Family Therapy an Early Designation of Psychotherapies Essay

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Family Therapy

An early designation of psychotherapies divided all types of psychotherapy into two major categories: insight-oriented therapy and action-oriented therapy (Woolley, Wampler, & Davis, 2012). This designation was made on the basis of the therapist's main focus in achieving positive change. An insight-oriented therapy focuses on assisting the client develop knowledge or awareness about themselves as a major focus of change. The insight itself leads to positive change in the client. Action-oriented therapies directly focus on changing some behavior as opposed to relying on self -- knowledge or awareness to facilitate the change. The designation is not mutually exclusive; in all action-oriented therapies some insight is gained and in all insight-oriented therapies there is some direct change of behavior. However, the designation is valid when determining the focus of the therapist regarding the main target of the therapeutic intervention.

For example, Experiential Family Therapy attempts to facilitate change by means of a commitment to increasing self-awareness, self-fulfillment, and expression or communication between family members (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2012). Clients are encouraged to examine their feelings, the family cohesiveness, communication patterns, and reducing defensiveness and family members by unlocking levels of experiencing and freeing people from impulsiveness and defensive reactions to one another are the goals.

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The primary motor of change in experiential family therapy comes from insight or awareness into patterns of communication, recognizing destructive repetitive patterns of communication and enactment the family members, and experiencing self-fulfillment in family relations. The awareness that family members experience leads to more integrity among members, improved relations, and improved individual functioning.

Structural Family Therapy attempts to gain insight by understanding the family system. The focus of a structural family therapist is to identify and acknowledge the hidden hierarchies, rules, conflicts, etc. that are present in the family system and lead to discomfort or even pathology such as eating disorders in individual family members. For instance, the family of a young anorexic girl is viewed as contributing to the girl's eating disorder by making her issues the focus of the family interactions instead of dealing with these issues directly (Goldenburg & Goldenburg, 2012). The therapist attempts….....

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