An effective family therapist who wants to come up with long lasting interventions must pay keen interest on the type of model to use when dealing with each unique family. This is because behaviors of individual family member result from their personality, which is highly correlated with their surroundings. For that matter, it is important to not only look at the resulting behavior but also examine the relational ties in the family system and other close environs. Two of the most used models include: Structural and strategic therapies which are effective based on close evaluation of problematic behaviors at hand.
Structural therapy model was developed by Minuchin. He believed that problems and remedies are resultant of subsystem, structures and hierarchies within family system because they determine the behavior of individual family members ( Nichols & Schwartz, 2005 ). As such, a person’s symptoms are best understood when examined in the context of the family interactional patterns. Moreover, other social systems that the family interacts with are analyzed so as to find other negative inducements for the problematic behaviors, which is the concern in therapy ( Nichols & Schwartz, 2005 ). By evaluating the subsystems and hierarchies that have become fragmented, the therapist pursue the restructuring of the family by changing the way individuals relate to each other in the family.
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Strategic therapy model was the work of Milton Erickson and it is based on belief that the goal of therapy is change ( Santisteban et al., 2006 ). Consequently, change can occur by using the specific resources of the client and designing strategies for each problem. It also stresses that negative behaviors are sustained by faulty hierarchies within the family. By helping a family to change how they interact, then the structure is believed to transform as well ( Santisteban et al., 2006 ). A key concept maintained here is that the family sequence of actions around their attempted solution can greatly maintain or even exacerbate the existing problem ( Santisteban et al., 2006 ). For that matter, a strategic family therapist pays keen interest on some dimensions of the unit including family rules, homeostasis, redundancy principle, symmetrical relationship among others.
The two models have a fundamental similarity in that both emphasize the significance of understanding how interpersonal interactions help the family to achieve the positive results in a therapy. The intervention measures, however, presents the prime contrast between the two. In structural therapy, methods stress on altering the relational interactions by transforming the dysfunctional family structure ( Carlson et al., 2013 ). Conversely, strategic therapy emphasizes that family structure will naturally change once the relational strategies are modified. Strategies are used to solve only the greatest problematic actions and relational systems that are believed to contribute to these behaviors.
Compared to strategic therapy, structural intervention is more efficient, has a greater family involvement, provides a lasting framework and has measurable outcomes. It is, however, not appropriate for some situations such as domestic violence and threats of harm. Strategic therapy has its strengths in that it helps to solve the underlying problem in a limited time ( Carlson et al., 2013 ). It is, nonetheless, a short term therapy which may not lead to long term outcomes because it does not incorporate the multicultural perspectives and relies more on common sense.
An example of a structural family map involves a low- nurturance, two –parent bio family system. It consist of four family members including: Father, mother, a child and a teenager. The father is detached and there is blocked communication between both parents, and between the father and the children. The mother is the head of the family and she is psychologically wounded due to the sudden family separation. There is poor communication between the mother and children such that problems are often not solved effectively. Children displays very undesirable behaviors. The teenager is often absent from school and is involved in drug abuse. The child is often fighting with his classmates in school.
| Map symbol | Current nuclear family member |
| F, M | Father and Mother respectively |
| C, T | Dependent child and Teenager |
| (F | Absent father |
| _______________ | Blocked communications |
| M w | Psychologically wounded mother. |
| -------------------------- | Open communication |
Structural family therapy should be used in this case. The children`s behavior may be due to limited communication and supervision from the mother and absence of fatherly care. Restructuring would involve, creating a more solid bond between the mother and children and finding a way of rebuilding the parents` relationship ( Peter K. Gerlach, 2015 ). Overall, interaction ties are key concepts in both models. The choice of which model to use depends on the type of problem experienced and, hence, a family therapist should choose the models wisely for optimal outcomes.
References
Carlson, J., Sperry, L., & Lewis, J. A. (2013). Family therapy techniques: Integrating and tailoring treatment . Routledge.
Nichols, M. P., & Schwartz, R. C. (2005). The essentials of family therapy . Boston, Ma: Pearson /Allyn and Bacon.
Peter K. Gerlach, MSW. (2015). An introduction to family-structure mapping . Retrieved from http://sfhelp.org/fam/map.htm
Santisteban, D. A., SUAREZ ‐ MORALES, L. O. U. R. D. E. S., Robbins, M. S., & Szapocznik, J. (2006). Brief strategic family therapy: Lessons learned in efficacy research and challenges to blending research and practice. Family process , 45 (2), 259-271.
