Family Systems

Family Systems therapy is a form of counseling that developed its theoretical foundations around fifty years ago.  It focuses on improving the dynamics in relationships such as family, marriage, single and couples.  It is helpful with conflicting rules, unmet expectations, unclear communication, dealing with loss, resolving conflict, parenting, marriage and couples repair, and a better emotional connection among the family members.

Family systems theory proposes that personal experiences we have had in our lives influence how we tend to function in all other relationships. We  don’t know who we are without understanding the relationships we have.  We as individuals need to first learn about ourselves and our emotions that stem from our own family of origin. In better understanding ourselves in our family system, we can become more aware and helpful in relating to bridging conflict in our marriages, our parenting, and our work and community.






People associated with this theory are:



Gregory Bateson (May 1904-1980)  developed the Double Bind theory. Double Bind is a paradox that occurs with an individual experiences conflicting emotional, verbal, or physical message, often seen in families causing dysfunction.




Carl Whitaker's (1912–1995)  idea was that the entire family system was the client.  Dr. Whitaker, was known for his charm and charismatic manner, provocative and innovative teachings. He once told an interviewer that "Every marriage is a battle between two families struggling to reproduce themselves.

Mara Selvini Palazzoli (1916-1999) was an Italian psychiatrist and cofounder of the systemic and constructivist approach to family therapy which became known as the Milan systems approach.

The ultimate goal of therapy is to assist a family to function in more comfortable and useful ways. 







A common technique used is family systems therapy. Family members act out their roles so that
the therapist and other family members are able to see the cause and effect of certain behaviors. Once these are recognized, the members can work to understand how their actions affect each other’s roles and begin to modify or adopt positive behaviors that benefit themselves and the family as a whole.




References


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_therapy
http://www.glasbergen.com/wp-content/gallery/psychiatrist-cartoons/toon328.gif
http://www.glasbergen.com/wp-content/gallery/psychiatrist-cartoons/toon532.gif

Feminist

The modern's women's movement. The theory's origin is of the assumption that women are at a disadvantage point in society.  Female based therapies developed from merging this viewpoint with traditional based therapy. Feminist theory and therapy emerged as a direct response from ties.

In the 1960s, feminism emerged with events such as the marketing of the first birth control pill (1960), the publishing of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963), the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) (1966).  

 The Feminist Theory continued to develop through analyzing women’s social roles in such areas as:

• Economics
• Literary
• Philosophy
• Pyschoanalysis

Key points of research on the condition of women in society are in:

• Discrimination
• Sexual objectification
• Oppression

There are many contributors responsible for this movement to name but a few notable persons are:  Jean Miller, Susan Bordo, Elaine Showalter, and Bell Hooks.

Miller (1928-2006) focused to prove that the patriarchy and capitalistic society was to blame and that "there was nothing wrong with women but rather with the way modern culture viewed them."

 

 

 

     

Bordo's work claimed that the body has been traditionally associated with the female and the mind with the male. She set out to show that this binary treatment such as he/she, solidifies generalizations. This supports the notion that women are property, objects and exchangeable commodities. We see this in our media daily in fashion, marketing and now, in the medical field under cosmetics. 

 

 

 

Elaine Showalter, highlights that our literary history is male biased therefore women are naturally in a subordinate position. An example is God being a male. 

 


 

 

 

Contemporary Bell Hooks, a member a the second wave of feminism, aligns herself as an advocate of feminism rather than being a feminist. She encourages that only with men supporting the movement, will the consciousness of men and thus society, be changed as a whole. 

Feminist therapy is utilized in a general manner in society for short-term therapy focusing on the individual and making a social change.

 

 

The goal of the therapy is to recognize the disadvantaged forces, create a solution and empower the client.

 

Techniques used in the therapy are integrating a feminist analysis, recognizing the client's socioeconomically status in access to mental health care, and accepting and validating the client's experience and feelings.

 

Links and Resources

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmszpekvUb8I-k8YwnSk9GtsJrUcS0wugsy_rMJiHlj2yo2xp8AQ

http://www.leftycartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/modern_sisyphus.png

 

 http://www.google.com/imgres

 

http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_archer_theories_1/47/12100/3097618.cw/index.html

Postmodernism

Postmodernism Therapy is based on the principle that there is no absolute truth or objective reality. They deem it impossible to determine what is psychologically healthy because there is no objective for reality.

Practitioners of postmodern therapy even try to minimizing the unavoidable power of authority  This is done through active involvement and being as collaborative with the client as possible. Unique conversation between the therapist and the patient emerges. A spoken language is created between the therapist and the client, ranging from simple words to intensely personal, complex conversation that becomes the main medium of change.

“Your attitude towards your life will be different according to which understanding you have." Suzuki

Conceptually, postmodern psychotherapy engages in traditions being truth and subjectivity of the Mind.

• Science - the truth and philosophy of knowledge
• Art - the truth of beauty and aesthetics
• Mysticism - the truth of religion, God and spirituality

Influencial people:

• 

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
Rejected the philosophical basis of the concepts of "subjectivity" and "objectivity" and asserted that similar grounding oppositions in logic ultimately refer to one another.

 

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) Re-examined the fundamentals of writing and its consequences on philosophy in general; he presented a radical re-reading of  philosophical figures such as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes as themselves being informed by such "destabilizing" notions.

Jean-Francois Leotard (1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970's and the analysis of the impact of postmodernism  on the human condition.



Goals of the therapy are:

• cure of a mental disorder
• symptoms reduction (i.e. decrease in their intensity, frequency, range or scope of interference with functioning)
• reduction of subjectively experienced distress or suffering
• insight, improved understanding of oneself and others
• conflict(s) resolution
• wellness, improved psychological and interpersonal functioning
• improved performance / efficacy of actions
• ability to work, play and love
• greater capacity for happiness and compassion

Techniques: 
The are three main types of postmodern therapies

• Narrative Therapy rests on two underlying principles: a) all human thought and behavior exist in cultural contexts that give them particular meaning and significance, and b) people's view of the world is shaped through a complex, generally unconscious process of sifting through experiences and selecting those that are most consistent with the story one holds of oneself.
  
• Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizes the construction of solutions to problems, rather than an examination of their causes or how they are maintained. Doing more of what has helped them succeed in the past.

• Collaborative Language Systems is a type of postmodern therapy that "dis-solves" problems through conversation and emphasizes a collaborative conversational partnership between therapist and client

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Lyotard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heideggerhttp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrida
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/post-modern.asp

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is evidence-based therapy, which means that behavior is researched and investigated, to out weigh any odds. Clients are led to prove their bases for their beliefs and values. These beliefs and values need to evolve from realizing the behavior and adapt to changes.The main thought behind CBT is that problems came from how people think (cognitions), how people act  (behaviour), and how peope feel (emotions).

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) combines three main approaches: behavioral, social and cognitive approaches.

 1. Behavior theory focuses on both classical conditioning and operant learning. Observed behavior is learned through these types of conditioning.

 2. The Social learning theory says that people learn in many different ways. Direct hands-on, observing, modeling, and cognitive approaches are some ways individuals learn.

 3. Cognitive theory focuses on a person's thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that influence one's feelings and their relationships.



















Donald Meichenbaum was born in New York City in 1940. When he was little he learned to be street smart and aware. He earned his PHD from the University of Illinois. He contributes his mother, who he says told him stories which inhanced his thoughts and way of thinking. He believes that when therapy is finished with the client, they (the client) should take credit for their accomplishments.

                               www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjZZNGfIOM





Goals and Techniques

Clients and therapists work together to recognize and understand problems between thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. Therapists and clients usually focus on the here and now and not the past. Due to trust and collaboration between the two, it is usually a time-limited therapy with set goals and strategies that will be assessed. The therapy looks at conflicts or problems a client is having and tries understanding the meaning of these conflicts and get to the root of why they are present in the client's life. With finding the root to their problems, clients can focus in on these problems and make changes. Change is a main component of this therapy. Collaboration, formation, and homework are three key factors in the success of this therapy. The overall goal is for the client to contribute with the therapist in finding the problem and finding ways to change for the better.

Collaboration

An equal partnership

Formation
Information from assessments within CBT framework

Homework
Client puts what he has learned to practice between counseling sessions
                                           

Key Concepts

• How people think about certain meanings behind their situations and events in their lives 
• How an individual develops their own beliefs about themselves, others and the world. 
• Individuals are taught to be more aware of how they think, and give meaning to things. 
• The thought is to move away from the negative ways of seeing things and to move toward the more positive thoughts and balance the way one sees life's events.

 Healthier thinking can lead us to feeling better......
 

                                                            We are what we think.......



Links And References

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psycotherapy. Fullerton: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1440&bih=699&q=donald+meichenbaum


www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjZZNGfIOM

Reality Behavior

 

  

REALITY THERAPY is the method of counseling that was developed by William Glasser in the 1960's and is considered a form of CBT.  Reality therapy is based on choice theory and is based on the choices that people make. People are in control of their own actions and behaviors. They are solely responsible and no one else is to take on that responsibility.

William Glasser was born in Ohio on May 11, 1925. He earned his BA and MA from Case Western Reserve University and continued his education to achieve his MD from UCLA in California. At the beginning of his career he worked as a psychiatrist in Virginia. During this time he met his mentor, Dr. G.L. Harrington, and studied his theories, such as Choice Theory. With this he focused on how control plays a part in a persons world and how an individual has their own personal choices to make. He believes every choice an individual makes affects the other. From his continued studies, Glasser opened up his on school the Institute of Reality Therapy in 1967.

 Robert Wubbolding was born in 1936 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the youngest of six. Earned his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati. He worked as a counselor in the school systems and also worked with the U.S. Army's drug and alcohol abuse programs. He now works as a director of the Center for Reality. With his background knowledge, Wubbolding found that the best therapy that suited him was reality therapy. He has traveled throughout countries teaching and introducing reality therapy and the choice theory to different cultures. The WDEP system was developed by Wubbolding which is made up of reality therapy and choice theory.
                                      

                                     Robert Wubbolding






 KEY CONCEPTS 

• How a Client is living in the present and how to get them to look at their own actions to see if they are being productive or not for their life.
• Satisfaction is what motivates a human being. Connecting with people is a real need that people strive for.
• Clients should not be labeled and if they are they could be misdiagnosed.

GOALS OF THERAPY

The goal of reality therapy is to help people reconnect and to be more effective in fulfilling the need for love and belonging.   

 


TECHNIQUES

The techniques used in this type of counseling are components of  cycle of counseling. One component is creating an environment appropriate for counseling and the second component is a procedure that helps with change in a client's behavior. A system called the WDEP is used to describe key procedures. This practice is described as a practical and is based on universal human principles (Wubbolding, 2007). This therapy helps clients explore their wants and needs, as well as how clients can reach them.

The WDEP System

The user of Reality Therapy, the WDEP system, applies the principles to individuals, to groups, and to organizations. Central to the effective use of the system is the establishment of a fair, firm, ad friendly atmosphere, climate, environment, or relationship.
Built on the above environment, the procedures of reality therapy summarized in the WDEP system, including 

• helping clients, students, employees define and clarify their wants (W), 
• Examining their total behavior: feelings, effective or ineffective self-talk, and especially their actions (D). 
• A searching and even at times uncomfortable self-evaluation (E) 
• Culminating in specific and attainable positive plans (P) for improvement .

http://www.realitytherapywub.com/index.php/ct-menu-item-7




   
Links and Resources

 http://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/william-glasser.html
 https://www.google.com/search?q=Robert+wubbolding+image
Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psycotherapy. Fullerton: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy is focused on helping an individual understand how changing their behavior can lead to changes in how they are feeling. It is based on the assumption that emotional problems, like any behavior, are learned responses to the environment and can be unlearned



 Behavior therapy is based upon the principles of classical conditioning developed by Ivan Pavlov and operant conditioning developed by B. F. Skinner.







Pavlov was a Russian psychologist who explored one important form of learning in his classic experiments on conditioning dogs. He found that in the conditioned learning experiment of these dogs that a conditioned response decreases in excitement if the repetition is presented.

BF Skinner was a psychologist born in Pennsylvania. He earned graduated from Harvard and began working on ideas of human behavior. Skinner found that operant conditioning is based on rewards and punishments for different types of behaviors. Reinforcement and its positive and negative effects were his focus of study.






Key Concepts 

Behavior - Reverse behaviors and habits
Affect - Emotions, moods, strong feelings
Sensation - The five senses
Imagery - a client views themselves
Cognition - a clients ideas, judgments, or insights
Interpersonal relationships - how a client interacts with other people
Drugs - Drugs, prescription or not, any health issues or concerns a client may have



Below is a short video of Behavior therapy being used with a child 

                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbVG8lYEsNs


Goals and Techniques

The goals of behavior therapy is usually focused on increasing the person’s interactions with positive activities. This therapy is structured and carefully measures what the person is doing and then looks to increase their chances for positive experiences.

Common techniques include:

Self-Monitoring — The first stage of treatment is when the therapist asks the client to keep a daily log of their activities.
Schedule of Weekly Activities — This is where the patient and therapist work together to develop new activities that will provide the patient with chances for positive experience.
Role Playing —  New skills are developed through role play to help the client work through any issues that may pose a problem in the clients daily environment.
Behavior Modification —  Patients will receive a reward for interacting in a positive behavior.



Links and Resources

 http://www.picsearch.com/Ivan-Pavlov-pictures.html
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbVG8lYEsNs
 www.cengage.com

Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is a humanistic therapy technique that focuses on gaining an awareness of emotions and behaviors in the present rather than in the past. The therapist does not interpret experiences for the patient. Instead, the therapist and patient work together to help the patient understand themselves. This type of therapy focuses on experiencing the present situation rather than talking about what occurred in the past. Patients are encouraged to become aware of immediate needs, meet them, and let them recede into the background. The well-adjusted person is seen as someone who has a constant flow of needs and is able to satisfy those needs.

             
                "Learning is the discovery that something is possible."

                                              Fritz Perls 

Frederick S. ("Fritz") Perls (1893-1970) the founder of Gestalt Therapy. He was born in Germany to a poor Jewish family. Growing up was a difficult task for Fritz which in turn gave his parents much grief. Failing a grade or two and being expelled from school did not stop Fritz from coming back later and earning his high school degree, college degree, and medical degree in psychiatry. He then joined the German Army serving as a medic in World War 1, experiencing the trauma of gassed soldiers that had brain malfunctions. This interest Fritz that he continued to work with brain injured soldiers even after the war. He came to believe that objects as a whole differs from perceiving the sum of its parts. During this time he met his wife, Laura and married.

               
                 "Improve your awareness in the smallest things!" (Cleveland workshop, Leibig notes)


Laura Posner Perls (1905-1990) was born in Germany to a wealthy family who provided Laura with dance and music. These two skills would carry into her therapy in her later practices. Well educated and from a well to do background she had a strong base to start with. She met her husband in 1926 while studying Gestalt therapy. Together they set the foundations for this type of therapy. Later they would have two children. Their marriage was strained due to Fritz abandoning his family and moving to further his name and beliefs of Gestalt therapy. She on the other hand stayed and continued to help develop the Gestalt movement in the states. 


Key Concepts

• View of Human nature: Everyone needs to stand on their own two feet and experience life's problems as they come.
• Laws and Principles: These Principles are set to explain how we group images together.
• The Now: How a client recognizes the present and learns to not emphasize on the past or future. Live in the now.  
• Unfinished Business: When a client has unresolved feelings or business that is exposed and comes to a spot light that is hindering the client to live in the now and not in the past.
• Contact a client is a must in order for the client to grow and live in the now.
• Energy and resistance to energy is how energy is used in a clients life and how the client may develop walls as a defensive mechanism

 Four Principles of Gestalt

Holism, Field theory, Figure-formation, and Organismic self-regulation

Holism meaning "whole" This is where Fritz experienced seeing the soldier as one and not as separate parts when researching the mental functioning. 

Field Theory is when an organism is seen in its environment and is constantly changing within its environment. Everything in that environment is related and intertwined.

Figure-Formation relies on how a client views and experiences things at that time and at that moment.  The client has a focal point that dominates their needs at that given time.

Organismic self-regulation is where the client feels that their balance is disrupted and there is a need to fix the problem. This is where the client takes action.


Goals and Techniques

Gestalt Therapy aims at helping the client to experience the now and changes of their lives. They help the client to gain awareness of their surroundings, so they can make better choices for themselves and not what others want for them. From this therapy clients can retain a feeling of wholesome.

Techniques used in therapy are experimental attitudes, personal engagements, role play, exercises, but most of work is performed by the client. The therapist's job is to be knowledgeable of themselves and the client, as well as, provide a therapeutic atmosphere so productive work by the client can be done.

 





To have some fun with Gestalt imagery check out this site

 http://faculty.uca.edu/lglenn/gestaltimages.htm







Links and References

 http://www.gestalt.org/laura.htm

 http://faculty.uca.edu/lglenn/gestaltimages.htm

www.cengage.com