theory: strategic family therapy

Question 1

Strategic Family Therapy

Answer 1

Developed by Milton Erickson, this approach emphasizes altering behavior and resolving presenting symptoms rather than helping clients gain insight and personal awareness. Using directive strategies tailored to each family, strategic family therapists aim to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Consequently, this type of family counseling is generally short-term.

Question 2

Milton Erickson

Answer 2

Developed strategic family therapy.

Question 3

Jay Haley

Answer 3

Helped found the Bateson Group, the Mental Research Institute (MRI), and the Family Research Institute, and contributed to the development of MRI Interactional Family Therapy

Question 4

MRI Interactional Family Therapy

Answer 4

A strategic family therapy approach developed by Jay Haley. MRI encourages the exploration of family interactional patterns to understand and effectively resolve family issues.

Question 5

quid pro quo

Answer 5

The propensity of individuals to treat others as they are treated. This “reciprocal behavior” is present in all families, and often unspoken.

Question 6

redundancy principle

Answer 6

A family’s tendency to interact with each other in the same way. It is unusual for those patterns of behavior to change or expand

Question 7

punctuation

Answer 7

The conviction by individuals that their verbal communication, especially during a conflict, occurs in reaction to someone else

Question 8

relabeling and reframing

Answer 8

A strategic family therapy technique that involves interpreting a family’s situation in a new way to encourage family members to view their problem in a more favorable light.

Question 9

prescribing the symptom

Answer 9

In strategic family counseling, the counselor tells clients to keep engaging in their troublesome behavior; by following the counselor’s advice, clients recognize that they are choosing to perpetuate the problem

Question 10

ordeal

Answer 10

A paradoxical technique that asks clients to complete an undesirable but health-promoting task before participating in the worrisome behavior

Question 11

pretend technique

Answer 11

Encourages clients to simulate their symptoms in order to realize that they are able to exert some control over what they say and do, as well as over the outcome of the situation