Family Systems Therapy
Author: Peggy Davis

At its basic foundation, family systems theory holds that
clients with any mental health diagnosis, addiction or
substance abuse disorder, can be more effectively treated if we
take their relationships with their families into consideration.
The client's family system, be it functional or dysfunctional,
is an important component to address when treating someone in
recovery. Without information on the family history and
dynamics in which an individual is a part, treatment is
incomplete. While family work clinician's focus is on the
family unit or system, they do not de-emphasize the importance
of dealing with the internal states of the individual. Family
system's approaches broaden the scope of assessment and
interventions to provide best practice methods for their
clients.

In assessing a client's presenting problems, a family system's
oriented practitioner will be interested in a person's current
living situation, life experiences and what the client sees as
his/her problem. As an example, here's how therapists may
initially assess from a focus on the individual versus an
assessment from a family systems perspective.

Maria has come to an agency that provides services for
recovering alcoholics. A counselor in individual therapy may
inquire about Maria's perspective or cognitions about her
alcoholism. A therapist from a family or systemic orientation
would not only examine Maria's self-identifications but her
cultural and intergenerational family experiences around
alcohol as well. The individual- focused therapist would begin
therapy with Maria alone. A family systems counselor may
include the client's parents, siblings or any other person(s)
Maria may want to involve. Overall, the family-oriented
therapist will want to explore how systems, from a micro to
macro level, may be a part of Maria's perception and hence
problem with alcoholism. This enables the practitioner to find
explanations beyond the client's personal identification with
their substance misuse. The therapist will want to understand
how Maria's alcoholism affects the family and how it is or was
integrated into and is being maintained by family relational
patterns. This broad look into Maria's life will enable the
counselor to provide a more unified and effective intervention
plan.

While there are many styles or schools of thought and practice
in family systems therapeutic interventions, most experts will
agree that although they may operate or approach "family work"
differently, practitioners should use the approaches that best
benefit the client. Clinicians should also consider their
comfort level and expertise in choosing a method of family
therapy. The psychodynamic, intergenerational and
family-of-origin approaches focus almost exclusively on the
client's past. Strategic, Structural, Cognitive-Behavioral and
the Psycho educational modalities deal with the present and its
influences on the client with little thought to the past. One of
the most familiar and focused on the here and now methods of
family systems therapy is the Experiential-Humanistic approach.


Experiential therapeutic methods are implemented so that a
client can explore actualization, choice, freedom and growth.
The focus is on the present interactions between the family and
the therapist as opposed to exploring past experiences. The
therapist's characteristics and sense of self is an integral
component in using this approach. Growth is assumed to be a
natural process and that painful experiences are a part of
life. Experiential family therapists (EFT) working with clients
suffering from drug addictions or substance abuse, believe that
these dysfunctional behaviors are actually the failure of a
person to realize their potential for personal growth.

The goal of the EFT is to assist clients towards growth of
self. By working towards spontaneity, bringing their creativity
to light and learning how to play again, the client will
hopefully begin to realize their potential. A good place to get
more information on treatment centers that practice experiential
therapies is http://cirquelodge.com. The main goal of any
experiential family therapy is to facilitate individual
autonomy and bring all family members a sense of
inter-connection or belonging. Another goal is to help the
family encourage each of the other family member's
individuation. In the case of substance abuse or drug
addictions, if the whole family (or as many as you can get to
participate) become healthy and functional, the chances are the
client will be able to maintain sobriety. At a minimum, a
healthy family can become an excellent support system for the
recovering addict/alcoholic. EFT relies on the use of empathy,
joining, and interactions in an attempt to assess the dynamics
of the family and hence to bring experiences that will lead the
family to change.

Experiential therapy places a high value on the therapist being
authentic and real. Since this approach relies heavily on the
therapist's personal self-awareness and rarely on a rigid
technique, a clinician must be willing to participate in
personal therapy sessions. The professional that has done their
own work (so-to speak) and has learned what they will eventually
facilitate or teach to a family, can only make them more
effective. I find it quite odd that many therapists or
professional counselors do not agree with this. Academic
training will never be enough to make us the most effective
clinicians we can be.

Use of family systems therapy allows the professionals in
guidance and counseling to gain a greater understanding of
their client's life or current problem. Individual therapy is
effective and should never be discounted. It is in engaging the
families in the therapeutic process that will help you gain a
better insight into your client's mental health or substance
abuse disorder and guide you to employing the most effective
interventions. The best we can provide for our clients is what
being a professional mental health clinician is all about.


About The Author: This article was written by Peggy Davis
sponsored by http://www.cirquelodge.com/ . Cirque Lodge,
located in Sundance, Utah, is a residential drug rehab facility
providing a private, effective and serene pathway to sobriety.
Reproductions of this article must include a link pointing back
to http://www.cirquelodge.com/ .