Systemic Family Psychotherapy: know its principles

  • 2019
Table of contents hide 1 Historical Evolution of family psychotherapy 2 What is homeostatic functioning? 3 Virginia Satir systemic family psychotherapy: Definition, characteristics, elements 4 Family types according to family psychotherapy: 5 Self-esteem and relationship: 6 Communication in the family system: 7 Communication models in family psychotherapy

Family psychotherapy has taken place since the mid-late twentieth century, and has reached its peak in the 21st century. It is based on the study of the family system, which encompasses a dynamic set of elements and roles, among which are: individuals and their particularities, beliefs, attitudes, rules and unconscious norms that affect subjectivity and self-esteem .

Historical Evolution of family psychotherapy

In the 50's, problems or adaptive difficulties of behavior were given the necessary attention from the approach of development theories, but only at the individual level .

Subsequently, at the dyadic level, where the symbiotic relationship between the mother and the children began to be studied. Likewise, the function of the paternal metaphor and how the mother and the children introjected the function of law through the father.

Then, taking into account the 70's considerations about family dialectics in psychoanalysis, it was possible to find relationships between the maladaptive conditions and behaviors of parents and children, by vicarious learning and symbolic modeling . This level of evolution is called the parental .

In addition, the interaction level or approach arises, which allowed to relate the character, personality and behavior in relation to the environment and its peers. In this way, the resistance mechanisms, the swarm of signifiers, the character, the personality and the behaviors; they are terms by which, the interactions of the subject are preached by virtue of the accidental nature of their substance .

This allowed us to consider the family as a system, with basic elements that could be studied, thus creating family psychotherapy.

What is homeostatic functioning?

Family homeostasis was a term introduced by the former director of the mental research institute of Palo Alto, California in 1954 called D. Jackson. According to the author (cited by Casas, 1985):

"It can be considered that the homo-static members are behaviors that delimit the fluctuations of other behaviors along the particular range corresponding to the norm" (p.2).

That is, the concept refers to the symptoms suffered by a family member, has a function and a sense within the system itself and at the individual level . The disease is conceived as the neurotic way of establishing emotional relationships with family members who have been excluded or have broken the unconscious rules of the clan.

Example: Psychosexual abuse that is kept secret will be experienced by future family members as a failure neurosis. That is, if in a family, the mother (or father) was abused (or) as a child, but she, because of fear and manipulation of the adult who abused her, hid it.

This drama is kept secret, and the person may have historical symptoms, and even a descendant, (to re-balance the unsaid pulsation), be abused by someone family member or other adult, in appeared circumstances remembering the hidden and recreating the trauma, to make conscious the return of the repressed (which would have a function of norm, in the saying of Great Other, more clear in the transpersonal unconscious).

Likewise, the analytical and systemic research; You will probably discover that the mother or other members of the family system were also abused in similar circumstances.

Virginia Satir systemic family psychotherapy: Definition, characteristics, elements

Virgina Satir's family psychotherapy is an Existential model, which raises the expansion and growth of the person through the communication of the subject with family members, and their awareness of the present.

It is characterized because part of the premise that diseases are the product of inadequate communication of the family system in the face of difficulties that make their members not adapt or do so through homeostatic function, being the disease a means of balancing the parts.

Also, family psychotherapy uses principles of art and communication: such as dance, psychodrama, behavioral or even physical sciences, which allows articulating the body, and mint in the here and now and generating a significant change. of the perception of oneself within the family.

Among its elements , the Family Crisis stands out : Family and individual development are interdependent, which is why a dynamic and never static process is involved, that is, the members pass from power to act, and can change their roles, the children later they will be father and later grandparents.

In the same way, each person goes through stages, and the fact of crossing them will generate crises, which will serve for the growth or stagnation of the psychic energy of the members . These stages range from the moment of conception and pregnancy, through the death of direct family members (usually parents), until the death of the couple and himself.

Family types according to family psychotherapy:

In family dynamics, difficulties will always occur because it is the nature of human life. But the way members deal with problems will indicate what kind of family they are. Among them, two stand out: the nutritious ones and the very conflicting ones

Nourishing families: Parents are considered democratic guides and leaders and not authoritarian leaders. They are parents who understand and become aware of their feelings to adapt to changes in existence.

The children of these families are spontaneous and friendly, and are taken into account, they do not perceive inhibitions that psychically constrict it.

The communication of this type of family, tends to be fluid and assertive, show affection and feel free to talk about their processes (be disappointments, loves, fears, sorrows, criticisms and joys.)

Very conflicting families, on the other hand, tend to be very authoritarian, generally not emotionally for children, and only dictate what should be done and what not. Parents never get to know their children what they are and what they are worth inside, so in them, there is a tendency to live with low self-worth.

At the same time, children do not get to know their parents, and can see them as providers, the relationship between them is usually not very assertive.

In them, disaffection can prevail, in this way the life of the family can become tense, with secrets, shame to communicate, a very “conservative” environment where there is no room for joy.

In addition, members of the family system tend to reject each other, tend to spend more time or give more importance to work or other activities. Communication is not usually very tolerant, his sense of humor is usually heavy, that is sarcastic or cruel. It is also common to find physical conditions, which are somatized because in the system there is " an unspoken saying ."

Self-esteem and relationship:

The perception that an individual has of himself, depends on the relationship determined by the other, since as Lacanian psychoanalysis says, " the unconscious is the discourse of the Other " so that the body (subjectivity) is constructed based on the interaction with the like The high or low valuation, then depend on the quality of relationships and the type of communication that was had since the formation of the ego in childhood; Regarding parents.

In the same way, the desire is introduced first, in the dialectic of " being the desire of the other ", this will determine the way in which the person comes to love, and also in the subsequent choice of partner (This relates to the Oedipus complex, and the Mother-Father, Child triad) as a mechanism of homeostasis.

In this way, children's neuroses are attracted in adult life, and two beings that fight for the recognition they did not have of their parents can be united.

The way of wanting becomes enigmatic, the members of the couple do not speak honestly of their shortcomings, but expect the other to fill them, and worse still; Guessing what they lack. Therefore, two beings can be formed with the desire to receive, but not to give, and the balance of the couple is broken, stagnating and boredom arising.

Communication in the family system:

Communication is a means of rarefaction of desire, and it is thanks to the word; that there is a pulse echo in the body. The word in the communication is half of who says it and half of who listens to it. It consists of several elements, among them are:

  1. The values,
  2. the body,
  3. the expectations of the moment (which are related to the thoughts formed by previous experiences)
  4. the sensory organs, the ability to speak
  5. brain

However, communication is not always direct, and many times it can hide other senses, this is called “communication traps” which allow deflecting (or avoiding) what happens inside through phrases made, such as eg: How are you? "Good". In family psychotherapy, we investigate beyond these phrases, using direct questions and confrontation.

Another interesting phenomenon that occurs in communication is that a person describes another by virtue of their own terms, because they see and describe the world not as it is in itself, but according to its categories. Do not forget that the subject is split, between what he knows and what he says.

Communication models in family psychotherapy

In families, it is common to present 4 models of communication, each one implies particular dynamics where self-esteem, character and relationships with the other members are related. These models are:

  1. Crushing: its dynamic is that the other person does not get angry. He has an attitude of complacency, his nuclear belief is: “I have to make you happy; Without you I am nothing
  2. Blaming: usually look at the mistakes of the other and blame others, in order to see "very strong." But inside, the person who is looking guilty feels empty, alone and with a feeling of failure.
  3. Super reasoned: is the person who feels vulnerable inside, but does not prove to be and hides his feelings behind a mask of coldness. They are the people who act like a machine, and thus demonstrate that there is nothing that can harm them.
  4. Distracting: they are the people who tend to ignore or distract themselves from others. Maybe they can respond irrelevantly, so that the situation is ignored. The subject acts as if what is happening in his family environment does not exist, his underlying belief is: "I don't care about anyone, I don't have a place here"

On the other hand, there is also open communication, which is done in an honest and authentic way, attending to the limitations and exposing the difficulties assertively in front of the other members of the family.

For this, it is necessary for the subject to break with the unconscious paradigms established by family interaction, such as: the fear of being wrong, the fear of "making someone annoy", or the fear of being criticized .

Finally, family psychotherapy is intended for members to express themselves authentically, to connect with the denied parts, through awareness of themselves and others, showing them esteem, tenderness, love (and sexuality in the couple ) and provide support.

To achieve this, the therapist uses structured planning, where information on family dynamics is first collected, and then interventions through activities where emotions are expressed.

Author: Kevin Samir Parra, editor in the great family of Hermandadblanca.org

References:

Casas, G. (1985). Family therapy and the approach of Virginia Satir .

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