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Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D. Director, Psychological Services Center shpungin@i

Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D. Director, Psychological Services Center shpungin@illinois.edu. Tentative Agenda . Try It On : A taste of family assessment Family Systems Perspective (brief theory and definitions)

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Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D. Director, Psychological Services Center shpungin@i

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  1. Structural Family Therapy: A Case PresentationElaine Shpungin, Ph.D.Director, Psychological Services Centershpungin@illinois.edu

  2. Tentative Agenda • Try It On: A taste of family assessment • Family Systems Perspective (brief theory and definitions) • Structural Family Therapy (brief overview of theory and techniques) • Case Presentation with input from You

  3. Try It On • Most individuals have a “role” they play in their family • Ex: “peacemaker”, “troublemaker”, “successful one”, “helper” • Write down one role you’ve had in your family (“family” as defined by you) • Now, for the big question…

  4. The Family Systems Perspective • System = set of components acting upon each other (interacting) which are mutually dependent upon each other (interdependent). Ex: Ecosystem • Family System = set of individuals who interact and have interdependent roles, relationships, and functions • Individual family member difficulties (“acting out”, depression) seen as symptoms of difficulty/dysfunction within family system (may even serve “useful” function)

  5. Structural Family Therapy (SFT) I was born in Argentina and trained to be a psychiatrist in NYC I saw the failure of doing individual therapy with inner city boys in trouble with the law - and started involving their families in treatment Salvador Minuchin Over time, with colleagues Jay Haley and Palo Alto, I helped to develop SFT, a whole-family approach to working with hard to reach kids and families in inner-city Philadelphia

  6. Structural Family Therapy Theory • Family Structure = invisible set of rules governing family transactions (family members’ interactions with each other) • Family Structure made up of • Subsystems (Sibling subsystem, Parent subsystem) • Boundaries (Family alliances, family rules) • Roles (repetitive patterns, “jobs”) • Family Systems function poorly when subsystems, boundaries and roles: • do not adapt to changing needs (developmentally) and/or • do not support healthy balance of closeness AND autonomy between members

  7. Step 1: Structural Assessment Therapist uses family enactments, re-enactments, seating arrangements, in-session activities to assess: • Subsystems – what are the dynamics between family “clusters”? who aligns with whom? who gets left out? • Boundaries – how close are family members? how flexible are the rules? • Roles – what repetitive patterns do family members play out with each other? who has what “job” in family? are roles adaptive between members and clusters?

  8. Step 2: Therapy Goal: To “join” family and help re-align family subsystems, boundaries and roles to be more adaptable for whole family Sample Techniques: • Creating new communication channels (“Tell her, not me.”) (“Interpreting”) • Creating disequilibrium; escalating stress (Why?) • Assigning new roles (e.g., more responsibility) • Shifting patterns (e.g., seating at meals) • Establishing new boundaries (e.g., teen door) • Providing support, education, guidance, hope

  9. Garcia Family: A Case Example Mrs. Garcia (European American) Mr. Garcia (1st gen Latino) Spousal discord Spousal discord Emotional adjust. Sylvia (12) (Latina) Adopted at birth Jeremy (16) (American-born) Disobedience Physical aggression Disrespect “Bad attitude” (towards mom) Alex (6) (Russian) Adopted 1 yr before Sergei (5) (Russian) Adopted 1 yr before Behavior probs Emotional adjustment Katya (15) (Russian) Adopted 1 mo before Olga (7) (Russian) Adopted 1 mo before Emotional adjustment Language difficulty

  10. Questions? Comments? Elaine Shpungin shpungin@illinois.edu

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