Family Intervention

Student’s Name

Institution

Introduction

Upon an examination of the family dynamic I found they had a dysfunctional family organization which needed to be restructured. The technique to be used here would be a structural family therapy. I joined the family to help it alter their structure. Through altering their realignment and boundaries system I would be able to change the experiences and behaviors of all the family members. My job would not be to solve their problems for this is their job my work would be to assist in modifying their functioning so that they may solve their issues. This is because structural family therapy is synonymous with dynamic psychotherapy. The symptom resolution sought would not be an end in itself rather it will be a permanent structural change (Nichols, 2009).

Symptoms

I decided to meet the entire family the following weekend in order to seek how to assist in ending their squabbles. Upon speaking to the husband they invited me to their home and I joined them with an intention of probing their flexible areas and activating dormant structural options. I first conveyed my respect for them and their way of handling things for this is critical in restructuring.

I then tried to understand their perception of their squabbles in order to approach the formulation through the kind of content they would use to explain it as well as the sequence they employ in explaining it. I then reframed the formulation through a comprehension of their family structure. I decided to deal with what I saw primarily occurring between the two in the session and not with what they described. I avoided getting bogged into the family’s non productive means of solving their issues by observing and modifying the sequences of their talking early in the therapy (Minuchin, 2010).

Assessment

In my initial contact with the family I first had to ease tensions and disarm defenses through building an alliance with each member of the family. I greeted each individual in the family by name and ensured I had made a friendly contact. This is because a failure to join and put up with the family members could generate resistance that is usually blamed on the family. I decided to ensure I accommodate the husband who had a very negative perception of family therapy. I also ensured that this connection was made at frequent intervals especially when things began heating up (Nichols, 2009).

The assessment was based on various assumptions. My structural assessment was founded on the assumption that the couple’s problems were mirrored problems affecting the way they were organized. I thus assumed that if there was a shift in their organization then there will also be a shift in their problems. This is because difficulties in the family often mirror the manner in which the entire family is organized. So those if things change between the daughters and the mother things are likely to change between the couple. During the first meeting one of their daughters became indecisive and made glances towards the father. The father then spoke up to clarify that she was having difficulties in explaining. I linked the indecisiveness of the daughter to the father’s assistance and realized there was a pattern of enmeshment (Minuchin, 2010).

Upon requesting the parents to discuss their daughter’s problem they had difficulties talking without being reactive and this conversation did not last long. This was an indicator of disengagement between the couple which was closely related to the enmeshment between them and their daughters through cause and effect. In the talking I realized that the couple does not talk for more than five minutes without constant interruptions. While the husband seemed peripheral the wife seemed central. When the first session began and the kids started running in the room while their parents ineffectually protested I realized there was no need of a description of what really occurs in their home for this may have realized a lesser picture than what I saw. When the wife complained of loneliness and the husband complained of having a busy work scheduled I realized that the moment the husband got a new job he divorced the wife and married the job. This symptom was in the real sense a precursor of dysfunctional patterns that in the end affected the entire family. A structural assessment would broaden the problem further than the individuals in their family system thus moving the focus from past discrete events to current ongoing transactions (Nichols, 2009).

The family structure was revealed by who said what to whom and in what manner. For instance the wife asserted that they had a communication problem where the husband does not talk to her nor expresses his feelings. However, when I asked the husband to respond to this by talking to her, the wife became critical and overbearing. The husband responded by increasingly becoming silent. I realized where the problem was. The problem was not that he does not talk, nor was it that she nags him, rather the problem was that the more she nagged him the more he withdrew and the more he withdrew the more she nagged him (Minuchin, 2010).

Strategy and Solution

The wife was also very depressed, I realized that she was overburdened by her four daughters and received very little assistance from her husband. My strategy was to ensure that the boundary between the children and their mother was strengthened in order to assist the couple to move closer to each other. I first joined the oldest of the girls aged seventeen years and supported her in developing her skills as a potential assistance for her mother. As soon as I finished this the girl managed to assume more responsibilities for her siblings in the home. Upon being freed from being preoccupied by their children the couple had enough and quality time for each other (Nichols, 2009).

However, they still had little to say to each other. I then realized that their problem did not stem from a hidden conflict rather it depicted the marriage of two nonverbal individuals. After several sessions in which I tried to make them talk to each other, it dawned on me that while talking is fun for some people it is not for others. To support their bonding I asked them to plan a trip out together as a couple. They chose to go for a boat ride in a lake closer to their home. Upon returning from this trip they were glowing with happiness. They managed to have a quality and wonderful time together by separating from the kids. From then onwards they planned to go out every week.

References

Minuchin, S. (2010). Family healing:Tales of hope and renewal from family therapy. New York: Free Press.

Nichols, M. P. (2009). Short-term structural family therapy with couples. In Shortterm couple therapy, J. M. Donovad, ed. New York:Guilford Press.