Family therapy, a branch of psychotherapy is meant to help initiate change and nurture development in intimate relationships among family members. Psychotherapy, through a family therapist, helps families to work on their issues and problems which range from communication, and normal functioning. Often, issues arise in families due to factors such as disagreements, drug use and alcohol addiction, mental issues, and gambling among others (American Nurses Association, 2014). Such issues could impair the normal functioning of a family unit, which is what family therapies seek to improve. There are numerous family therapies. The two forms highlighted include experiential and narrative family therapies.
Summary
Coined in the 70s, experiential therapy is a therapeutic technique that uses activities such as role-playing guided imagery, animal care, arts and craft, and tools such as props to re-experience emotional situations from the past as well as recent relationships. By focusing on the activities and through experience, the client identifies emotions that rigger success, self-esteem, and disappointment among others (Pos et al., 2017). Through the help of a family therapist, the client begins to release negative feelings such as anger, hate, and shame as they relate to past experiences. The key tenet of experiential therapy is the experience notion. In their study (Pos et al., 2017) reveal that human beings can experience potentials. Consequently, these potentials encompass the capability of human beings to change.
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Narrative therapy, on the other hand, is a therapeutic approach premised on the notion that people organize their lives through stories. In narrative therapy, the events that take place in the life of an individual are regarded as stories (Dolman, 2020). Some of these stories stand out to be more significant than the others. Most of these stories are from negative events and are capable of shaping the identity of an individual. By listening to the clients’ stories narrative therapists perceive people or families to be full of possibilities that are yet to be discovered. The narrative therapist helps the family members discover how they are experts in their family functioning and as such can uncover their goals and dreams that define them, besides their problems.
Comparison
From a standpoint of similarities both experiential and narrative family therapies prompt family members to express their emotions and tell their stories. Also, both therapies seek to understand the underlying issues among family members to find solutions and improve communication among family members. The striking difference between the two forms of family therapies stems from the approach applied. As for experiential therapy, the role play, and guided imagery among other activities are used as a means of expression (Pos et al., 2017). Narrative therapy, on the other hand, relies on verbal expression through the telling of stories. Another difference is that experiential therapy considers underlying emotions as the cause of problems in the family while narrative therapy views an individual separately from their problems.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Experiential Family Therapy
The client’s emotions and feelings can be communicated in a manner that is comfortable which makes it possible to work through the emotions. Also, since the approach is not focused on verbal communication, the family therapist can take notes as people engage in various activities. The approach of the experiential family therapy enhances sincere expression by clients since they are not focused on the therapist’s observation of them (Pos et al., 2017). Another strength is that the use of various activities enables the family members to identify the one which is suitable for them. A major weakness, however, is that there may arise unwillingness by clients to consider the perspective of other members because of the failure of being receptive to the guidance given by family therapists.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Narrative Family Therapy
The communication of emotions through the telling of stories creates more self-awareness. This gives room for self-evaluation and improvement for communication and functioning of the family (Menard et al., 2017). The weakness, however, is that expressing one’s story verbally could make individuals uncomfortable.
Family suitable for Experiential Therapy
The Swifts, a family of five presents their 18-year old daughter Achara. The family is middle-class. Achara has studied in girls’ schools since her childhood. This is because her parents are overprotective. Currently, Achara is in her second year and keeps to herself most of the time. At home, she argues with her parents for their overprotection. They stalk and monitor her whereabouts and who she is with. Their actions have made Achara uncomfortable as she feels she is now grown up and can make decisions on her own. What heightens the conflict is that Achara answers her parents back. The Swifts may be candidates for experiential family therapy because the reexamination of their experiences could help restore the family’s proper functioning.
References
American Nurses Association. (2014). Psychiatric-mental health nursing: Scope and standards of practice . American Nurses Association.
Dolman, C. (2020). Some useful narrative therapy practices for responding to people seeking
psychological assistance. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work , (1), 76.
Menard, R. G., Robinson, K. D., Lane, D. E., & Lane, W. D. (2018). Group Approach to
Narrative Therapy: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Counseling Research and Practice , 3 (1), 4.
Pos, A. E., Paolone, D. A., Smith, C. E., & Warwar, S. H. (2017). How does the client’s expressed
emotional arousal relates to outcome in experiential therapy for depression? Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies , 16 (2), 173-190.
