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Introduction to Family Counseling: The Changing Dynamics of Meta Theories and Systemic Concepts

Explore the evolving field of family counseling with a focus on meta theories such as Formistic, Mechanistic, Organismic, and Contextualistic, and delve into systemic concepts like cybernetic principles and homeostasis. Gain insights into paradigm shifts and understand the interrelated nature of family systems. This course offers a comprehensive look at how theories shape our understanding of human behavior within familial contexts.

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Introduction to Family Counseling: The Changing Dynamics of Meta Theories and Systemic Concepts

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  1. Counseling 420 Introduction to Family Counseling Dr. Jeffrey K. Edwards, LMFT

  2. Counseling 420 A Really Great Class That will not only change your mind about how to counsel, but will make you a better person, too!!

  3. The Field of Family Counseling • AAMFC – • AAMFT - • AFTA - • IAMFC – • APA – • ACSW -

  4. Credentials • AAMFT Clinical Member, Approved Supervisor • LMFT – State License • ALMFT – State provisional License given to approved programs, NEIU’s is one. • CADREP – Accredited program

  5. Major Journals • AAMFT – JMFT • IAMFC – The Family Journal • The Family Therapy Networker • JST – • Journal of Feminist Family Therapy • International Journal of Family Therapy • Family Process

  6. Major Difference between Individual Model and Family Systems Models • An individual model sees problems as residing within an individual, i.e., psychopathology. • A Family Systems model sees problems as being imbedded within, and created by a family structure, i.e., intergenerational or present day context.

  7. Introduction - Meta Theories • Carl Pepper, 1950’s • Formistic • Mechanistic • Organismic • Contextualistic

  8. Introduction - Meta Theories • Formistic – • Follows from Phrenology, or the study of bumps on your head. Also, is akin to ectomorph and endomorph study. Posits that human beings fall into categories that we can know and make assumptions about. Like what today???

  9. Introduction - Meta Theories Mechanistic • Theories that use this as a template believe that human beings are like machines. Left over from the days of Newtonian Physics, and the belief that the whole world is a machine that can be reduced to it’s parts, thus understood and fixed.

  10. Introduction - Meta Theories • Organismic • Mostly from the ideas of persons in the 1940’s and 50’s. • Suggests that humans grow and evolve. Carl Rogers • The Nobel Prize winner, Pergogine discovered that small systems when presented with a stressor would either evolve to the next higher level or would parish!!!

  11. Introduction - Meta Theories • Contextualistic • The belief that all of human behavior can be understood within context. As the context changes, so does the usefulness of the explanation. Examples are: • Gary, Native Americans, Systemic vs. Individual view of human beings

  12. Paradigm Shifts • Kuhn, • All science is ever evolving in explanations for it’s unified or overall theory. • Physics – • Normal Science – • New Explanations • Tendencies for those in power to maintain Normal Science • New Science – Becomes Normal Science

  13. A System is: • A series of inter-related, interdependent, interconnected parts whose, whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

  14. Systems thinking has its foundation in the field of system dynamics, founded in 1956 by MIT professor Jay Forrester. • The approach of systems thinking is fundamentally different from that of traditional forms of analysis. Traditional analysis focuses on separating the individual pieces of what is being studied; in fact, the word "analysis" actually comes from the root meaning "to break into constituent parts." Systems thinking focuses on how the object to be studied interacts with the other parts of the system—of which it is a part. Instead of isolating smaller and smaller parts of the system, systems thinking expands its view to account for larger and larger numbers of interactions. This can result in strikingly different conclusions than those of traditional analysis, especially when what is being studied is dynamically complex or has a great deal of feedback from other sources, internal or external.

  15. The character of systems thinking makes it extremely effective on the most difficult types of problems to solve: those involving complex issues, those that depend a great deal dependence on the past or on the actions of others, and those stemming from ineffective coordination among those involved. Examples of areas in which systems thinking has proven its value include: • Complex problems that involve helping many actors see the "big picture" and not just their part of it • Recurring problems or those that have been made worse by past attempts to fix them • Issues where an action affects (or is affected by) the environment surrounding the issue, either the natural environment or the competitive environment • Problems whose solutions are not obvious (Daniel Aronson, http://www.thinking.net/Systems_Thinking/Intro_to_ST/intro_to_st.html

  16. Systemic Concepts • Holen - one smaller piece of the system has all the information needed to reconstruct the larger part system. • A group of smaller subsystems who’s purpose is to reproduce themselves with as much integrity of the larger system as possible. • Systems are regulated by cybernetic principles -- feedback, either negative (don’t change) or positive (change)

  17. More Systemic Thinking • Homeostasis - The tendency for systems to return to the previous state • Homeodynamic - The tendency for systems to remain in the same form while evolving to the next logical type • Change is not difficult, Change is inevitable!!

  18. Systems Concepts • Systems are considered processors of information, or energy. • Systems are either open or closed. Information either gets in, or cannot get in to the system. • Systems thinking is not linear, as cause and effect, but are circular, recursive and multi-causal. Within living systems, linearity is curbed by the system’s internal process. Hit a ball – hit a dog?

  19. Systems Concepts • Multi verse • Seamless universe • Entropy • Organizing principles of a system

  20. More Systemic Thinking • From a systemic point of view, a symptom is a sign that the system is in need of, or in the process of change. It is not necessarily a pathology!!

  21. Discussion of Family Case Study • http://www.neiu.edu/~jkedward/Introfam.htm

  22. That’s all for now!!

  23. 2 - "Normal" Family Development - In class Kazak, et al,1989; Walsh, 1987, Family Therapy overview,. Systems concepts. Read Nichols and Schwartz, Chs.1 & 2 • 3 -Family Therapy outcome research. Pinsof & Wynne (1995). Introduction to the family of family counseling. Introduction to Systems Theory, Gregory Bateson - Systems and Cybernetics, the beginning of family counseling. (film on use of genograms) Nichols and Schwartz, Ch. 3

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