Cognitive Behavior And Solution-Focused Family Therapy Research

The family system is founded on the notions that for change to occur in the life of an individual, the therapist must understand and work with the family as a whole. In working with the family, the therapist can understand how the individual in counseling functions within his family system and how the client’s behaviors connect to other people in the family. This theory also holds the perception that symptoms are a set of family habits and patterns passed down by generation and not a result of a psychological problem or an inability to change (Corey, 2017). Furthermore, the family system theory holds the idea that when a change occurs everyone in the unit is affected by the change.

Gladding, S. T. (2010). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.

Family is something that plays a tremendous role in our life. Even though the structure of families has changed over the years, it is important to acknowledge that there many families out there whether they are traditional families, nuclear family, stepfamilies or others which tend to have different types of problems in their families. Therefore, many families attempt to go to family therapy in order for them to obtain help in solving the different types of issues they might have at home. As stated in the book Family Therapy by Michael P. Nichols (2013), “The power of family therapy derives from bringing parents and children together to transform their interaction… What keeps people stuck in their inability to see their own participation in the problems that plague them. With eyes fixed firmly on what recalcitrant others are doing, it’s hard for most people to see the patterns that bind them together. The family therapist’s job is to give them a wake-up call” (2013).

Solution-focused therapy is different from narrative and collaborative therapy because it focuses more on discovering solutions to problems by asking miracle and scaling questions (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Solution-focused therapists utilize miracle and scaling questions to help clients change their thoughts and behavior. Miracle questions challenge clients to think about what their lives could be like if all their problems suddenly went away and were solved (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). Scaling questions challenge the client to magnify their view of the current circumstance (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Solution-focused therapy is also different from narrative and collaborative therapy because the counselor leads the counseling session. Counselors lay out clear expectations for their clients to change, and expect them to actively participate in counseling so change occurs. The third difference between the three approaches is that solution-focused therapy is complaint-based, while narrative and collaborative therapy is not (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Clients come to counseling with a complaint, and counselors typically work with those who ready and willing to change. Another difference is that solution-focused therapy consists of five steps, which are “co-constructing a problem and goal, identifying and amplifying exceptions, assigning tasks, evaluating effectiveness, and reevaluating problems and goals” (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013, p. 382). Collaborative and narrative therapy do not follow these five

Systematic family therapy is aimed at professional counsellors and healthcare staff offering counselling skills. Its origins derived from earlier works in the 1950’s Stratton (2011) and the emphasis of systematic therapy was placed on understanding psychological difficulties within relationships (Boston, 2000). Systematic Family therapy has being identified as very effective (Stratton , 2011). However some criticisms suggest that it may be less effective than individual therapy if working with children or adolescents (Stratton, 2011).

When viewing this family in a Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) lens, we would focus on the solutions rather than the problem. Although the initial assessment would be similar to that of structural and strategic therapy, all of these issues would be explore, we would focus on the solutions rather than the problem. Although the initial assessment would be similar to that of structural and strategic therapy, all of these issues would be explored in a way that allowed for less “problem talk” and more solution based ideas.

A few of the techniques explains to the client which technique words and what doesn’t in a family setting. In the beginning, it’s more about bringing out concerns more than something that may or may not be taking place in the household. Solution-Focused Therapy also focuses on goals and helpful strategies. The true purpose for this type of therapy is focusing on family strengths. One example of the solution-focused therapy is the formula first session task. This task is an example of showing the family what helps. Also, the counselor is constantly asking questions and doing observations to see how well things go when the family leaves therapy. Another example is the exception question. This is usually the counselor looking at the family and

My first assumption of family therapy was to involve the parents and the individual that had the problem. This book explored further what it

Family therapy is a technique that has many alternative approaches to every aspect of treatment which Nichols (2014), states may present a challenge when describing a basic technique. The two models of family therapy in which I feel that I would be most effective and comfortable with would be, experiential family therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. I feel most comfortable with these models because, I adapt to the role of the therapist of both therapies naturally. According to Nichols (2014), when families seek therapy they are stuck in a life-cycle transition, sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not obvious. I’ve found that during the first session an excellent question is to ask the client why now so that they can

Haley and Madanes’ approach to strategic family therapy argues that change occurs through the process of the family carrying out assignments issued by the therapist. As described in Madanes’ Strategic Family Therapy (1981), “strategic therapists attempt to design a therapeutic strategy for each specific problem.” Therapists issue directives that are designed to shift the framework of the family to resolve the displaying problem. Treatment of these issues would include intense involvement, carefully planned interventions designed to reach clear goals, frequent use of therapist-generated directives or assignments, and paradoxical procedures.

One of the most effective components of MFT is Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT). CBFT incorporates cognitive processes that affect behavior and applies it to the therapeutic process of clients. The foundational principles of CBFT stem from behavioral concepts that were impacted by issues that affected clients such as phobias, anxiety and parenting deficiencies; studying how clients fortify or maintain certain behavioral symptoms and patterns (Gehart, 2014). CBFT was founded in 2005 when Frank Dattilio (adopting concepts from traditional cognitive therapy) introduced a cognitive-based approach to assist in the therapeutic process when dealing with couples and families (Dattilio, 2005; Epstein & Baucom, 2005).

therapy aims to improve family relations, and the family is encouraged to become a type of

CBT is defined as a form of mental health based counseling, focusing on errors of cognition and perception. It usually involves a limited number of individual outpatient sessions (Park et al., 2013). This form of therapy, “helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking, so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way,” (“Cognitive behavioral therapy”, 2014, para. 1).

The main goal of CBT is to help individuals and families cope with their problems by changing their maladaptive thinking and behavior patterns and improve their moods (Blackburn et al, 1981). Intervention is driven by working hypotheses (formulations) developed jointly by patient, his/her family and therapist from the assessment information. Change is brought about by a variety of possible interventions, including the practice of new behaviors, analysis of faulty thinking patterns, and learning more adaptive and rational self-talk skills. (Hawton, Salkovskis, Kirk, and Clark, 1989).

Psychoeducational therapy is a skill taught, educational style of treatment. With its unpretentious and direct thought process, it is easy to comprehend the concept of how and why it works. This is a relatively new style approach of family therapy, compared to the established schools like psychodynamic, transgenerational, experiential, structural, strategic, and behavioral and cognitive-behavioral models. I selected this therapy because it is straight forward like me. The subjects that will be discussed within this paper comprise of its history, families dealing with mental disorders, medical family therapy, short-term educational programs, and a brief summary.