Family Therapy Techniques Research Articles

Utilising Gaming, Rhetorical Questions, Deception Genograms, and Other Useful Techniques in Family Therapy

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family TherapyVolume 39, Issue 1 p. 3-4 Editorial Utilising Gaming, Rhetorical Questions, Deception Genograms, and Other Useful Techniques in Family Therapy Glenn Larner, Glenn Larner Editor-in-Chief glarner@aapt.net.au Search for more papers by this author Glenn Larner, Glenn Larner Editor-in-Chief glarner@aapt.net.au Search for more papers by this author First published: 14 March 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1290Citations: 3Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume39, Issue1March 2018Pages 3-4 RelatedInformation

M.Rivett and J.Buchmüller with K.Oliver, Family Therapy Skills and Techniques in Action. Oxford: Routledge, 2018, 217pp., 978‐1‐138‐83143‐8.

M.Rivett and J.Buchmüller with K.Oliver, Family Therapy Skills and Techniques in Action. Oxford: Routledge, 2018, 217pp., 978‐1‐138‐83143‐8.

Implementing Family-Based Musical Interventions in Family Therapy: A Mixed-Methods Research

Although rarely used by family therapists, musical interventions have the potential to become a more common technique in family therapy. Music’s unique therapeutic properties engage families, including young children and adolescents, in a meaningful, therapeutic, “here-and-now” creative process. Musical interventions act as catalysts, enable direct communication, and augment authentic communication patterns in a playful atmosphere. The purpose of this explanatory mixed-methods research was to obtain a greater understanding of the clinical applicability, therapeutic value and future implementation of a musical intervention carried out by family therapists in a family therapy context. The study explored the outcomes of 35 participating family therapists who attended a designated workshop on a structured family-based musical intervention, 18 of whom then applied 38 family-based musical sessions focused on family roles in their clinical work. The results illustrate the family-based musical intervention is a noteworthy tool for family clinical assessment and treatment, easily applicable in a variety of private and public settings with diverse populations. Musical instruments used as intermediary objects are potent vehicles for growing family awareness, functioning, and congruence, as well as inducing opportunities for change. The family-based musical intervention manifests the potential of an interdisciplinary, holistic, biopsychosocial approach to promoting individual and family wellbeing. The article also addresses ethical considerations and implications for family therapy training and education programs.

Working with Stepfamilies

Stepfamilies are complex family systems that warrant a specific model to guide therapy practice. Once a stepfamily has formed it's easy to overlook the lack of an attachment history that is commonly embedded in a biologically connected nuclear family. This can result in stepparents picking up parental responsibility for their stepchildren, which often may not go well. This paper highlights the need for clarity concerning the different levels of connection within a stepfamily, and the importance of avoiding ‘nuclear family‐style’ solutions and assumed attachments. This is especially important in the early stages of the relationship when everyone is adjusting to changing circumstances, which is often a time when issues of loyalty and betrayal fuel many of the actions taken. A range of family therapy techniques can be helpfully adapted to working with stepfamilies, especially as relationships with children often bring them to therapy. In particular, therapists can utilise ideas from structural family therapy to help guide the stepfamily to navigate the complexities of everyday life.

Poster Number: EI 26 - Utilization of Family Therapy Techniques to Provide Clinical Interventions in Later Life

Poster Number: EI 26 - Utilization of Family Therapy Techniques to Provide Clinical Interventions in Later Life

Benchmarking Family Therapy for Adolescent Behavior Problems in Usual Care: Fidelity, Outcomes, and Therapist Performance Differences.

This study evaluated whether community therapists delivering family therapy for adolescent behavior problems in usual care achieved performance benchmarks established in controlled trials for treatment fidelity and outcomes, with particular focus on individual differences in therapist performance. The study contained N = 38 adolescents (50 % male; mean age 15 years) whose self-reported race/ethnicity was Hispanic (74 %), African American (11 %), multiracial (11 %), and other (4 %). Clients were treated by 13 therapists in one community mental health clinic that delivered family therapy as the routine standard of care. Therapists provided self-report data on adherence to core family therapy techniques; these scores were inflation-adjusted based on concordance with observer reports. Results showed that community therapists surpassed the fidelity benchmark for core family therapy techniques established by research therapists during a controlled trial. Regarding change in client functioning at 6-month follow-up, community therapists were equivalent to the benchmark for internalizing symptoms and superior for externalizing symptoms and delinquent acts. Community therapists also demonstrated a high degree of performance uniformity: Each one approximated the fidelity benchmark, and only two produced relatively weak outcomes on any of the client change indicators. Caveats for interpreting therapist performance data, given the small sample size, are described. Recommendations are made for developing therapist-report fidelity measures and utilizing statistical process control methods to diagnose therapist differences and enhance quality assurance procedures.

Family Therapy Techniques in Residential Settings: Family Sculptures and Reflecting Teams

Outcome data has shown that family therapy is highly effective in the treatment of many disorders including addiction, mood, and other issues. In working to make treatment as effective as possible, many residential treatment and outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH) programs have adopted family therapy techniques for use in individual and peer group therapy settings. Some have also incorporated family members by inviting them to visit the residential setting and participate in treatment exercises. An article by Faddis and Bettmann (J Ther Sch Program 1(1): 57–69, 2006) outlines an example of this integrated approach to family sculptures and reflecting teams in a wilderness therapy setting for adolescents. This integrated technique has since come to be known as the four phase Familial Sculpting and Reflecting intervention. Most recently these methods have been expanded for use with young men ages 18–30 in an adventure wilderness therapy program. This article will examine the theoretical basis for both of these approaches, discuss the application of these techniques to residential OBH programs and review how these methods have been most recently adapted for use in another program.

Predictors of community therapists' use of therapy techniques in a large public mental health system.

Few studies have examined the effects of individual and organizational characteristics on the use of evidence-based practices in mental health care. Improved understanding of these factors could guide future implementation efforts to ensure effective adoption, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based practices. To estimate the relative contribution of individual and organizational factors on therapist self-reported use of cognitive-behavioral, family, and psychodynamic therapy techniques within the context of a large-scale effort to increase use of evidence-based practices in an urban public mental health system serving youth and families. In this observational, cross-sectional study of 23 organizations, data were collected from March 1 through July 25, 2013. We used purposive sampling to recruit the 29 largest child-serving agencies, which together serve approximately 80% of youth receiving publically funded mental health care. The final sample included 19 agencies with 23 sites, 130 therapists, 36 supervisors, and 22 executive administrators. Therapist self-reported use of cognitive-behavioral, family, and psychodynamic therapy techniques, as measured by the Therapist Procedures Checklist-Family Revised. Individual factors accounted for the following percentages of the overall variation: cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, 16%; family therapy techniques, 7%; and psychodynamic therapy techniques, 20%. Organizational factors accounted for the following percentages of the overall variation: cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, 23%; family therapy techniques, 19%; and psychodynamic therapy techniques, 7%. Older therapists and therapists with more open attitudes were more likely to endorse use of cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, as were those in organizations that had spent fewer years participating in evidence-based practice initiatives, had more resistant cultures, and had more functional climates. Women were more likely to endorse use of family therapy techniques, as were those in organizations employing more fee-for-service staff and with more stressful climates. Therapists with more divergent attitudes and less knowledge about evidence-based practices were more likely to use psychodynamic therapy techniques. This study suggests that individual and organizational factors are important in explaining therapist behavior and use of evidence-based practices, but the relative importance varies by therapeutic technique.

The Acknowledgment, Naming, and Giving (ANG) Activity: A Systemic Self of the Therapist Training Exercise

The Acknowledgment, Naming, and Giving (ANG) activity is a systemic self of the therapist training exercise based on several concepts and techniques in Contextual Family Therapy (CFT). It is designed to help family therapy trainees acknowledge (A) acts of destructive entitlement, name (N) the relationships directly affected by destructive behavior, and give (G) to those relationships in trustworthy ways. The activity requests that family therapy trainees consider both their own relational pain and the ways that they have been relationally harmful. In addition, the activity provides options for repairing damage and rebuilding trust in personal relationships that have been harmed. Systemic exercises like the ANG activity are essential components of self of the therapist training, and this article describes the activity in detail, provides guidelines for its use in training, and includes a case example of one trainee's journey through the process.

PROTOCOL: Psychosocial Interventions for School Refusal Behavior With Elementary and Secondary School Students

PROTOCOL: Psychosocial Interventions for School Refusal Behavior With Elementary and Secondary School Students

Assessing fidelity to evidence-based practices in usual care: The example of family therapy for adolescent behavior problems

This study describes a multimethod evaluation of treatment fidelity to the family therapy (FT) approach demonstrated by front-line therapists in a community behavioral health clinic that utilized FT as its routine standard of care. Study cases (N=50) were adolescents with conduct and/or substance use problems randomly assigned to routine family therapy (RFT) or to a treatment-as-usual clinic not aligned with the FT approach (TAU). Observational analyses showed that RFT therapists consistently achieved a level of adherence to core FT techniques comparable to the adherence benchmark established during an efficacy trial of a research-based FT. Analyses of therapist-report measures found that compared to TAU, RFT demonstrated strong adherence to FT and differentiation from three other evidence-based practices: cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and drug counseling. Implications for rigorous fidelity assessments of evidence-based practices in usual care settings are discussed.

Selective eating in a 9-year-old boy: Family therapy as a first-line treatment

Whilst empirical studies continue to demonstrate the efficacy of family-based therapy in the treatment of adolescent anorexia nervosa, less comprehensive evidence exists in guiding the treatment of pre-adolescent eating disorders, which are typically characterised by a greater variety of symptom presentation. We present the case of a pre-adolescent male who met criteria for selective eating who was treated into full remission with eating-disorder-focused family therapy. This family-based intervention deviated significantly from recently manualised family-based therapy interventions, and we suggest continued exploration of family therapy techniques in the treatment of pre-adolescent eating disorders.

Assessment in Marriage and Family Therapy: A Review of Clinical Updates for Family Therapists

This article presents information from an integrative literature review that examined assessment processes presented to marriage and family therapists in Clinical Updates for Family Therapists, Volumes 1 (2005), 2 (2006), and 3 (2007). The study was based on the concern that marriage and family therapy is losing its systemic relational focus as practitioners must comply with diagnosis models using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Using integrative literature review methods, similar to qualitative research, 54 articles were deconstructed to identify assessment tools and diagnostic processes being presented as best practice. Of the 54 articles, 96% identified the importance of having a family or couple relational perspective for working with individuals with mental disorders; however, only 54% provided any explanation to how this could be accomplished. These findings suggest a need to increase the identification of unique, relational assessment practices in articles that offer best practice techniques in marriage and family therapy.

Reframing “Reframing”: Another Look at “Reframing” Inspired by a Sonnet by Charles Baudelaire

Even if rarely discussed in the current systemic literature, “reframing” remains a key concept and technique in systemic family therapy. With reference to Baudelaire's poem entitled “The Frame,” we attempt to highlight and revisit reframing attitudes and interventions in clinical practice with families.

How to fail as a family therapist working with adults with learning disabilities: a paradoxical literature review

Over the past 15 years there has been a growing interest in the application of systemic family therapy approaches, methods and techniques to problems encountered by those living with learning disabilities and their social networks. As reports of success in this area increase, however, it is clear that this marginalized group of people continue to suffer from a lack of a ‘theory of failure’. In order to overcome this deficit, a review of the literature as at December 2010 forms the basis of such a paradoxical description, welcoming those living with learning disabilities into a family therapy tradition.

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Bidge's Mob: Written and illustrated by Gaye DellCreative Family Therapy Techniques: Play, Art, and Expressive Activities to Engage Children in Family Sessions: Editor: Liana LowensteinEssential Skills in Family Therapy, from the first interview to termination: JoEllen Patterson, Lee Williams, Todd M. Edwards, Larry Chamow, Claudia Grauf‐GroundsMulti‐Family Therapy: Concepts and Techniques: Eia Asen, Michael Scholz

Book Review: Creative Family Therapy Techniques: Play, Art, and Expressive Activities to Engage Children in Family Sessions

Book Review: Creative Family Therapy Techniques: Play, Art, and Expressive Activities to Engage Children in Family Sessions

A narrative perspective on genograms: Revisiting classical family therapy methods

This article presents how genograms, a classic family therapy technique, can be used in the context of narrative therapy. Genograms create a unique opportunity to explore and re-tell family stories thus enabling their re-authoring. An important aspect of this process is that of tracking down family resources and wisdom. The graphic form of a genogram can be very helpful in distancing a person from the dominant narrations in her/his family. Additionally, genogram analysis is an excellent opportunity to conduct re-membering conversation and introducing the "club of life" metaphor. Finally, the creative approach to drawing genograms can be an invitation for family members to "play" with their family stories and, as a consequence, re-position their roles in these stories. The article completes the presentation of the family therapy case study which was inspired by narrative ideas and genogram analysis.

Creative family therapy techniques: Play, art, and expressive activities to engage children in family sessions

Creative family therapy techniques: Play, art, and expressive activities to engage children in family sessions

P02-376 - Family therapy in iran: An OCD case study

Iranian clinical psychologists have devised family therapy methods, based on cognitive behavioral models, fitting their collectivist, Islamic culture. We review Islamic-based strategies and describe family therapy in a culturally-specific childhood OCD case. In %80 of adults diagnosed with OCD, obsession is observed to have started in childhood and adolescence. Studies showed that cognitive-behaviour therapy, although efficient in treatment of OCD, fails in the case of children, due to their limited cognitive ability and their lower level of development. On the other hand, since children's response to medication cannot be anticipated, and because of the side-effects and the probability of recurrence after termination of medication, parents do not agree to medical treatment for their children. The purpose the present research was therefore designed to investigate the efficiency of family therapy based on cognitive behavioral approach in treatment of OCD case. The family therapy techniques used in this study are encounter, self-reporting, relaxation, modeling, and positive thinking. The OCD client was studied and exposed to the method. The results showed that the family therapy method using integrated, religious-based cognitive behavioral therapy, seems more appropriate for clients from collectivist, religious cultures. The final part of the research discusses the findings in relation to those of the previous studies.