Structural Family Therapy, Evolution Of The Model

Structural family therapy
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Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
Family therapy often appears to be difficult due to families emerging as groups of individuals who have a significant influence on each other. Structural family therapy works to give meaning to the transactions family members have with each other through observing the family structure. Families seek family therapy due to a specific issue, and it is the work of a family therapist to go beyond the problem and determine how family interactions cause the said problem.
Evolution of the model
Structural therapy traces its origin in the 1970s when Salvador Minuchin first developed the theory of family structure and strategies to organize therapeutic practices. Born and nurtured in Argentina, Minuchin laid the foundation of this therapy after studying interpersonal psychiatry and by working at Wiltwyck School for delinquent boys. In 1960, he discovered that troubled families had two distinct patterns. One, they were enmeshed, disorganized and firmly interconnected while others were disengaged, secluded and distant. The discovery led him to teach and concentrate on observing family patterns during therapy sessions. From 1965, he worked closely with other family therapists to learn new techniques of structural therapy. Also, he used them to establish successful family therapist centers in different states and shape the minds of today’s experts in the field.
The basic model
Structural family therapy works by following the three components namely; structure, subsystems, and boundaries, which guides a family. The structure is the way a family organizes itself with boundaries regulating them. For instance, how a family carries on a conversation at the dinner table. To understand a family structure, a therapist has to go beyond the mare interaction...