Structural Family Therapy

Salvador Minuchin developed a form of psychotherapy called “structural family therapy,” or “SFT,” which aims to address problems with the way a family operates. Structural family therapy is one of many therapeutic treatments for troubled families that have a distinct tone and look and can seem very cerebral. This is not a name that quickly springs to mind when you think of a therapy, nor is it a technique that you are likely to encounter much in the media or in movies, like the more mainstream approaches of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy (Colapinto, 2021).

Critical Analysis of Structural Family therapy

Tadros et al. (2022) claim that structural family therapy de-emphasizes the role of the individual in favor of focusing on a number of subsystems and restructuring them to make sure that the family’s structure, as well as the boundaries, norms, and patterns that regulate its overall operation, are appropriate and functional for each and every member of the system. By focusing on the whole family rather than just specific family members, this therapy adopts a holistic approach to better identify negative behavioral patterns.

This deliberate action aims to effect fundamental change, which will then effect second-order change. According to Negash et al. (2022), members of the family are typically required to adhere to unwritten norms, expectations, behaviors, roles, and hierarchies within the family’s setting. Strategic therapists will immerse themselves within the family to have a deeper grasp of the problematic behaviors. Better behavioral observation is made possible by an understanding of the subsystems that comprise the linkages within the family.

By focusing on boundaries, equilibrium, and family norms, as well as the functional elements and their interactions both inside and between the system, structural family psychologists will be able to understand the family system. This type of family therapist will systematically analyze the many dynamics of the family system to gain a better understanding of the parts that aren’t working correctly (Tsvieli et al., 2022).

This emphasis on the system as a whole rather than on its individual components is best illustrated by taking into account the parental subsystem, the sibling subsystem, and the couple subsystem (Diamond et al., 2022). The functioning family system is directly impacted by each subsystem, and the therapist will be more equipped to reorganize it after they are integrated into it.

The therapist can examine how the family functions and promote acceptance as a system member once they have entered the family system. The therapist will assess the structural elements and identify any areas in which the family’s functioning is deficient. The family structure will ultimately be adjusted by the therapist to meet the needs of each participant, both now and in the future (Concord, N/A).

However, SFT is comparable to other treatments that are included in the family systems therapy subfield of psychology. In these kinds of therapy, the family is seen as a system that exists and operates inside larger systems like society, culture, and organizations. In an ideal environment, this system would develop and expand throughout time. A family may, however, occasionally find itself in a rut, and this is typically the result of one member experiencing mental or behavioral health issues (Terache et al., 2022).

Instead than focusing on the pathology of the individual, SFT, according to Sawrikar (2022), takes into account issues with the family’s structure and a breakdown in the way the family functions or communicates. SFT asserts that family discussions promote or foster the illness’s symptoms rather than the sickness being caused by family factors, or “transactions.” A key tenet of structural therapy is that for therapy to be successful, the therapist and the client’s family must work together.

Among the therapist’s preferred methods for accomplishing this are joining and adaptation. In addition to documenting and reflecting back to the family members how they express themselves and the range of emotions they are experiencing, the therapist hopes to support the family’s overall functioning by offering encouragement and support for what is working within the family and helping to develop new structures that will work (Long, 2022).

The therapist’s activities that are specifically aimed at strengthening relationships with the patient’s family members are referred to as “joining.” The therapist should be aware of this and ready to provide support to the patient when the person is involved in conflict, without seeming to take sides. The emphasis on the significance of the therapeutic connection reflects this understanding that it can serve as a catalyst for change. According to Suppes (2022), psychotherapists that specialize in structural analysis look at the family’s structure to find areas that exhibit resilience as well as flexibility, adaptability, and change. According to White & Owen (2022), structural therapy was criticized in the 1980s by feminists and others working on racial and ethnic issues, just like the majority of other family therapy schools. The issue of power dynamics that may emerge in relationships between members of the same generation, such as those between a father and his son or a mother and her daughter, was not addressed by female-informed critiques of family theory and therapists. Instead, they concentrated on the issue of power and how it affects relatedness between generations.

It should be noted that although a power imbalance between the couple was believed to be more likely to cause general family problems and widespread discomfort, it did cause some issues (Ryland et al., 2022). Alarmingly high rates of physical aggression by men against women they were romantically associated with were found in a growing body of demographic data that coincided with the rise of the gender-informed critique.This was only recently fixed, and it was a major oversight across the business.

Opposition to the structural family therapy approach has come from a few sources. An inadequate picture of the issues being presented is provided by the assessment method, which has been criticized for its primary focus on the domestic family group and its disregard for the obligations of the extended family, neighbourhood, and other social institutions (Iturra, 2022). In this case, I think the issue lies more in the therapeutic approach of the concepts than in the concepts themselves because nothing in the theoretical language or model prevents the therapist from assessing more significant systemic issues in their formulation. Accordingly, the issue is probably related to the application of the concepts at a more local level (Bermea et al., 2022).

The direct and involved therapeutic method used by structural therapists is not widely appreciated in the UK due to worries about therapist burnout. A more modest approach to the identification and development of structural therapist styles has resulted from the early overzealousness that surrounds the therapist in their role as the leader and manager of the therapy. The importance of the therapist’s emotional type matching that of the family members being treated has been highlighted by research by Tadros & Durante (2022). According to VanBergen & Love (2022), constructivism and social constructionism have greatly influenced our quest for theory integration as well as how we consider our own preconceived notions about families and cultural norms. Therapist reflexivity is emphasized by both constructivism and social constructionism. they assume that abuse and structural disparities may be seen as one story among many, postmodern arguments that emphasize the value of indeterminacy and uniqueness run the risk of being unfair (Hogue et al., 2022).

It’s probable that many therapists are searching for methods to incorporate their practices within the field of family therapy as well as into the other subfields of psychology. The ability to explain and predict symptomatic behavior is thus limited by the structural emphasis on the present moment in the explanation of the symptom and the desire to alleviate it. This may lead the therapist to seek out alternative models that tackle these issues (Ramaswami et al., 2022). However, this issue will remain an application and practice problem unless well-articulated efforts are undertaken to integrate theory at the conceptual level. Instead than obediently adhering to “schools” in their approach to families, an increasing number of therapists seem more interested in gathering different viewpoints on the behavior and general functioning of family members.

According to Mohammadi Zarghan et al. (2022), there have also been issues with the structural idea of problem persistence and the purported function of symptomatic behavior. For a long time, structural thinking has maintained that the issue is what drives the system, and that attempts to adapt and solve problems often lead to pathological behavior. Considering things from a structural standpoint These critics contend that structural therapists may discover pathology where none exists, thereby idling the family, or that the grammar ignores the functional relevance of symptomatic behavior within the family (Huft, 2022). This argument might be countered by the fact that the resilience premise might not always be realized in practice, particularly in more delicate family arrangements like recently created stepfamily setups.

Conclusion

 Family therapy is said to be unique when it comes to the fundamental paradigm known as Structural Family Theory, or SFT. From a systemic basis, it developed into a significant component of family therapy practice. In order to help family members learn how to solve problems more quickly rather than over an extensive period of time, structural family therapists work with families to change dysfunctional family structures. Problems that emerge in the setting of family systems are intended to be addressed by the structural family framework and its associated methodologies. High degrees of authoritarianism, roles, boundaries, and regulations, as well as communication styles and alliances between parents and kids, are a few examples of these problems.

References 

• Bermea, A. M., Fraenkel, P., Benson, K., St James, C., & Bowen, M. (2022). Intimate partner violence: A focus on queer families, families and substance use, and military couples.
• Colapinto, J. (2019). Structural family therapy.Encyclopedia of couple and family therapy, 2820-2828.
• Concord, M. A. Queering the Developmental Model:(De) constructing Identities and Building Resilience and Resistance in Individuals and Couples Therapy Suggested Reading.
• Diamond, G. M., Boruchovitz‐Zamir, R., Nir‐Gotlieb, O., Gat, I., Bar‐Kalifa, E., Fitoussi, P. Y., & Katz, S. (2022). Attachment‐based family therapy for sexual and gender minority young adults and their nonaccepting parents.Family Process.
• Hogue, A., Bobek, M., Porter, N., MacLean, A., Bruynesteyn, L., Jensen-Doss, A., & Henderson, C. E. (2022). Therapist self-report of fidelity to core elements of family therapy for adolescent behavior problems: Psychometrics of a pragmatic quality indicator tool.Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,49(2), 298-311.
• Huft, J. (2022). The History and Future of the Sociology of Therapy: a Review and a Research Agenda.The American Sociologist, 1-28.
• Iturra, M. S. (2022).Content Analysis on Hispanic Populations Across Marriage and Family Therapy Journals(Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University).
• Long, N. J. (2022). Fieldwork, or family therapy? Kinship, status, and therapeutic ethnography in Sumedang, West Java.
• Mohammadi Zarghan, S., Jomehri, F., Dortaj, F., & Farrokhi, N. (2022). Structural Model of the Correlation Between Family Cohesion and Cohesion with Body Image Concern with the Mediating Role of Perfectionism and Self-Compassion in Tehran Residents.Journal of Health Promotion Management,11(3), 26-39.
• Negash, S., Chung, K., & Oh, S. (2022). Families post‐release: Barriers and pathways to family therapy.Family Process.
• Ramaswami, S. B., Jensen, T., Berghaus, M., De-Oliveira, S., Russ, S. A., Weiss-Laxer, N., … & Barkin, S. (2022). Family health development in life course research: a scoping review of family functioning measures.Pediatrics,149(Supplement 5).
• Ryland, S., Johnson, L. N., & Bernards, J. C. (2022). Honoring protective responses: reframing resistance in therapy using polyvagal theory.Contemporary Family Therapy,44(3), 267-275.
• Sawrikar, V., Hawes, D. J., & Dadds, M. R. (2022). Family Therapy Interventions for Psychopathy.The Complexity of Psychopathy, 519-544.
• Suppes, B. C. (2022).Family Systems Theory Simplified: Applying and Understanding Systemic Therapy Models. Taylor & Francis.
• Tadros, E., & Durante, K. A. (2022). Coparenting, negative educational outcomes, and familial instability in justice-involved families.International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology,66(2-3), 267-287.
• Tadros, E., Hutcherson, R., & Aguirre, N. (2022). How is Family Therapy Discussed in the Literature on Incarceration?: A Systematic Review.The American Journal of Family Therapy, 1-19.
• Terache, J., Wollast, R., Simon, Y., Marot, M., Van der Linden, N., Franzen, A., & Klein, O. (2022). Promising effect of multi-family therapy on BMI, eating disorders and perceived family functioning in adolescent anorexia nervosa: an uncontrolled longitudinal study.Eating disorders, 1-21.
• Tsvieli, N., Lifshitz, C., & Diamond, G. M. (2022). Corrective attachment episodes in attachment-based family therapy: The power of enactment.Psychotherapy Research,32(2), 209-222.
• VanBergen, A. M., & Love, H. A. (2022). Family‐of‐origin rejection on suicidal ideation among a sexual minority sample.Journal of marital and family therapy,48(2), 560-575.
• White, L., & Owen, K. (2022). Systemic Integrative Practice: A Meta‐Framework.Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy,43(1), 33-53.