Structural Family Therapy Model

Major Interventions According to Calapinto (1991) in the pursuance of structural change this model utilizes several interventions. Hence, the interventions used in this model include structural mapping, highlighting and modifying interactions, unbalancing, challenging unproductive assumptions, highlight interactions restructuring, boundary making and enactments. Although there are several interventions, for the purpose of this paper I will highlight a few of them.
Joining Intervention Joining is perhaps the most important and crucial intervention in structural family therapy model. As stated by Hsin Yang and Pearson (2002) in the process of joining the therapist makes an effort to show that he/she is interested in each family member thus
Also there are some interventions that I have found to be easy to implement and some can be more difficult. Boundary making has been a very natural intervention for me to implement, hence I am an individual that sets clear boundaries in my personal life so it comes easy for me to block a family member and to direct them to do certain tasks. I am also a very tough person and I am comfortable with challenging my clients and my clients challenging me as well. I am enthusiastic and excited about trying new things thus I am able to reposition and move my clients in order to block enmeshed or disangaged/empower family members. To my surprise I found joining to be more difficult to implement. I am very open and can adapt to others thus I have used humor and memisis to help me to join with the families I work with. However at times I can be so focused on a goal or intervention that I fail to use empathy. Moreover I have learned that joining is a very crucial and essential intervention that must be implemented with patience, empathy and respect in order to increase trust between my family and my self. Another intervention I have found to be difficult to implement has been enactments. At first I could not grasp the concept of an enactment; for the reason that I was making the intervention much more complex than it needs
This model can be applied in treating a variety of presenting problems. Research suggest that structural therapy can be applied to treat schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, asthma and obesity (Munichin, 1974). However, there are some diagnosis/presenting problems that structural family therapy is not as effective when treating patients with certain psychotic phenomena’s. In this model family interactions are included along with the presenting problem of the family, this is done in order to broaden the focus of therapy. Broadening the presenting problem will allow the therapist to highlight areas of concern (Minuchin, 1974). Moreover the interactions then become the targets of the session and therefore as the diagnosis evolves then the problem can progress and evolve as well (Minuchin,