Family Theory Discussion

Murray Bowen is one of the most respected family theorists in the field of family therapy. Bowen views the family unit as complex and believes it is important to understand the interactions among the members in order to solve problems. Satir and Minuchin also advanced family therapy with their concepts and models. As a clinical social worker, using these models (along with having an ecological perspective) can be very effective in helping clients.

For this Discussion, review the “Petrakis Family” case history and video session. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gAeEca0L48a3B_MyN…

By Day 4

Post (using two concepts of Bowen’s family theory) a discussion and analysis of the events that occurred after Alec moved in with his grandmother up until Helen went to the hospital. If you used the concepts of structural family therapy, how would your analysis of the situation be different? Which family theory did you find to be most helpful in your analysis? Finally, indicate whether Satir’s or Minuchin’s model is the more strength-based model. Why?

By Day 6

Respond to two colleagues who chose a different Bowenian concept in analyzing the events, and offer an alternative viewpoint.

Colleague 1: Caneshia 

Post (using two concepts of Bowen’s family theory) a discussion and analysis of the events that occurred after Alec moved in with his grandmother up until Helen went to the hospital.

Helen Petrakis is the caretaker for mother-in- law Magda.  As a result of Helen being Magda’s caretaker, it has placed a strain on Helen’s mental and physical health.  To reduce the amount of stress on Helen, Helen’s son Alec moved into the home of Magda in hopes to reduce the responsibility of Helen. Post Alec moving into the home of Magda, Helen noticed items missing such as medication, jewelry, and other valuables. There was a robbery at Magda’s home, Helen drew the conclusion her son Alec was responsible for the robbery. The case study reports Alec is on two years’ probation for possession and has a drug problem (Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. (Eds.)., 2013). As a result of Alec’s addition, Helen would visit the home daily to care for both Magda and Alec. Due to the addition stress on Helen, her symptoms worsened. This led to John (husband) rushing her to the emergency room with heart palpitations, tightness in chest, and shortness of breath (Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. (Eds.)., 2013).

Triangles and Family Projection Process are two concepts of Bowens family theory that correlates with Petrakis family. The three individuals that make up the Triangle Concept are Helen, Alec, and Magda. Magda was not able to care for herself, thus Helen had to care for Helen. Due to the mental and physical strain on Helen, Helen moved her son Alec into the home of Magda to assist on the responsibilities.  Additional stress was added to Helen’s mental and physical stability when Alec’s drug struggles were unveiled. This led Helen to become hopeless on resolving her initial concerns of her mental and physical health. This triangling process continues to feed on itself (Brown, J., 1999). Within the Family Project Process, Helen believed that moving Alec into Magda’s home would resolve her presenting issues of her mental and physical health. Helen had reservations about Alec moving into the home of Magda but ignored the lingering thoughts. Once it was confirmed Helen’s reservations were a reality, Helen fails to address the situation as if there is something wrong with the child.  Helen fails to reach out for assistance in handling the situation.

If you used the concepts of structural family therapy, how would your analysis of the situation be different? 

Structural Family Therapy is a strength-based, outcome oriented-treatment modality based on ecosystemic principles (Vetere, A., 2001).  If I used the concepts of structural family therapy, the analysis of the situation would be examined by family rules, roles, triangulation of conflict, coalitions, organization, subsystems and boundaries, stability and change, and feedback (Vetere, A., 2001).  Structural Family Therapy has a mental health professional who studies the family dynamic to understand the structure of the family. The situation of families begins with the family and not the individual individually.  The situation will be different because it would be from an outsider’s position.

Which family theory did you find to be most helpful in your analysis? 

I found that Bowens family theory was the most helpful in analyzing the Petrakis family

Finally, indicate whether Satir’s or Minuchin’s model is the more strength-based model. Why?

Satir’s model focuses on interactive, intrapsychic, and family-of-origin (Banmen, J., 2002). Satir’s model encourages individuals to make change. Satir focus on ways that empowers individuals to make change. Minuchin’s model focuses on factors within the individual’s system instead of directly with the situation. For this reason, I believe that the Satir model is more strength-based than that of Minuchin.

Reference:

Banmen, J. (2002). The Satir model: Yesterday and today. Contemporary Family Therapy, 24(1), 7–22.

Brown, J. (1999). Bowen family systems theory and practice: Illustration and critique. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 20(2), 94–103. Retrieved from http://www.thefsi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/0…

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. (Eds.). (2013). Sessions case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. “The Petrakis Family” (pp. 20–22)’

Vetere, A. (2001). Structural family therapy. Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 6(3), 133–139

Colleague 2: Lyndsay 

Hello,

Regarding the Petrakis family, Magda was caring for her mother in law, who suffers from dementia. In an attempt to resolve and ongoing problem with managing her mother in law and all of her other family roles, she suggested to have her son Alec move in with his grandmother, without providing insight on his past history to the social worker for a clinical perspective on the decision. Alex, who has struggles with impulse and addiction took advantage of the opportunity of moving out of his home and the freedom it offered, he started to steal money, expensive items, and medications. Due to the increase of stress and having not speaking to anyone in the family for support regarding her son’s incidents caused for Helen to have more medical issues leading to a hospital stay.

           Utilizing Bowens (Brown, 1999) triangle approach, we are able to see the many intertwining triangles of the family system, family roles, situations and problem areas, the conflicting and straining situations each individual in the main triangle are enduring and how they are influencing each other, causing the anxiety and the core problems to be exasperated and not really identified and addressed. Then with the multi-generational Transmission Process, we are seeing three generations involved in the underlying problem and influencing each other similarly as the triangle, and we can examine behaviors that are similar in the three generations to focus on finding resolution and barriers (Brown,1999).

structural family therapy

Reviewing both forms of family therapy, Structural family therapy examines the full family dynamic and utilizes a strength based approach to identify and resolve issues within the family system (Vetere,2001). Rather than looking how each interact and influence the other individually, structural, views more as an entire system. My analysis would be different because I wouldn’t see it as a failure within the system, but that with hindering their strengths and not remaining open and honest within the family unit, it is causing more problems than solutions. Such as Helen not disclosing the issues with Alec, and not opening up with her mother in law or husband about situations that occurred.

Satir

I do believe that Satir’s is more strength based as it focuses on strengths and is a solution focused perspective. Banmen (2002) discusses that the identified problem is not the problem, rather the lack of ability to cope is the problem. Therefore implementing a strength based approach to build and seek effective coping skills to resolve the “problem”

References

Banmen, J. (2002). The Satir model: Yesterday and today. Contemporary Family Therapy, 24(1), 7–22.

Brown, J. (1999). Bowen family systems theory and practice: Illustration and critique. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 20(2), 94–103. Retrieved from http://www.thefsi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/0…

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. (Eds.). (2013). Sessions case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. “The Petrakis Family” (pp. 20–22)’

Vetere, A. (2001). Structural family therapy. Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 6(3), 133–139