Psychotherapy has many different forms, and above all, this process differs in the form of its implementation. There is individual, family and group therapy. However, many researchers believe that any kind of work is precisely work with a unit of society. After all, the psychotherapy of a single person is essentially a work with a fragment of the family.
The Emergence of Discipline
Family therapy first appeared in the second half of the 1950s. Its appearance was facilitated by the observation of psychotherapists for the problems and difficulties of individuals. Researchers have noticed that often psychological difficulties do not originate in the characteristics of an individual, but have a family as their primary source. The development of this approach was also facilitated by the opinions of scientists from other fields of science - sociology, anthropology, methodology, philosophy.
Definition
Under familysystemic psychotherapy (SST) is understood as a whole direction, which is united under one name. A psychologist who uses CST in his practice deals with family difficulties, but this is not his only area of expertise. Often, individual people who have life difficulties come to see such a therapist. A person is always perceived as part of a system of people interacting with each other. And the life difficulty with which he has to deal is perceived as a common problem for all people. That is why the word “systemic” is present in the name of this type of therapy.
Key Ideas
The system is a dynamic mechanism consisting of individuals constantly interacting with each other. In addition, it also comes into contact with the outside world. In other words, other systems also influence this system. It strives to maintain its original state, or homeostasis.
The second idea is that the system itself has an impact on the surrounding world. Another of the most important concepts of systemic family therapy follows from this - the idea of feedback. Information about a person's behavior as an element of a system or about a family as an integral structure is continuously reflected by the outside world and comes back.
The next concept, which is one of the central ones, is that the behavior of each of the elements of the system has a direct impact on the entire system. In it, multiple responses to these changes constantly arise, which support the construction itself, itsfunctioning. A vicious circle arises - one action causes the second, the second - the third, etc. In the process of psychotherapy, it is discovered that often the difficulty of one of the family members can be due to the problems of the other.
Examples of work situations
Family counseling and family psychotherapy have accumulated over the course of their existence many samples that clearly illustrate the ideas of this approach. In this case, several illustrative examples can be given. The child suffers from panic attacks that are not amenable to drug therapy. When referring to a psychologist, it turns out that there are no normal relations between the parents, in the evenings they constantly quarrel. When a child has a panic attack, this stops quarrels - all the attention of parents is concentrated on the problem of the child. Thus, once a panic attack occurred in a child, it received positive feedback from the parents, which consolidated this reaction. The roots of the baby's problem were actually in the difficulties of the parents.
Another example is a daughter who cannot arrange her personal life. All her attempts in this regard end in failure, the relationship does not last more than a few weeks. When referring to a psychologist, it turns out that there are no problems in the girl's behavior that would repel potential candidates for husbands. In fact, there are problems in the relationship with the mother, who constantly demonstrates manipulative behavior, not wanting to “let go” of the adult daughter from the family. The solution to the girl's problem will be psychological separation from her mother, taking responsibility for her life, working on developing independence - including financial.
Personalities
Domestic psychologists have made a significant contribution to the development of family psychotherapy - Varga Anna Yakovlevna, Moskalenko Valentina Dmitrievna, Edmond Georgievich Eidemiller and others. Most of the domestic researchers, like their Western colleagues, adhere to the Freudian principle: "neuroses arise on the threshold of the father's house." At the same time, some scientists rely in their work on concepts from the field of neuroscience. For example, this is the Eidemiller-Aleksandrova model of analytical-systemic family psychotherapy, which emphasizes the importance of creating the concept of medical psychology.
Scientific base of SST
The adherents of each of the approaches avoid focusing on causal relationships, focusing on the features of complex family relationships. At each moment in time they are both a consequence and a cause. Family therapy matured in the following areas:
- Methodological foundations of general systems theory (L. Bertalanffy).
- The concept of group dynamics by K. Levin and his followers.
- Studying the characteristics of relationships in the family of people suffering from schizophrenia (in particular, studying the characteristics of family ties in patients with a group of scientists in Palo Alto led by G. Bateson).
CCT Methods
According to those used in the course of therapymethods distinguish the following types of CCT:
- strategic;
- structural;
- Milanese approach;
- M. Bowen's concept;
- various types of post-classical FTA.
The last item includes narrative psychotherapy, short-term methods, neurolinguistic programming, etc. Research in the framework of these approaches is carried out in various institutes of family and group psychotherapy. For example, these are the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, the Caucasian Institute of Gest alt Therapy and Family Psychotherapy, etc. The main types that are used by most psychologists are the first four approaches. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Strategic FTA
This method of systemic family therapy is aimed primarily at solving family difficulties. It has other names - "short-term therapy", or "problem-solving". Among the representatives of this approach, such personalities as Jay Halley, Clu Madanes stand out. In the course of their work, they incorporated the experience of G. Bateson and M. Erickson.
In the strategic approach of family therapy, the focus is not on the individual characteristics of family members, but on the development of specific strategies to solve existing problems. The reasons for these situations are not taken into account. The most important thing in this type of therapy is changing habits, behavior, decisions. Strategic therapists believe that even small changes can have an impact on outcome.situations. The intervention of a therapist who adheres to this approach is of high intensity. However, it is most often short-lived.
Psychotherapists of this direction are not focused on those root causes that launched the pathological process in the family (just as psychoanalysts, for example, focus on them). Rather, they are studying the factors that contribute to the maintenance of negative behavior.
Structural approach
In the very name of this method of family therapy there is a definition that indicates the use of the concept of the family as a single system. Special emphasis by psychotherapists of this direction is placed on the unity of the family. Just as a living organism is made up of organs, or an amoeba is made up of organelles, the cell of society includes several members. They form a unity among themselves.
The theory of the structural approach is based on three main provisions:
- The family is the main human system that ensures the development of its members, or, on the contrary, negatively affects it.
- Each of these structures has its own subsystems.
- The interfering behavior of other members of the system has a special effect on each of the individuals.
If the family subsystem lends itself to the external actions of other members, this indicates the permeability of its borders. For example, when parents are arguing about something, children often try to intervene in the quarrel. Parents usuallythey immediately respond to the presence of the child, his requests, etc. As a result, their dispute remains unresolved. Since the marital subsystem has weak, permeable boundaries, this incident will have an impact on subsequent events - problems unresolved during the dispute will make themselves felt in the form of aggression, further quarrels.
Milan school
It originated in the 70s of the last century. This approach is based on the following assumptions:
- The family is a self-regulating system.
- Any action of each of its members is a form of communication.
- Her non-verbal aspects are more important than verbal ones.
- The main regulator of interactions are the rules adopted in the family.
- In his work, the psychologist adheres to neutrality in relation to each of the members of the system. The impact is directed primarily at behavioral patterns.
Methodological concept of M. Bowen
Murray Bowen is the author of one of the most complex ideas of CCT, his work is still being researched in many institutes of family therapy. It includes 8 interrelated concepts:
- Statement describing the level of autonomy or fusion of "I" of each of the family members.
- The idea of triangulation, within the framework of which in each of the cells of society connections are formed according to the scheme of triangles.
- Regulations on the interaction of family members within the same generation.
- The idea that pathogens are passed on from generation to generation.
- Family membersproject their own complexes onto surrounding relatives.
- The idea of an emotional break.
- Importance of the sibling position.
- The idea of social regression.
The way of positive exchanges
As an example of one of the practical CCT interventions used by psychologists, the above method can be cited. Many couples in their married life tend to show helpless behavior and complain about each other. One of the goals of behavioral family psychotherapy is to change this situation radically: so that the couple tunes in to interact with each other, practice cooperation. This method consists of three aspects:
- First you need to clearly define each other's desires.
- Desires must be formulated in a positive way. Couples shouldn't worry about what each partner doesn't want.
- Next, each spouse should regularly surprise their partner with their positive behavior.
This technique was first proposed by therapists Jacobson and Margolin in 1979. The psychologist should ask each spouse to write down a list of three main activities that they can do to please the other partner. These activities should be formulated in a positive way. As homework, the therapist asks partners to fulfill at least three of these desires. A similar method can be used in cases where spouses are reluctant to participate in psychotherapy or tend tocompete with each other.
Forms of family therapy
There is still debate among psychotherapists about how the process of working with the family should take place. Some researchers insist that the whole cell of society should take part in therapy, others are convinced that, first of all, it is necessary to work with the individual problems of its members. However, all researchers are convinced that, regardless of the form of family therapy, it is always necessary to see the group of relatives as a whole. Thus, the balance of power among them becomes apparent. It is also considered axiomatic that for real changes in the nature of communication, those rules that are accepted among those living under the same roof, it is also necessary to work with all family members.
It is not uncommon for forms of therapy to be combined for optimal effect - in other words, group family therapy is combined with individual work with some members. This approach is most effective when it is necessary to work out the behavior of the most infantile relative. In addition to sessions in which the psychologist and other family members are present, he must also attend group or individual therapy. For example, these may be meetings of parents whose children are ill with schizophrenia, or wives of alcoholics. In the process of group therapy, a family member gets the opportunity to correct his inappropriate behavior, which also affects the situation in the family.
One of the popular methods iscalled stereoscopic psychotherapy, in which each of the spouses visits a separate specialist, but all the results of the meetings are subsequently discussed.
Conclusion
A distinctive feature of most approaches in family psychology and family psychotherapy is the position according to which the unit of society is considered as a single organism. In the course of the work, analyzes are made of the way family members react to certain events, family rules, myths are considered. The true causes of difficulties become obvious, the problems of clients are resolved. Methods of family therapy have proven effective in dealing with problems such as marital difficulties, loss of a loved one, childhood behavioral disorders, psychosomatics, deviant behavior of adolescents.
