Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation

Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D.Director, Psychological Services Center

shpungin@uiuc.edu

The Family Systems Perspective

Individuals understood in context of family Family seen as living organism; individuals play

roles in overall functioning of organism Individual symptoms seen as manifestation of

difficulty/dysfunction within family Individual symptoms may serve “useful” function

within family

Example?

Structural Family Therapy

Salvador Minuchin

Step 1: Structural Assessment

Boundaries – how close are family members? how flexible are the rules?

Subsystems – what are the dynamics between family “clusters”? who aligns with whom? who gets left out?

Roles – what repetitive patterns do family members play out with each other? who has what “job” in family? are roles appropriate among members and/or clusters?

Step 2: Intervention

Goal: Re-align family boundaries and roles to be more adaptive for all family members

Step 2: Intervention

Goal: To re-align family boundaries and roles to be more adaptable for whole family

Sample Techniques: Enacting patterns within session (exercises; seating arrangements;

organically) Creating new communication channels (“Tell her, not me.”)

(“Interpreting” for family members) Creating disequilibrium; escalating stress Assigning new roles Establishing new boundaries Providing support, education, guidance, hope

Garcia Family: A Case Example

Mr. Garcia(1st genLatino)

Mrs. Garcia(European-American)

Jeremy (16)(American-born)

Sylvia (12)(Latina)Adopted at birth

Alex (6)(Russian)

Adopted 1 yr ago

Sergei (5)(Russian)

Adopted 1 yr ago

Katya (15)(Russian)Adopted

1 mo ago

Olga (7)(Russian)Adopted

1 mo ago

Spousal discord

Disrespect

“Bad attitude” (towards mom)

Disobedience

Physical aggression

Emotional adjustment Language difficulty

Behavior probs

Emotional adjustment

Spousal discord

Emotional adjust.

Thank You

Elaine Shpungin

Shpungin@uiuc.edu

Structural Family Therapy(Salvador Minuchin)

Family Structure = invisible set of rules governing family transactions (family members’ behaviors towards each other)

Family Subsystems (e.g., parents) have appropriate functions and tasks

Family transactions and subsystems are governed by boundaries (e.g., closeness of members, flexibility of rules)

Therapist’s role: Re-align structure of family – i.e., change interaction patterns between family members and family subsytems to be more functional