Structural versus Strategic Family Therapies
Structural family therapy
Structural family therapy looks at family relationships, patterns, and behaviors during the family session. During this family session, a therapist considers some different factors to help analyze the family structure. Moreover, other subsystems, like role play, may be considered by the therapist during the session (Colapinto, 2019). Examples of subsystems used to provide more information about the family structure include parental or sibling subsystem.
Strategic family therapy
Strategic family therapy principally explores family processes and functions, including communications and problem-solving patterns. Actually, Szapocznik & Hervis (2020) says that family behavior must be analyzed outside the therapy session to obtain substantiated information. Typically, the therapist comes up with the desired objective by incorporating techniques such as reframing a given problem scenario and paradoxical interventions. Basically, the approach used is dependent on the assumption that a change can occur quickly without an intensive evaluation of the problem’s source.
Comparison
There are some similarities in how each therapy aims to alter the family relationship by disrupting and restructuring dysfunctional interactions, enhancing communication, and behavior modification (Hanna, 2018). They both desire to influence the outcome of maladaptive patterns that affect the family unit and each individual. Additionally, both models focus on resolving significant family problems by treating and understanding how the family interpersonally relates and improving dysfunctional family communications (Colapinto, 2019).
The strength of strategic family therapy is that therapists are problem-solvers and solution-finders. The emphasis is getting the root cause of the problem without being concerned with who or where the problem started (Szapocznik & Hervis, 2020). In contrast, structural family therapy has a strength that its therapeutic effect lies in families’ structural diagnosis. However, much of how these therapies help each has its own weaknesses. Both models for example fail to examine and address the emotional and psychological factors affecting every family member involved in the dysfunctional network because they focus on interpersonal relations (Hanna, 2018).
According, structural and strategic family therapy differ in the sense that, strategic family therapy changes organically once the relational strategies are modified, whereas, structural family therapy emphasizes on family interpersonal relations that should be modified to change the dysfunctional structure of the family (Colapinto, 2019).
Provide an example of a family in your practicum using a structural family map.
The genogram below is about the Doe’s family. The family map comprises of a couple married for 8 years with 1 biological daughter and two others adoptive children. The wife feel strained in this marriage as recently was diagnosed with MDD. He condition has been caused by the stresses she undergoes through being a mom and her internal psychological struggles. She yearns to get more biological children though she is mentally disturbed by living with facts of her severe endometriosis, several IV treatments, and 4 miscarriages. Since she is a house wife, she feels ununderstood by her husband and children. The family relationship is not strong and how each communicate to feel understood is at stalemate. Jane feels one knows has ever understood her about what goes through every day.
Mrs. Jane Doe
Mrs. J
Recommending a Specific Therapy for the Family
I would recommend to implement strategic family therapy this family because fitting in the shoes of a therapist, I want to see every family member having a good relationship with each other. I want to know the actual problem contributing the dysfunctional relation between Jane and her husband. I want to understand what is troubling Jane despite her having a biological child and her adoptive children. Questions like, why does she want another biological child? Is she straining when taking care of her adoptive children? Are important because they will help me focus on every family member emotional symptom. The goal for me is to attempt to pool in every family member in the session, establish an open mood for each session, and observe how family interpersonally interact (Szapocznik & Hervis, 2020). What could be the family’s ailing problem in order for them to seek therapy? I will encourage the family to discuss their problems because the strategic therapy allows the therapist to seek some dynamics within the session such as noting existing communication sequences, coalition between family members, and hierarchies within a family (Szapocznik & Hervis, 2020).
References
Colapinto, J. (2019). Structural family therapy. Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, 2820-2828.
Hanna, S. M. (2018). The practice of family therapy: Key elements across models. Routledge.
Szapocznik, J., & Hervis, O. E. (2020). Brief strategic family therapy. American Psychological Association.