Structural family therapy (SFT)
Structural Family Therapy (SFT) is a therapeutic approach developed in the 1960s by Salvador Minuchin and his colleagues, focusing on the dynamics of family relationships. SFT posits that individual psychological problems arise from and are maintained within dysfunctional family systems. The therapy emphasizes the importance of family structure, defined by subsystems, boundaries, and hierarchies, to ensure effective communication and healthier relationships. Therapists actively engage with families, helping them to identify and modify these structures to improve functioning.
Key concepts in SFT include boundaries that govern interactions within subsystems, such as the spousal and sibling subsystems, and the distinction between alliances and coalitions among family members. While SFT has been effective in addressing various psychological issues, some critics, particularly from feminist perspectives, argue that it may overlook the complexities of gender roles and power dynamics. Notably, SFT is adaptable to various family configurations, including extended families, and emphasizes the need for families to adjust their structures in response to social changes for optimal functioning.
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Structural family therapy (SFT)
Structural family therapy (SFT) is an organizational/systemic approach to family therapy developed by Argentine-born psychotherapist Salvador Minuchin and his colleagues in the 1960s. Structural family therapy hypothesizes that individual psychological issues emerge and are perpetuated through flawed systems of family relationships. Structural approaches have been shown to be effective in combating a number of personal psychological issues, including psychosomatic illness in children, anorexia nervosa, and substance abuse. Some critics of structural family therapy, including those with a feminist perspective as well as devotees of feminist psychotherapy, believe that structural approaches to family dynamics do not affectively address family gender roles and the potential repercussions of power imbalance between gender identities.
Overview
Minuchin developed the basis of structural family therapy while at the Wyltwick School in New York, where he worked primarily with youthful offenders, a population that proved highly resistant to individual approaches to therapy. Minuchin’s colleagues Braulio Montalvo and Bernice Rosman were also considered pioneers of structural family therapy techniques. Jorge Colapinto, Harry Aponte, Charles Fishman, and George Simon also contributed majorly to the literature of the field.
Structural family therapy focuses on family dynamics, and the therapist assumes an active role by “joining” the family as an agent of change. One of the basic assumptions is that dysfunction in a family results from an inability to adjust the structure of the family to changing conditions. The system further envisions the family structure as a set of subsystems with certain roles within the family. The spousal subsystem and sibling subsystem are two basic examples. Families also establish boundaries, which are defined as rules that govern inclusion and exclusion from a subsystem. Clearly defined boundaries are essential for optimal family functioning because they define rules about roles while allowing communication between subsystems. Poorly defined boundaries encourage dysfunction. For instance, a phenomenon known as enmeshed boundaries, also referred to as codependency, indicates over-involvement in each other’s subsystems, preventing healthy relationships from functioning between individuals, while disengaged boundaries indicate too little involvement.
Another common subject in structural family therapy is the hierarchy, which is a boundary dividing the leadership subsystem of the family from the remaining members and subsystems. The parent-child hierarchy is the boundary that separates the responsibilities of parents from those of their children. Dysfunction can also result from hierarchies that lack effectively defined boundaries.
Structural family therapists also use specific distinctions to refer to groupings of family members cooperating to complete certain tasks. Therapists use the term "alliances" to refer to situations where two or more members of a family join together to address a single problem. Coalitions occur when two or more family members form a unit against one or more family members. This may occur when a family member joins with another family member to defend them against attacks from a stronger family member. Similarly, a triangle is a three-person coalition involving two people united against a third.
One of the basic concepts in structural family therapy is that there is no single family structure that indicates optimal family health, and one of the best signs of appropriate family functioning is the family’s ability to adjust to changes and developments in their social environment. Family issues require organizational shifts, creating and redefining boundaries, coalitions, and subsystems to address changing dynamics. While the basic structural family model can apply to the traditional nuclear family, it can also apply to extended family groups, involving multiple generations and many types of family relationships.
Bibliography
Durtschi, Jared A., and Joseph L. Wetchler. "Structural Family Therapy." An Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy. 2nd ed., edited by Joseph L. Wetchler, et al. Routledge, 2015, pp. 119–54.
Fishman, H. Charles. Intensive Structural Therapy: Treating families in Their Social Context. 2nd ed., Basic, 2012.
Gerson, Mary-Joan. The Embedded Self: An Integrative Psychodynamic and Systemic Perspective on Couples and Family Therapy. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2009.
Hammond, Ryan T., and Michael P. Nichols. “How Collaborative Is Structural Family Therapy?” Readings in Family Therapy: From Theory to Practice, edited by Janice M. Rasheed, et al., Sage, 2010, pp. 95–109.
Kopp, Richard R. Metaphor Therapy: Using Client Generated Metaphors in Psychotherapy. Routledge, 2013.
McDowell, Teresa. Applying Critical Social Theories to Family Therapy Practice. Springer, 2015.
Minuchin, Salvador. Families and Family Therapy. Taylor, 1977.
Minuchin, Salvador, and Charles Fishman. Family Therapy Techniques. Harvard UP, 2009.
Vetere, Arlene. “Structural Family Therapy.” Readings in Family Theory, edited by Thomas R. Chibucos, et al., Sage, 2005.
Wetchler, Joseph L.“Structural Family Therapy.” An Introduction of Marriage and Family Therapy, edited by Lorna L. Hecker and Joseph L. Wetchler, Psychology, 2003.
Winek, Jon L. Systemic Family Therapy: From Theory to Practice. Sage, 2009.
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