of all is figuring out how to honor different cultures in therapy without supporting marginalization or oppression of women. Today, family therapists explore the individual culture of the family, the larger cultures to which the family members belong, and the host culture that dominates the family's life. Interventions are no longer applied universally, regardless of the cultures involved: rather, they are adapted and even designed to join with the cultural systems. What are key shortcomings of FST from a multicultural perspective? - ✅✅(1) Perhaps the major concern for non- western cultures would be with regard to the balance of this model advocates for the individual versus the collective. The process of differentiation occurs in most cultures, but it takes on a different shape due to cultural norms. Although a multilayered approach addresses the notion of togetherness and individuality from a balanced perspective, many non-Western cultures would not embrace a theory that valued individuality above loyalty to family in any form. A possible shortcoming of the practice of family therapy involves practitioners who assume Western Models of family are universal. What are the overall key contributions of FST? - ✅✅(1) One of the key contributions of most systemic approaches is that neither the individual nor the family is blamed for a particular dysfunction. (2) The family is empowered through the process of identifying and exploring internal, developmental, and purposeful interactional patterns. (3) At the same time, a systems perspective recognizes that individuals and families are affected by external forces and systems, among them illness, shifting gender patterns, culture, and socioeconomic considerations. (4) Most of the individual therapies considered in this textbook fail to give a primary focus to the systemic factors influencing the individual. Family therapy redefines the individual as a system embedded within many other systems, which brings an entirely different perspective to assessment and treatment. (5) An advantage to this viewpoint is that an individual is not scapegoated as the "bad person: in the family. What are the overall key limitations of FST? - ✅✅(1) In the early days of family therapy, therapists all too often got lost in their consideration of the "system." (2) In adopting the language of systems, therapists began to describe ad think of families as being made of terms such as dyads and triads, etc. It was as if the family was a well-piled machine or perhaps a computer that occasionally broke down. (3) Just as it was easy to fix a machine without an emotional consideration of the parts involved, some therapists approached family systems work with little concern for the individuals as long as the "whole" of the family ""functioned" better. (4) Enactments, ordeals, and paradoxical interventions were often "done" to clients—sometimes even without their knowledge. (5) Feminists were perhaps the first, but not the only group to lament the loss of a personal perspective within a systemic framework.