Practical considerations in family therapy

Abstract

This paper, directed to family therapists in training, presents a practical analysis of family therapy process in an attempt to establish a framework for understanding family therapy regardless of the individual therapist's personality, techniques or theoretical formulations. The therapist's role and family change are seen within the context of three distinct stages: the Confrontation Stage during which the therapist deals with the ‘here and now’ of family interaction; the Interpretation Stage in which current interaction is linked to past conflict; and the Separation Stage where the family works through termination of therapy. The resistances used by the family to prevent change and to maintain its pathologic equilibrium are categorized as Resistance to Therapy, Resistance to Interaction and Family Specific Resistances. The discussion deals with the increasing diversity of family therapy as families of widely different pathologies and social backgrounds are accepted in treatment, requiring continual adaptation of therapeutic techniques and goals as well as specialized methods (such as videotape and role-playing) for teaching inexperienced therapists to handle a complex range of practical problems.