a quick guide to caseconceptualization in structuralfamily therapy

The art of SFT becomes the therapists ability to help the family discover its own talents and capacities to effect the change that needs to take place to get the family back on a more productive path.

This isnt a name that instantly rolls off your tongue, or a therapy you hear used frequently in the press or in movies, such as the more ubiquitous techniques of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

But SFT is similar to other types of therapies categorized under the psychological framework of family systems therapy.

These types of therapies view the family unit as a system that lives and operates within larger systems, such as a culture, the community, and organizations.

But sometimes a family gets stuck, often resulting from behavioral or mental health issues of one of its family members.

Rather than focus on the individuals pathology, however, SFT considers problems in the familys structure - a dysfunction in the way the family interacts or operates.

SFT does not maintain that the familys interactions, or transactions cause the pathology, but rather that the familys transactions support or encourage the symptoms.

Transactions are simply patterns of how family members routinely interact with each other.

For example, a mothers transaction with her daughter could be controlling and overprotective, or an older brothers transaction with a younger brother could be one of bullying and overpowering.

A marriage and family therapist employing SFT must first assess the familys interactions, figuring out the familys hierarchy, alliances within the family, such as a mother and son against a father, or siblings against another sibling or siblings.

The therapist composes a map or flow chart describing the process that a family unconsciously follows.

Ultimately, the therapists goal is to change or modify the family map or structure to get it unstuck from its harmful transactions that are supporting and amplifying certain issues or problems.

Forms of family dysfunction Therapists using SFT delineate proper boundaries between family members and their transactions or interactions.

For example, parents establish boundaries for the healthy growth and development of children, such as curfews, household responsibilities, and limits for appropriate social behaviors.

When boundaries are crossed, ignored, and distorted, the familys structure becomes dysfunctional.

If a teenager starts experimenting with illegal substances, for example, dictating her own curfews and social activities, and a mother refuses to or prevents a father from setting up appropriate consequences for such behaviors, a dysfunctional transaction between the mother and daughter develops.

Dysfunctional Transactions Structural family therapists identify a wide range of family dysfunctional transactions.

The two main types at each end of a behavioral spectrum are: Enmeshed.

This dysfunction identifies a family structure that is smothering and overly close.

Disengaged. This dysfunction identifies a family structure that is extremely distant.

A third type of dysfunctional pattern therapists often encounter is: Triangulation.

This dysfunction identifies a structure where one family member gets torn between two others, as in the case of parents placing a child between them while fighting.

How does SFT Work Unlike more traditional approaches that prescribe a supportive, listening-empathetic approach to therapy, therapists working with the SFT model get involved with a familys transactions, and, as some theorists describe it, metaphorically become a member of the family.

In this unique role, and in the context of the therapeutic setting, the therapist will provoke the family members to interact and speak about the problem or issue.

The therapist asks questions, points out harmful transactions, and uncovers not only dysfunctional patterns, but positive behaviors or personal qualities that are ignored or overlooked by the family.

During the interactions that take place in therapy, hidden conflicts become apparent, inappropriate or counterproductive transactional patterns observed, and finally, ways to help the family change or restructure interactions are made.

However, the therapist works from the premise that all individuals and families have the resources to bring resolution to these issues themselves.

A Quick Guide To Caseconceptualization In Structuralfamily Therapy