Structural- newer

with added assessment, stages of treatment

Who founded Structural Family Therapy?

Salvador Minuchin.

What is the core idea of Structural Family Therapy?

The family’s organization affects how it functions, so the therapist changes the structure to create healthier interactions.

How does Structural Family Therapy view the problem?

Symptoms continue because boundaries, hierarchy, roles, or family organization are not functioning effectively.

What family problems may maintain symptoms in Structural therapy?

Rigid or diffuse boundaries, weak parental leadership, inappropriate hierarchy, unhealthy coalitions, cross-generational alliances, and family members functioning in the wrong roles.

What does a Structural therapist assess?

Boundaries, subsystems, hierarchy, coalitions, alliances, power, closeness, distance, and how the symptom organizes the family.

What does a Structural therapist especially observe during the session?

How family members interact with one another in real time.

What are boundaries in Structural Family Therapy?

Invisible rules that regulate emotional closeness, distance, participation, and independence.

What are rigid boundaries?

Boundaries that create too much distance and emotional disconnection.

What exam word is associated with rigid boundaries?

Disengagement.

What are diffuse boundaries?

Boundaries that create excessive closeness, involvement, and interference in one another’s emotions or decisions.

What exam word is associated with diffuse boundaries?

Enmeshment.

What are clear boundaries?

Family members are connected while maintaining appropriate independence, privacy, and roles.

What are subsystems?

Smaller groups within the family, such as the spousal, parental, sibling, and individual subsystems.

What is hierarchy in Structural Family Therapy?

The organization of power, authority, and leadership within the family.

What does a healthy parental hierarchy look like?

The parents function as the executive team and provide appropriate leadership for the children.

What is a coalition?

Two family members align together against another family member.

What is a cross-generational coalition?

A parent and child align against the other parent, weakening the parental subsystem.

How may a symptom function in Structural Family Therapy?

The symptom may help maintain the current family organization or distract members from another conflict.

Give an example of a symptom maintaining family structure.

A child’s behavior problem keeps the parents focused on the child instead of addressing their marital conflict.

What is the Structural therapist’s role?

The therapist is active, directive, involved, and temporarily joins the family system to change interactions.

Is a Structural therapist mainly a distant observer?

No. The therapist actively enters the system and works to restructure it.

What is the main goal of the early phase of Structural therapy?

Join the family, build trust, and understand the family’s structure.

What does the Structural therapist do during the early phase?

Joins, accommodates, observes interactions, maps the structure, and identifies boundaries, hierarchy, subsystems, and coalitions.

What is joining?

The therapist becomes accepted by the family and develops enough trust and influence to help create change.

What is accommodating?

The therapist temporarily adjusts to the family’s style and way of interacting to enter the system and build influence.

What is structural mapping?

Creating a mental or written picture of the family’s boundaries, subsystems, hierarchy, alliances, coalitions, and repeated interactions.

What is the main goal of the middle phase of Structural therapy?

Restructure the family’s organization and interaction patterns.

What does restructuring the family mean?

Actively changing boundaries, hierarchy, roles, alliances, and interaction patterns so the family functions more effectively.

What is an enactment?

The therapist asks family members to demonstrate a typical interaction during the session.

Why does a Structural therapist use an enactment?

To directly observe the family pattern and help members practice a healthier interaction in real time.

Give an example of an enactment.

The therapist says, “Talk to your daughter now the way you usually do when she refuses to follow the rules.”

What is boundary making?

An intervention that strengthens, loosens, or clarifies boundaries between family members or subsystems.

Give an example of boundary making.

The therapist helps the parents speak privately without the child interrupting.

What is unbalancing?

The therapist temporarily supports one person or subsystem to disrupt the existing power structure.

What is the purpose of unbalancing?

To change an unhealthy hierarchy or family balance, not to permanently take sides.

Give an example of unbalancing.

The therapist strongly supports a parent whose authority has been weakened.

What is systemic reframing in Structural therapy?

Giving a behavior a new relational meaning that reduces blame and reveals its role in the family system.

Give an example of systemic reframing.

The therapist describes a controlling child as trying to hold the family together.

What does challenging the family worldview mean?

Questioning rigid family beliefs that members treat as unquestionable facts.

Give an example of challenging the family worldview.

The therapist asks, “Does being a good parent always mean solving every problem for your child?”

What is shaping competence?

Highlighting and strengthening effective behavior the family is already demonstrating.

Give an example of shaping competence.

The therapist says, “You worked together just now without blaming, which shows you can solve problems differently.”

What are signs of progress in Structural therapy?

Clearer boundaries, stronger parental leadership, weaker coalitions, appropriate roles, greater flexibility, and reduced symptoms.

What should happen to the parental subsystem as Structural therapy progresses?

The parents become a stronger and more effective executive team.

What should happen to unhealthy coalitions during Structural therapy?

They weaken as boundaries and hierarchy become more appropriate.

What should happen to boundaries during Structural therapy?

They become clearer and more appropriate rather than overly rigid or overly diffuse.

What is the goal of the late phase of Structural therapy?

The family practices and maintains the new structure with less help from the therapist.

What does the therapist assess during the late phase?

Whether the family can maintain boundaries, resolve conflict, use appropriate hierarchy, and avoid returning to the old organization.

When is Structural Family Therapy ready for termination?

When the family structure is more functional, boundaries and hierarchy are healthier, symptoms have improved, and the family can maintain changes without the therapist.

What are the major termination indicators in Structural therapy?

Appropriate parental leadership, clearer boundaries, reduced symptoms, healthier interactions, and independence from the therapist.

What are the main exam clues for Structural Family Therapy?

Minuchin, boundaries, enmeshment, disengagement, hierarchy, subsystems, coalitions, joining, enactment, boundary making, unbalancing, and structural mapping.

What main question does Structural Family Therapy ask?

How is this family organized, and what must change in the organization?

What is the memory phrase for Structural Family Therapy?

Change the family organization.

What is the difference between rigid and diffuse boundaries?

Rigid boundaries create disengagement and excessive distance, while diffuse boundaries create enmeshment and excessive involvement.

What is the difference between a coalition and a cross-generational coalition?

A coalition is any two members aligned against another, while a cross-generational coalition specifically involves a parent and child aligned against the other parent.

What is the difference between joining and accommodating?

Joining means becoming accepted by the family, while accommodating means adjusting to the family’s style to help achieve that joining.

What is the difference between enactment and boundary making?

Enactment reveals and changes an interaction in session, while boundary making specifically changes closeness, distance, or participation.

What is the difference between boundary making and unbalancing?

Boundary making changes closeness and separation, while unbalancing changes power and hierarchy.

What happens in the early phase of Structural therapy?

The therapist joins the family, accommodates to its style, observes interactions, and maps the structure.

What happens in the middle phase of Structural therapy?

The therapist uses enactments, boundary making, unbalancing, reframing, and shaping competence to restructure the family.

What happens in the late phase of Structural therapy?

The family practices maintaining its new boundaries, hierarchy, and interaction patterns with less therapist assistance.

What does successful termination look like in Structural therapy?

The family has healthier organization, clearer boundaries, appropriate hierarchy, reduced symptoms, and the ability to maintain change independently.

What is the goal of Structural therapy?

Strengthen boundaries, clarify hierarchy, reduce coalitions, improve subsystem functioning, and increase parental leadership.

What are some interventions used in Structural therapy?

Join, track, map, enact, unbalance, boundary making, intensity, restructuring.

Give an example of a goal in Structural therapy.

Strengthen the parental subsystem so parents can set limits without involving the child.

Give an example of an intervention in Structural therapy.

Ask the parents to discuss a recent discipline issue while the therapist blocks the child from answering for them.