Term
Founder of Strategic Family Therapy
Underpinnings of Strategic Family Therapy |
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Definition
Jay Hayley
Family’s resistance to altering the system and desire to maintain incongruous/unhealthy hierarchies leads to the development of symptoms.
● Symptoms arise due to the family’s failure to properly respond to changes in the family life cycle. |
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| Change occurs when the therapist provides directives that alter the patterns of communication between family members and changes the family’s organizational structure. |
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Definition
Authoritative, directive. ●
Maintains control of the therapeutic relationship.
● Active and engaged.
● Takes responsibility for the outcome of therapy. |
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| Considered a paradoxical intervention, these directives do not assign behavioral tasks, but instead use the relabeling technique to alter the meaning of the behavior into something more positive |
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| Paradoxical Intervention (or prescriptive directives): |
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Definition
| A change-oriented intervention. The therapist provides a directive to the client/family, with the expectation that the family will defy the directive and consequently move toward the desired change. |
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| A paradoxical intervention. The therapist directs clients to purposefully engage in an activity that perpetuates the dysfunctional behavior. The expectation is for the family to rebel against the directive or gain a sense of control over the dysfunctional behavior. |
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| A paradoxical intervention. The therapist encourages clients to hold off on trying to fix the problem or making changes too quickly. The expectation is for the family to become more motivated to work toward change. |
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| A paradoxical intervention. The therapist would direct the client to engage in an unpleasant task whenever the symptom would arise. The ordeal would be more discomforting than the undesired symptom. |
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| Describes the phenomenon of a child’s symptoms affecting the parents’ positions in the family, essentially placing the child in a oneup position and the parents in a subordinate position. |
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Goals are negotiated between the therapist and family and address the specific problem the family is incapable of solving on their own.
● Focus of therapeutic goals are behavioral in nature.
● Change a family’s dysfunctional interaction sequences and develop healthier and more appropriate family structure. |
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Definition
| Negotiates with family the exact problems that will be the focus of treatment. ● Explores dysfunctional interactions and faulty hierarchies. ● Issues prescriptive and descriptive directives. ● Provides assignments to be completed between sessions. ● Aligns with the parental subsystem to strengthen and reinforce the parental hierarchy. |
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Definition
Considered a short-term therapy model. Does not require all family members to participate, though prefers all are present for the initial session/interview. Prioritizes parents' engagement in treatment.
Beginning: First session is highly structured and moves through 5 stages: 1. Social: Therapist joins with family members allowing them to feel comfortable and willing to engage in treatment. 2. Problem: Elicits each member’s view of the problem behavior while remaining neutral. 3. Interaction: Family members are instructed to talk to each other about their view of the problem. 4. Goal-Setting: Clearly identify the presenting problem the family wants to address and develop a contract with clearly delineated goals. 5. Task-Setting: Provide family with initial, easy, directives (homework) to be completed outside of therapy. Early/Middle: Provides family with directives during sessions and to be completed as homework. End: Reinforce strengthened parental hierarchy. |
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