Transcript Family therapy

FAMILY THERAPY
Presented by: Sana Hamzeh
Clinical psychologist
Psychotherapist
DEFINITION
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
Family therapy (as its name indicates) is an interpersonal
therapeutic technique applied to family.
Family therapies are aimed at patients, as well as
their family.
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DEFINITION
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Family therapy is directive since the
therapist offers the solution for a change.
It also is a strong support welcomed by the
family.
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FAMILY THERAPY PRINCIPLES
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To spot the patient’s position in the family
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Analyse alliances and disrupted family interactions
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Emphasise that there is no crazy individual in the
family, but that the relationship is crazy.
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 All
the members are active, even when they are
slowing the change down.
 There
are different sorts of family therapy.
 Each
therapy has its specificity (technique and
references)
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PSYCHOANALYTICAL FAMILY
THERAPIES
 They
use individual psychoanalytical
concepts to understand the structure of
interpersonal conflicts in the family.
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They take into account parents’ unresolved
psychological conflicts’ projection on their child, who
bears them passively.
And they consider transgenerational conflicts’
intervention:
Unresolved conflicts between parents and the patient
(child) and their own parents are often projected on this
child.
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Therapists need to meet every member of the
family.
the patient’s parents, grandparents, brothers and
sisters.
At least during the first sessions.
Then, the sessions will bring the most important
members of the family together.
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 How
long does a session last for?
Sessions last for about an hour and a half.
They take place once or twice a month.
 How does a session take place?
Psychoanalytic family therapies involve
the usual kind of meetings, during which
participants speak. The therapist
(sometimes, there are two of them)
facilitates the debates.
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The Systemic Family Therapy (TFS)
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The
Systemic Family Therapy
(TFS)
It is a treatment that analyses the
communication and forms of
interaction within the family.
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OBJECTIVE
 The
family shares the symptom together and
mobilises to confront the fear of repetition
through intervening to respect each and
everyone’s role and space.
Why systemic?
 Relating
to a system in its whole
 There are several concepts
 Paradoxical communication (double constraint)
 The patient becomes the holder of the
group’s symptomology
 The family’s dysfunction consists in domestic
violence perpetrated by the husband,
violence against children
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Hated child will never be beautiful.
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 Transmission
through generations Women that
have not been protected (within their family of origin)
in their childhood and adolescence can often not
identify the suffering of their own children when
they will be abused.
 Transgressions
can not be simply explained through
the couple’s relationship.
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We have to refer to each spouse’s previous
generation to understand their action
They are not able to change the perception
they have on their son:
a bad child has to be punished in order for
him to become better.
The son plays a role of scapegoat for his
parents. He represents the expectations that
cannot be fulfilled.
The dialogue on relationships is quickly
blocked.
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Maintaining the couple’s relationship
is paradoxically linked to the fact that
they avoid recognising the reciprocal
disappointment
The child enables this process by
bearing their aggressiveness and
sadism.
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 Therapy
sessions resume each and
everyone’s difficult past experience.
 Heal children
 Humanise adult-child relationships
 Encourages trust towards adults
 Transmit other educational schemes than
those perverted by the father (in the case
of violent fathers)
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Systemic therapists use the two room
process:
 a room where the family meets with the
therapist,
 a another room separated by a two-way
mirror,
 where a supervisor is located to discuss
with the therapist,
 to protect him from an excessive
emotional involvement.
 The family is of course aware of this
setting
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Family therapy at Restart (TFR)
 The
whole family is affected, each member has its
shadow.
 We
always speak to the whole family and the
therapist will act on every relationship within the
family.
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It should be avoided to the patient to be seen
as a “scapegoat”.
The objective will be to teach a better
communication to every family members
To obtain a change, an action must be taken
on the “how” of every family member’s
functioning, rather than the “why”.
The family, which is a system pattern, is
characterised by two contradictory
tendencies:
homeostasis and a tendency to
change
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THE THERAPIST’S ROLE
He never appears as the Almighty, official
operator, example or model for the family.
 He collaborates with all the members of the team
involved.
 During the first interview, the therapist looks for
the family’s motivations and encourages them to
avoid resistances.
 He keeps away the risk of blames, in order to get
the best participation possible.
 One or two sessions to structure the group
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The family therapist sometimes gets a feeling of
intrusion or even violation of the family’s intimacy.
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