Structural Family Therapy

Term Paper # 54678

Child, Youth Issues > Family Issues
Psychology > Theory

An analysis of this type of family therapy and in what context it can be used most effectively.

2,567 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2004 United States

Paper Summary:

Structural Family Therapy is seen to be effective in treating dysfunctional and non-functional families by assessing their performance in relation to societal and/or community structures; that is, larger structures within which the family must function successfully. This paper explains how it is a particularly effective type of therapy in dealing with youth with drug problems, but can be used in any context. The writer tells how therapists using the structural paradigm approach families, often in familiar or household settings, as groups and groups-within-groups, and they encourage enacting and balance in structural paradigms that are based on power, joining/opposing, and roles and effective communications strategies. It points out that the model is generally attributed to Salvador Minuchin, who was most active in the mid-20th century.

From the Paper:

"Structural Family Therapy is most commonly associated with the innovative impact and methods of the Argentine Salvador Minuchin, who practiced as a family therapist in the mid-twentieth century and was renowned for his clinical acumen and ability to get families under his tutelage and moderation to make effective and lasting changes. Minuchin "discovered two patterns common to troubled families: some are "enmeshed," chaotic and tightly interconnected, while others are "disengaged," isolated and seemingly unrelated" (Salvador, 1998). His method of assessing and contributing to functional families varied with the situation, and in Families and Family Therapy, the therapist set down what were to become the fundamentals of Structural Family Therapy."