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Structural Family Therapy

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Structural Family Therapy
Research Paper

Research Paper for Marriage Family and Counseling

Jordan Reid Golson

Southwestern Assemblies of God University

COU/SWK 4413.70

Abstract

The structural family therapist goes about helping the entire family instead of singling out the specific person with the issues. When families have good relationships with each other it is mainly when each family member has their specified role and fulfills that role to its entirety. This type of psychotherapy was created by a researcher name Salvador Minuchin, from New York. The primary strategy of this therapy is to develop a bond between the family members that are having problems within their family. The therapist 's goal in this theory is to develop a bond with every member of the family so he or she can figure what the problem is and how to solve it. The structural family theory also brings in a biblical perspective to psychology. This therapy will help shed a new light on how God planned families to be and what roles he wanted each of them to have.

Introduction
…show more content…
Family-directed therapy is a younger model of structural therapy, but with different aspects to the theory that structural family therapy doesn’t look at (McLendon., McLendon., & Petr., 2005). Both of these types of therapies determine that the parents should care for the children, not the other way around. They also both show the families the positives in their system, the negatives, and what needs to be changed throughout their maturing process as a family. Family-directed therapy is more time limited and while working on goals that were set by members of the family (McLendon., McLendon., & Petr., 2005). In the structural therapy the family members do not set the goals for the members. The therapist sets them because he knows exactly where the weaknesses and the strong points of the family

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