Feminist Therapy

Jamie Canauay MA-Psych

Introduction: Feminist Therapy
What is Feminist Therapy?
Feminist therapy

It is a set of related therapies arising from what proponents see as a

disparity between the origin of most psychological theories and the
majority of people seeking counseling being female.
It puts gender and power at the core of the therapeutic process.
Perspective of Psychological theories are from White males from
Western (American/European) cultures. Feminist theory is the first
therapeutic theory intervention proposal from the perspective of
females.
Feminist therapy is built on the premise that it is essential to consider the
social, cultural, and the political context that contributes to a persons
problems in order to understand that person.
History and Development

Feminist therapy has developed in a grassroots

manner, responding to challenges and to the
emerging needs of women (Brabeck & Brown,1997).

No single woman can be identified as the founder of

this approach, reflecting a central theme of feminism
collaboration.
 History and Development
Womens movement in the 1960s
Women s movement in the 1960s laid
the foundation of the feminist therapy.
It was a time when women began
uniting their voices to express their
dissatisfaction with the limiting and
confining nature of traditional female
roles.
Women therapists took the stance that
therapy needed to move away from
intrapsychic, psychopathology
perspective to a focus on
understanding the social, political and
pathological forces in society.
The need rose for psychological
theories that take into account
womens perspective and political
realities.
 History and Development
Womens movement in the 1970s and 1980s
In the 1970s, research on gender-bias
emerged and helped further feminist therapy
ideas and formal organizations began to
foster the development and defining of
feminist therapy.
Self-in relation model (Relational-cultural
model) validated relational and cooperative
dimensions of womens experience

By the 1980s feminist group therapy had

changed dramatically, becoming more
diverse as it focused increasingly on specific
problems and issues as body image, abusive
relationships, eating disorders, incest and
other sexual abuse (Enns, 1993).
What exactly is Feminism?
Feminism is the organized movement which promotes equality for
men and women in political, economic and social spheres.
Feminists believe that women are oppressed simple due to their sex
based on the dominant ideology of patriarchy. Ridding society of
patriarchy will result in liberation for women, men, minorities, and
gays.

Who is a feminist?
A feminist is someone who supports the political, social and
economic equality between the sexes; that biological sex should
not be a pre-determinant factor that shapes the social identity,
sociopolitical and economic rights of a person; supports equal rights
and dignity for both women and men.
Approaches to Feminist therapy
Liberal
Help individual women overcome the limitation and constraint of gender-role
patterns.
They believe the major goals of therapy include personal empowerment of
individual women, dignity, self-fulfillment, shared power in decision making in
relationship, and equality.
Cultural
Believe that oppression stems from societys devaluation of womens strengths,
values and roles.
The major goal for therapy is social transformation via infusion of the feminine
values into the culture.
Radical
Focus on the oppression of women that is embedded in patriarchy.
The major goals are to transform gender relationships, transform societal
institutions and increase womens sexual and procreative self-determination.
Approaches to Feminist therapy
Socialist
Focus on multiple oppressions and believe solutions to societys problems must
include consideration of class, race, sexual orientation, economics, nationality
and history.
The major goal of therapy is to transform social relationships and institutions.
Postmodern
Provide a model for critiquing the value of other traditional and feminist
approaches, addressing the issue of what constitutes reality and proposing
multiple truths as opposed to a single truth.
Use deconstruction and discourse analysis to show how reality is constructed.
Women of color
Believe that it is essential that feminist theory be broadened and made more
inclusive.
Want to include an analysis of multiple oppressions, an assessment of access
to privilege and power, and to emphasize activism.
Approaches to Feminist therapy
Lesbian
Heterosexism is at the core of womens oppression. Also, womens oppression is related
to sexualized images of women.
Their perspective calls for feminist theory to include an analysis of multiple identities and
their relationship to oppression and to recognize the diversity that exists among lesbians.
Global international
Take a worldwide perspective and seek to understand the ways in which racism, sexism,
economics, and classism affect women in different countries.
They see the need to address those cultural differences that directly contribute to
womens oppression.

It is clear that there is no single, unified feminist theory. Rather,

a variety of feminist theories provide a range of different but
overlapping perspectives (Enns & Sinacore, 2001).
View of Human Nature
Gender-fair
Difference between women and men are due to socialization
processes.
Flexible-multicultural
Apply equally to both individuals and groups regardless of age, race,
culture, gender, class, sexual orientation and ability.
Interactionist
Concepts specific to the thinking, feeling, and behaving dimensions of
human experience and accounts for contextual and environmental
factors.
Life-span perspective
Assumes that human development is a lifelong process and change
can occur anytime.
Principles of Feminist Therapy
The personal is political.
Commitment to social change.
Womens and girls voices and ways of knowing are
valued and their experiences are honored.
The counseling relationship is egalitarian.
A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of
psychological distress.
All types of oppression are recognized.
Feminist therapy goals
According to Enns (2004), some goals of feminist therapy include
empowerment, valuing and affirming diversity, striving for change rather
than adjustment, equality, balancing independence and
interdependence, social change and self-nurturance.

Empowerment through this the clients are able to free themselves

from the constraints of their gender-role socialization and to challenge
ongoing institutional oppression.

Social change to create the kind of society where sexism and other
forms of discrimination and oppression are no longer a reality, (Worell &
Remer, 2003).
 Feminist therapy goals
According to Worell and Remer (2003), feminist therapists help clients:
Be aware of their own gender-role socialization process
Identify their internalized messages and replace them with more self- enhancing
beliefs
Understand how sexist and oppressive societal beliefs and practices influence
them in negative ways
Acquire skills to bring about change in the environment
Restructure institutions to rid them of discriminatory practices
Develop a wide range of behaviors that are freely chosen
Evaluate the impact of social factors and their lives
Develop a sense of personal and social power
Recognize the power of relationships and connectedness
Trust their own experience and their intuition
Roles and Functions of the therapist
Feminist therapists are:
Committed to monitoring their own biases and distortions, especially the
social and cultural dimensions of womens experiences.
Committed to understanding oppression in all its forms sexism, racism,
heterosexism and they consider the impact of oppression and
discrimination of psychological well-being.
The value being emotionally present for their clients, being willing to share
themselves during the therapy hour, modeling proactive behaviors, and
being committed to their own consciousness-raising process.
They work to free women (and men) from roles that have constrained them
from realizing their potential.
Therapists and the clients take active and equal roles, working together to
determine goals and procedures.
They avoid assuming a therapist role is of an all-knowing expert, assuming
instead the role of a relational expert.
Clients Experience in Therapy
Clients are active participants in the therapeutic process.
Clients tell their stories and give voice to their experiences.
The female therapist may share some of her own experiences including
gender-role oppression.
The therapeutic relationship is always a partnership.
The client, if male, will be the expert in determining what he needs and
wants from the therapy.
He will explore ways in which he has been limited by his gender-role
socialization.
He may be able to fully experience such feelings as sadness, tenderness
Clients acquire a new way of looking at and responding to their world.
Relationship Between the Therapist
and Client
The therapeutic relationship is based on empowerment and egalitarianism.
The very structure of the client-therapist relationship models how to identify
and use power responsibly.
The therapist use their power responsibly.
Clients are encouraged to identify and express their feelings.
Therapist makes a client and active partner in determining any diagnosis by
making use of appropriate self-disclosure.
Therapists respect the clients decision to proceed or not proceed with a
particular therapeutic technique.
Application: Therapeutic Techniques
and Procedures
Empowerment
The client will know she or he is in charge of the direction, length, and
procedures of her/his therapy.
Self-disclosure
Helps equalize the therapeutic relationship, to provide modeling, to normalize
womens collective experiences, to empower clients and to establish informed
consent.
Gender-Role Analysis and Intervention
Helps the client understand the impact of gender-role expectations on his/her
psychological well-being.
Intervention gives the clients insight into the ways that social issues are affecting
him/her.
Power Analysis
Helps the client become aware of the power difference between men and
women in our society.
 Application: Therapeutic Techniques
and Procedures
Bibliotherapy
Reading about feminist perspectives on common issues in womens lives (incest, rape,
battery and sexual harassment) may challenge a womans tendency to blame herself for
these problems.
Assertiveness Training
By teaching and promoting assertive behavior, women become aware of the following:
Their interpersonal rights
Transcend stereotypical gender roles
Change negative beliefs
Implement changes in their daily lives
Reframing and Relabeling
In reframing, rather than dwelling exclusively on intrapsychic factors, the focus is on
examining societal or political dimensions
Rebelling is an intervention that changes the label or evaluation applied to some
behavioral characteristic.
Application: Therapeutic Techniques
and Procedures

Social Action
Therapists may suggest to the clients to actively become involved in activities
such as volunteering at a rape crisis center, lobbying lawmakers, or providing
community education about gender issues.
This empower the clients by helping them see the link between their personal
experiences and the sociopolitical context in which they live.
Group Work
Emphasizes support for the experience of women.
Provides women with a social network, decrease feelings of isolation, create an
environment that encourages sharing of experiences, an help women realize
that they are not alone in their experiences (Eriksen & Kress, 2005).
Can men be feminist therapists?
Absolutely!
Men can be nonsexist therapists
Also, men can be pro-feminist therapists when they embrace
the principles and incorporate the practices of feminism in their
work.
Feminist therapy from a Multicultural
Perspective
Strength From a Diversity Perspective
Feminist therapy and multicultural perspectives have the most in common.
Recognize and address sexism, racism and other cultural variables

Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective

Remer (2008) acknowledges that this practice of challenging societal
values and structures that subordinate certain groups as a shortcoming
approach.
Therapists must understand fully and respect the cultural values of clients
from diverse groups.
 Summary and Evaluation
The origins of feminist therapy are connected to the womens movements of the late
1800s and 1960s , when women united in vocalizing dissatisfaction over the restrictive
nature of traditional female roles.
Feminist therapy emphasizes these concepts:
Viewing problems in a sociopolitical and cultural context rather than on an individual
level
Recognizing that clients know what is best for their lives and are experts on their own
lives
Striving to create a therapeutic relationship that is egalitarian through the process of
self-disclosure and informed consent
Demystifying the therapeutic process by including the client as much as possible in all
phases of assessment and treatment, which increases client empowerment
Viewing womens experiences from a unique perspective
Understanding and appreciating the lives and perspectives of diverse women
Understanding that gender never exits in isolation from other aspects of identity
Challenging traditional ways of assessing the psychological health of women
Emphasizing the role of the therapist as advocate as well as facilitator
Encouraging clients to take social action to address oppressive aspects of the
environment
Contributions

Gender-sensitive practice and awareness of the impact of cultural context

and multiple oppressions.
Emphasis on social change, which can lead to a transformation in society.
Proper focus of the therapy includes addressing oppressive factors in
society rather than expecting individuals to merely adapt to expected role
behaviors.
Building community, providing authentic mutual empathic relationships,
creating a sense of social awareness and the emphasis on social change
are all significant strengths of this approach.
The principles and techniques of feminist therapy can be incorporated in
man other contemporary therapy models and vice versa (Enns, 2003).
Limitations and Criticisms of Feminist
Therapy
There is a danger that therapists may unduly influence
clients, especially those who lack a strong sense of their
own values.
Viewing the source of a client problem as being in the
environment could contribute to the client not taking
personal responsibility to act in the face of an unfair
world
Because feminist therapists do not assume a neutral
stance, they need to identify any sources of bias and
work toward restructuring or eliminating biased aspects
in any theories or techniques they employ.
Family Therapy
What is Family Therapy?
Family therapy

A type of psychological counseling (psychotherapy) that helps

family members improve communication and resolve conflicts.
It aims to work with families and couples in intimate relationships
to nurture change and development.
Introduction: Family Therapy

Although the seeds of a North American family therapy

movement were planted in the 1940s, it was during the
1950s that systematic family therapy began to take root
(Becvar & Becvar, 2006).
In the 1960s and 1970s, psychodynamic, behavioral, and
humanistic approaches (called the first, second, and third
force, respectively)dominated counseling and
psychotherapy.
Today, the various approaches to family systems represent
a paradigm shift that we might call the fourth force.
Family Systems Perspective
A family systems perspective holds that individuals are best
understood through assessing the interactions between and
among family members.
Symptoms are often viewed as an expression of a set of habits
and patters within a family.
This perspective is grounded on the assumption that a clients
problematic behavior may:
Serve a function or purpose for the family
Be unintentionally maintained by family processes
Be a function of the familys ability to operate productively, especially during
developmental transitions
Be a symptom of a dysfunctional patterns handed down across generations
Family Systems Perspective

Actions by any individual family member will

influence all the others in the family, and their
reactions will have a reciprocal effect on the
individual.
 Differences between Systematic and
Individual Approaches
Individual Therapist may: Systematic Therapist may:
Focus on obtaining an accurate diagnosis, Explore system for family process and rules,
perhaps using the DSM perhaps using a genogram
Begin therapy immediately Invite family members into therapy with the
client
Focus on causes, purposes and cognitive, Focus on family relationships
emotional, and behavioral processes

Be concerned with clients individual Be concerned with transgenerational

experiences and perspectives meaning, rules, cultural, and gender
perspectives within the system, and even the
community and larger systems affecting the
family

Intervene in ways designed to help client to Intervene in ways to help change the clients
cope context
 Six Systematic Viewpoints in Family Therapy
Adlerian Multi- Human Experiential/ Structural Strategic Family
Family Generational Validation Symbolic Family Therapy
Therapy Family Process Model Family Therapy
Therapy Therapy

Key Alfred Adler Murray Bowen Virginia Satir Carl Salvador Jay Haley &
figures Rudolf Whitaker Minuchin Cloe Madanes
Dreikurs
Oscar
Christensen
and Manford
Sonstegard

Time Present with Present and Here and now Present Present and Present and
focus some past: family of past future
reference to origin; three
the past generations
 Six Systematic Viewpoints in Family Therapy
Adlerian Family Multi- Human Experiential/ Structural Family Strategic FT
Therapy Generational FT Validation PM Symbolic FT Therapy

Therapy Enable Differentiate the Promote Promote, Restructure Eliminate

goals parents as self; change the growth, self- spontaneity, family presenting
leaders; individual within esteem, and creativity, organization; problem;
unlock the context of connection; autonomy, change change
mistaken the system; help family and ability dysfunctional dysfunctional
goals and decrease reach to play transactional patterns;
interactional anxiety congruent patterns interrupt
patterns in communicat sequence
family; ion and
promotion of interaction
effective
parenting

Role and Educator; Guide, Active Family Friendly uncle; Active

function motivational objective facilitator; coach; stage manager; director in
of the investigator; researcher, resource challenger; promoter of change;
therapist collaborator teacher; detective; model for change in family problem
monitor of own model for change structure solver
reactivity congruence through play
 Six Systematic Viewpoints in Family Therapy
Adlerian FT Multi- Human Experiential/ Structural FT Strategic FT
Generational FT Validation PM Symbolic FT

Process Formation of Questions and Family is Awareness Therapist joins Change

of relationship cognitive helped to and seeds of the family in occurs
change based on processes lead move from change are leadership role; through
mutual to status quo planted in changes action
respect; differentiation through therapy structures; sets oriented
investigation of and chaos to new confrontations boundaries directives
birth order and understanding possibilities and
mistaken of family origin and new paradoxical
goals, re- integrations inventions
education

Techniques Family Genograms; Empathy; Co-therapy; Joining & Reframing;

and
innovations
constellation; dealing with touch; self-disclosure; accommodati directive
typical day; family of-origin communicati confrontation; ng; and
goal issues; on; sculpting; use of self as unbalancing; paradox;
disclosure; detriangulating role playing; change agent tracking; amplifying;
natural/logical relationships family life boundary pretending;
consequences chronology making; enactments
enactments
Eight Lenses in Family Systems Therapy
The original six metaframeworks are internal family systems;
sequences; organization; developmental; multicultural; and
gender. To these have been added teleological and process
metaframeworks.
The value of this approach is that it allows the therapist to
draw on multiple perspectives rather than being locked into a
single viewpoint.
The lenses can be used for assessment as well as to tailor
therapeutic interventions to the specific needs of the family.
These eight lenses provide a foundation for integrating the
various models of family systems therapy.
The Individuals Internal Family
System:
The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative
approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard
C. Schwartz, Ph.D.
A lens that views the individual as an organismic system,
complete with structure, organization, and subsystems.
An individual is made up of many parts, or dimensions, to their
personality.
Some of these aspects may be physical, cognitive, emotional, social or
spiritual.
Some are used more than others.
These parts emanate from our social interactions and developmental
experiences.
The Teleological Lens
Teleology refers to the study of final causes, goals, endpoints, and
purposes.
The teleological lens enables the family therapist to develop an
understanding of what motivates individual behavior, the systemic
purpose of symptoms, the goals of triangulation, and the uses of
patterned interactions and routines.
In Adlerian family therapy, goal orientation and recognition are central
for understanding motivations of parents and children and for
unlocking mistaken interactions.
The teleological lens is central to Adlerian family therapy, but it can be
used in any model that includes assessment and the generation of
meaning as well as for interventions such as reframing, or putting what is
known into a new, more useful perspective.
The Teleological Lens
Reframing begins by asking:
What purposes does this symptom, interaction, or process
serve?
How does the individuals behavior protect the self?
What are the social consequences of an action or
interaction?
How are the goals of family members at cross-purposes
with each other?
Are the goals of the family at odds with the goals of
therapy?
The Teleological Lens

Dreikurs developed a systematic approach

to goal recognition based on:
descriptions of the childs misbehavior
the parents reactions to the misbehavior
the childs reaction to the parents attempts at
discipline.
Sequences: Tracking Patterns of
Interaction

One of the defining aspects of family life is that it is ordered, and

family members tend to interact in sequences that, over time,
are repeated in multiple forms.
Breunlin and his associates (1997) refer to these patterns as
embedded sequences and they occur at multiple levels within
the sequencing metaframework.
Sequences: Tracking Patterns of
Interaction
Level 1 sequences occur between two or more family members who are face-to-
face.
Father confronts daughter Daughter enacts hurt and
helplessness => Mother rescues daughter

Level 2 sequences support the functioning of the family and become accepted
as routines. In this sequence, individual roles support a smooth process for the
whole system. If any part of this routine stops or breaks down, the whole system
must adjust.
Father gets up and wakes oldest daughter.

Oldest daughter gets up, gets dressed, and feeds dog.

Mother gets up and wakes 3-year-old daughter.

Father fixes breakfast for children while mother dress 3 y/o

Children eat. Oldest daughter fixes lunches while mother and father dress

Parents grab bagels. Everyone leaves for work and school.
 Sequences: Tracking Patterns of
Interaction
Level 3 sequences have to do with the ebbs and flows of life. These much longer
sequences often account for family adjustments to outside forces or
developmental changes.
When Level 1 and 2 sequences effectively resolve difficulties, the ebbs
and flows that constitute the processes at Level 3 also tend to find a
functional balance.
Level 4 sequences are transgenerational. They include sequences that reflect
larger system values and rules about culture or gender roles. These sequences
are passed from one generation to the next and are intended to provide a sense
of continuity to life.
Family therapy is often about developing more useful sequences at
any or all of these four levels.
 The Organization Lens:
Individuals and families have some organizing process that holds everything
together and provides a sense of unity.
In family systems, organization is manifest in family rules, routines, rituals, and
expected roles.
Collaboration is found in mutual or egalitarian relationships between
couples, and the function of leadership in the family is to organize the
system in clear, useful ways.
Balanced family leadership requires the ability to be firm, but friendly, and
to set developmentally appropriate limits while remaining fair, flexible, and
encouraging. In balanced families, individuality and connection to the
family are both significant: both fit generational, cultural, and
developmental needs.
 The Developmental Lens:
The family life cycle is a developmental framework that is
focused on the nuclear family. The family life cycle focuses on six
significant transitions:
A single, young adult leaves home to live a more or less independent life.
Individuals marry or become a couple to build a life together.
The couple has children and starts a family.
The children become adolescents.
The parents launch their children into the world and prepare to live a life
without children.
The family reaches its later years where children may have to care for
parents as well as their own children, and the parents prepare for the end of
their lives.
The Developmental Lens:
The first presentations of the family life cycle were focused almost
entirely on a two-parent, Caucasian, nuclear family, but today
there are developmental models for single-parent families;
remarried, blended, or stepfamilies; cross-generational, extended
families; lesbian, gay, and bisexual families; families from diverse
cultures; poverty and the family life cycle; and the effects of gender
(and roles) in the family life cycle.
Family therapists address the needs of individuals while
simultaneously considering the needs of relationships, the family,
and larger systems.
In assessing different levels, family therapists look for constraints and
seek to remove them so that natural growth and transitions become
possible once again(Breunlin et al., 1997).
The Multicultural Lens:
A multicultural lens challenges dominant culture and introduces diversity and complexity
into our understanding of the human condition. This lens reframes dominant culture as
simply one of many. It seeks not tolerance but an appreciation and valuing of diversity.
Ten areas of assessment assist family therapists in bringing a multicultural perspective to their
work:
Membership as an immigrant in a dominant society
Level of economic privilege or poverty
Level of education and process of learning
Ethnicity
Religion
Gender
Age
Race, discrimination, and oppression
Minority versus majority status
Regional background
 The Gender
Lens:
The oldest most pervasive discrimination and oppression in the world is against
women in all cultures, and with few exceptions, across the human life span.
Family therapists have increasingly accepted an advocacy stance as part of
their therapy. Therapists can no longer ignore their personal influence and
their responsibility to challenge unequal status and treatment of women.
Power positions, like hierarchy, enmeshment, and unbalancing catchwords
that have been associated with structural-strategic approaches to families for
years are slowly being replaced with ideas about leadership, connection,
conversation, and collaboration.
 The Process Lens:
What is happening between people- the process of communication- is essential
to experiential models of family therapy.
Process is also about our movement through significant events in life. Clarity of
process tells us where we are and delineates where we are likely to go. It allows
the therapist and the family to examine where they are in the flow of life, the
process of change, and the experience of therapy.
When essential routines are interfered with, the result is a disruption that throws
a system out of balance. In the face of disruption, families may initially seek to
retreat, but they generally fall into a state of chaos. Because chaos is
experienced as crisis, family members often want to make huge decisions even
though everything seems out of balance. Therapists immediately become one
of the familys external resources with a primary responsibility to help individuals
reconnect with their internal resources and strengths, which are often not
recognized.
A Multilensed Process of Family
Therapy

This is the blueprint for therapy using a family systems

approach.
It allows for an enlarged integration of ideas from multiple
models of family therapy.
There are four general movements, each with different tasks:
forming a relationship, conducting an assessment,
hypothesizing and sharing meaning, and facilitating change.
In rare instances, these four movements might occur within a
single session: in most cases, however, each movement
requires multiple sessions.
Four General Movements of Multilensed
Process of Family Therapy

Forming a Relationship: Therapists begin to form a relationship

with clients from the moment of first contact.
Conducting an Assessment: There are many forms of
assessment procedures in family therapy.
Hypothesizing and Sharing Meaning: Families are invited into
respectful, essentially collaborative dialogues in therapeutic
work.
Facilitating Change: Two of the most common forms for
facilitation of change are enactments and assignment of tasks.
Family Systems Therapy From a
Multicultural Perspective
Strengths From a Diversity Perspective
Many ethnic and cultural groups place great value on the
extended family.
Allows the therapist and families to appreciate diversity and to
contextualize family experiences in relation to larger cultures.
Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective
A possible shortcoming of family therapy involves practitioners
who assume Western models of family is universal.
Some family therapists focus primarily on the nuclear family,
which is based on Western notions.
 Summary and Evaluation
Basic Assumption
An individuals problematic behavior grows out of the interactional unit of the
family as well as the larger community and societal systems.
Focus of Family Therapy
The main focus of family therapy is on the here-and-now interactions in the
family system,
It emphasizes on how current family relationships contribute to the
development and maintenance of symptoms.
Role of Goals and Values
Global goals include using interventions that enable individuals and
theoretical assumptions.
Therapists have to monitor how their values influence their practice with their
clients.
 Summary and Evaluation
How families change
Therapy includes guiding principles that help the therapist organize goals,
interactions, observations, and ways to promote change.
Some family systems therapy focus on perceptual and cognitive change,
others deal mainly with changing feelings, and still other theories emphasize on
behavioral change.
Change needs to happen in relationships, not just within the individual
Techniques of Family Therapy
Personal characteristics such as respect for clients, compassion, empathy, and
sensitivity are human qualities that influence the manner in which techniques
are delivered
Contributions of Family Systems Approaches

One key contributions of systemic approaches in that neither the individual

nor the family is blamed for a particular dysfunction.
A systems perspective recognizes that individuals and families are affected
by external forces and systems, among them illness, shifting gender
patterns, culture and socioeconomic considerations.
Redefines the individual as a system embedded within other systems, which
brings an entirely different perspective to assessment and treatment.
An individual is not scapegoated as the bad person in the family.
The entire family has an opportunity to:
Examine the multiple perspectives and interactional patters that characterize the
unit.
Participate in finding solutions.
Limitations and Criticisms of Family System
Approaches
Therapists all too often got lost in their consideration of a system.
Therapists began to describe and think of families as being made up of
dyads or triads; as being functional or dysfunctional, stuck or
unstuck, and enmeshed or disengaged; and as displaying positive
and negative outcomes and feedback loops.
Some therapists approached family systems work with little concern for the
individuals as long as the whole of the family functioned better.
Enactments, ordeals, and paradoxical interventions were often done to
clients-sometimes even without their knowledge.
Many thanks!
Have a great day ahead!