Structural Family Therapy

Question 1

Affective Intensity:

Answer 1

Structural Family Therapy:

Increasing the emotional intensity of the system to encourage structural change.

Question 2

Boundaries:

Answer 2

Structural Family Therapy: Individuals, subsystems, and families are separated from one another by boundaries. A boundary is a hypothetical line of demarcation that serves to protect a family and its subsystems.

Question 3

Boundary Making:

Answer 3

Structural Family Therapy: Any intervention in which therapists reinforce appropriate boundaries and diffuse inappropriate boundaries by adapting the interactional patterns of the family’s structure.

Question 4

Disengaged Systems:

Answer 4

Structural Family Therapy: May be independent or isolated.

Question 5

Coalitions:

Answer 5

Structural Family Therapy: When two family members join to create a coalition against one or several other family members.

Question 6

Complementarity:

Answer 6

Structural Family Therapy: A balanced relationship between two individuals that often results in effective teamwork. The relationship may not be symmetrical—that is, equal parts—but nonetheless balanced.

Question 7

Conflict Management:

Answer 7

Structural Family Therapy: The family’s capacity to resolve conflict and negotiate effective and balanced solutions.

Question 8

Challenging Family Assumptions:

Answer 8

Structural Family Therapy: Offers the family alternative perspectives and views on how they interact with one another.

Question 9

Challenging the Symptoms:

Answer 9

Structural Family Therapy: Offers the family alternative ways of perceiving the role of the symptom in relation to the family’s structure.

Question 10

Enmeshed Systems:

Answer 10

Structural Family Therapy: Receive affection and nurturance within the family system but may risk autonomy and outside relationships.

Question 11

Hierarchy:

Answer 11

Structural Family Therapy: The physical structure of the family as determined by the system’s rules, boundaries, and interactional patterns.

Question 12

Intensity:

Answer 12

Structural Family Therapy: The therapist can achieve intensity by increasing the affective component of an interaction, by increasing the length of a dialogue or by repeating the same message in different interactions through the use of tone, volume, and pacing.

Question 13

Joining & Accommodating:

Answer 13

Structural Family Therapy: An intentional maneuver by the therapist to establish a therapeutic relationship with the family system. The therapist will adapt to the family’s communication pattern and other mannerisms to create a comfortable therapeutic space.

Question 14

Mimesis:

Answer 14

Structural Family Therapy: An intentional maneuver by the therapist to join and accommodate with the family by replicating their body language, use of expressive language, mannerisms, and other observable behaviors to create a comfortable, trusting therapeutic space.

Question 15

Intervening:

Answer 15

Structural Family Therapists are continually stepping in and out of the family, raising intensity, and unbalancing the system through swift and strategic interventions.

Question 16

Diffuse Boundary:

Answer 16

Structural Family Therapy: Boundaries that are permeable and permit fluid contact with other subsystems. May be prone to enmeshment.

Question 17

Enactments:

Answer 17

Structural Family Therapy: Having the family experiment with new ways of behaving and interacting, as instructed by the therapist, in the here-and-now of the therapeutic encounter.

Question 18

Planning:

Answer 18

Structural Family Therapy: The period of assessment in Structural Family Therapy when the therapist hypothesizes about the structure of the family while remaining curious about its actual structure.

Question 19

Clear Boundary:

Answer 19

Structural Family Therapy: A clear boundary between the parental subsystem and the children establishes the parents in leadership positions. It allows the parents and children to interact, but supports the couple in a separate relationship, with time to enjoy the mature activities of recreation and pleasure. Healthy families have clear generational, hierarchical boundaries that allow parents to maintain parental roles and children to maintain child roles.

Question 20

Rigid Boundary:

Answer 20

Structural Family Therapy: Overly restrictive boundaries that permit little contact with outside subsystems, often resulting in disengagement.

Question 21

Shaping Competence:

Answer 21

Structural Family Therapy: This changes the direction of interactions. Therapists avoid telling families what they are doing wrong; rather, they point out what they are doing right and express confidence in the family’s competence.

Question 22

Punctuation(different than Milan):

Answer 22

Structural Family Therapy: therapist’s intentional emphasizing of an individual’s reaction (body language) or statement, allowing them to become aware of their responses and reflect upon their meanings.

Question 23

Spontaneous Behavioral Sequences:

Answer 23

Structural Family Therapy: Similar to enactments, except these behaviors are spontaneous as opposed to being directed by the therapist.

Question 24

Structural Family Mapping:

Answer 24

Structural Family Therapy: As a means of assessment, a therapist will create a Structural Family Map of the hypothesized family structure.

Question 25

Subsystems:

Answer 25

Structural Family Therapy: Individuals, dyads, triads, and groups form subsystems or units within the family that perform certain functions.

Question 26

Structural Family Therapy Main Concepts -

Audio Title 15

Answer 26

Classical Schools of Family Therapy
~ Joining is highly intentional, looks for family maps, may require all family being present because assessment is dependent on in session directives and observing interaction in session, strong hierarchy, (parents being first to focus on).
~Parents in leader subsystem.
~ clear generational boundaries such as parental roles and children roles are separate and hierarchical.
~short term 10-20 sessions, not brief. Terminate once some growth has been achieved
~ healthy family subsystems- successful counseling termination (healthy spousal subsystem & clear boundaries between each subsystem )
Primary Contributors

Salvador Minuchin

Key Terms & Primary Interventions
Affective Intensity: 
Boundaries: 
Boundary Making:  
Challenging Family Assumptions:  
Challenging the Symptom:  
Clear Boundary:  
Coalitions:  
Complementarity: 
Conflict Management:  
Diffuse Boundary:   
Disengaged Systems:  
Enactments:  
Enmeshed Systems:  
Hierarchy:  
Intensity:  
Intervening:  
Joining & Accommodating:  
Mimesis:  
Planning:  
Punctuation (different than Milan):   
Rigid Boundary:  
Shaping Competence:  
Spontaneous Behavioral Sequences:  
Structural Family Mapping:  
Subsystems: