The family
Mr. Berenson’s family is composed of four members including the father Mr. Berenson 38 years old, the mother Mrs. Rose Berenson 34 years old, the daughter Janet aged 8 years, and the son Vincent aged 4 years. Mr. Berenson holds a degree in commerce and works as an accountant with a micro-financial institution. His wife holds a higher diploma in education and works as a high school teacher. Mr. Berenson’s family is of African American origin with a stable source of income. It also enjoys a middle-class status in the neighborhood. The family also runs a small shop which deals with the sale of household goods and products. The shop is operated by Judy, 26 years. Judy is a young sister to Rose and stays with the family in the same apartment but in different rooms. Judy usually stays with Vincent and Janet in the small shop when the parents are at work.
The Problem
As reported by Rose, Vincent has a problem with his sister Janet. Rose claims that Vincent is usually hyperactive and sometimes becomes uncontrollable especially when playing with his sister. Recently, he is reported to have thrown one of the toys at Janet thus injuring her in the face where she suffered a minor bruise. Rose is unable to control Vincent and when she tries to become tough on him, he runs to Judy for protection. When Judy tries to become tough on Vincent, she is not successful because Vincent does not take her seriously. Their efforts to separate Janet and Vincent in play are also not successful because every time they are separated, Vincent cries and goes to where Janet is playing and hits her. The only person who is able to control Vincent is Mr. Berenson. Unfortunately, he is rarely at home and when he is present, the children seem to avoid him by playing far from him or close to their aunt and mother.
Family Therapy Approach
In counseling, various therapies are applied in dealing with different problems facing clients. A family is viewed as a social institution with a set of rules, morals, and other characteristics that make it unique and different from others. Each family therefore must be understood as an entity and generalization of family problems should be avoided at all costs (Nichols, 2013).
One of the family approaches which can be applied in the above case is structural family therapy which was formulated by Minuchin in the 1960s as he was working with the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. As the name suggests, the approach emphasizes the structure of the family during the intervention by therapists (Liebman, Minuchin& Baker, 1974).
One of the basic assumptions of the approach is that a family is like the human body which is composed of several organs, with each organ having a specific role to play in the body. When one organ becomes dysfunctional, the whole body is affected and the individual becomes socially, emotionally, physically, and psychologically unstable. In order to restore a state of equilibrium in that individual, there is a need to restore the functioning ability of the organ of the body which is not functioning. Similarly, when one member of the family is faced with a problem or does not function normally, the whole family is affected in various ways. In order to have a healthy family, therefore, there is a need to ensure that all family members are operating at a state of equilibrium with each other (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981).
The other assumption of the approach is that all families have a structure, either vertical or horizontal. The relationships within the structure are important for the well-being of the family and therefore there is a need to ensure that all family members play their role effectively in the family structure so as to make the family stable.
One of the main concepts of the approach is the concept of a family, which is construed as an open system. Even though the members of a family are united by shared beliefs, patterns of thinking, and kinship, this does not mean that the family is cushioned from the influence of external factors or actors. What this means is that the family does not exist in a vacuum but rather exists in a wider social environment, which has the ability to influence the family in many ways. For example, a family may have a religious orientation. But this fact does not mean that all the members of that family must be religious. In some cases, we may have one family member deviating from what the family believes in and become a nonbeliever. This particular family member may be influenced by various agents of socialization in the wider social system such as the school, media, and peers. Since a family is an open system, there is a need to ensure that the family structure is maintained at equilibrium at all times.
The other concept of the approach is homeostasis. This is a mechanism that tries at all times to maintain the relationships between the family members by maintaining the characteristics of the family structure. In other words, homeostasis tries to maintain the status quo within the family structure and relationships. It is believed that the behaviors of family members are interlocked with each other, meaning that each family member has some specific expectations from different family members.
For instance, what a father might expect from a son may be different from what he can expect from a daughter. Similarly, what a son might expect from the mother can be different from what he might expect from his aunt in terms of treatment, levels of engagement, punishment, and rewards. This scenario, therefore, creates a system in which each individual complements the expectations of the other family members. There is a tendency of all the family members to believe that their relationships are inherent and important for the stability of the family and therefore the need to maintain the status quo at all times.
The third concept of the approach is change. The proponents of the approach argue that sometimes the status quo can be a source of family problems. Many people may not realize this because they believe that maintaining their relationships with each other is a crucial ingredient for the well being of the family. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, the structure and relationships of the family members may result in dysfunctions in the family. If for example, a child believes that he or she has the responsibility to obey his or her peers but not his or her parents, then there is a problem. This is because the peers may have a bad influence on the child. They can influence the child to engage in irresponsible sex. If the parents choose to leave their children to be socialized by the peers for the fear of interfering with the status quo, then they may be blind to the fact that the same peers may be a potential source of problems for their children. The concept of change therefore implies the need to study the structure and relationship of the family members and make the necessary changes in the relationships as a way of solving family problems.
One of the basic principles of the approach is that of respect for the culture and values of the family. The therapists are obliged to ensure that the values of the family are respected at all times. When he or she sees the need of changing the values of the family, there is a need for intensive education of the family on the reasons for the need for change and why the values in question are related to the problems at hand.
The other principle is that of viewing a family as a client. Even though a family may have several members, there is a need for the therapist to ensure that his or her intervention does not leave the family divided but make it more united after the intervention. The therapist must therefore apply a participatory approach in order to ensure that the family members are part and parcel of the decisions reached in the therapy.
Another principle is that families exist in a social system and therefore the need to ensure that the intervention by therapists does not isolate the family from the rest of the society but rater makes it more integrated into the social system. The belief is that a healthy family is one that exists in a healthy social environment with good relationships between the family members and the society.
Application of the Family Therapy Approach
When the problem is looked at from the perspective of this approach, the problem may be attributed to poor relationships between the parents and their children and the role of relatives in the bringing up of children. From the structural family therapy approach, the primary responsibility of bringing up children lies with parents. Relatives can only bring up children when the parents are not there or when they stay far from their children. In any case, relatives can only assist in the upbringing of children. Even when the parents are working and have employed a house help, they need to ensure that they take control of the upbringing of their children but not leave that responsibility to relatives or house helps.
In applying the approach as an intervention, my goal would be ensuring that the parents take the primary responsibility in bringing up their children. From the description, it appears that the parents are not able to control their son Vincent due to the protection of his aunt Judy. It also seems that the parents, especially Mr. Berenson are reluctant to interfere in the relationship between their son Vincent and Judy. Vincent’s mother is also afraid of becoming more assertive to Vincent. In other words, Judy seems to be playing a bigger role in the family of Berenson than she is supposed to do. This is not a good arrangement because after all, Judy is old enough to have her own husband and children, and therefore, allowing her to dominate the upbringing of the children of her sister is allowing her more room than necessary.
In my intervention, I would invite the entire family to a therapy session and allow all of them to explain the problem from their point of view. In the subsequent therapy sessions, I would endeavor to ensure that Judy’s role in Berenson’s family is minimized. I would also ensure that Mr. Berenson and his wife play a bigger role in the upbringing of their children than before. As a way of minimizing the influence of Judy on the children, I would recommend that Vincent be taken to a nursery school where he would have an ample environment and space to play with other children. This is because the playing space at the shop may inadequate and unfriendly for a child’s play.
I would also recommend that Judy is replaced by another person in the shop, or the family employs a house help so that the children may have minimal interactions with Judy. I would also hold separate sessions with Judy, where I would advise her to think of getting married and starting her own family irrespective of whether she works at her sister’s shop or not.
Counseling is considered by psychologists as a helping profession. Just like other professions, counseling is guided by professional ethics and codes of conduct. These are established to guard the public against unethical practices from quarks, who may pose as counselors. Counselors, therefore, undergo intensive training where they acquire skills, techniques, and competencies to use in their practice.
The techniques and skills which counselors acquire are unique and are aimed at helping different clients who have different problems. Some of the techniques which I would use in this case include attending, effective listening, and responding. The skills I would use include reflecting, questioning, confronting, informing, teaching, and interpreting among others (Minuchin, 1970).
Strengths and Limitations
The strength of the approach is that it has the ability to restructure the family in order to eliminate the problem which is anchored on the status quo of the relationships between the family members. The approach is based on the principle that all social systems are not static but are dynamic. There is therefore the need to ensure that the social institutions, the family included are studied with an aim of ensuring that the necessary changes are made in order to make the family healthier (Andolfi, 1978).
The other strength of the approach is that it has the ability to be evaluated and allows for room for follow-ups. This is because the approach employs techniques that are aimed at bringing observable changes. When a change is made in the structure, the therapists are able to make observations in the changes in behavior and relationships and thus are able to judge whether the interventions are viable or not.
The limitation of the approach is that it puts more emphasis on structural changes of the family to the extent that it ignores individual changes. For any therapy to be successful there is a need to focus both on the environment and the individual. The approach is also unsuitable in addressing family problems in which one of the members is hospitalized or is unable to attend therapy sessions. This is because all the members have to attend the sessions for it to be successful.
Despite the limitations of the approach, research findings show that it has been successful in many instances. According to Minuchin, the approach was very successful in solving problems of child abuse and neglect in the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Up to today, no other research has proved this approach as being ineffective. It can however be combined with other approaches such as Bowen’s family therapy so as to make it more successful.
References
Andolfi, M. (1978). A structural approach to a family with an encoprectic child. Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling, Volume 4, 25—29.
Liebman, R., Minuchin, S., & Baker, L. (1974).The use of structural family therapy in the treatment of intractable asthma. American Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 131, 535—540.
Minuchin, S. (1970). The use of an ecological framework in the treatment of a child. International yearbook of child psychiatry. New York: Wiley.
Minuchin, S. & Fishman, C. (1981). Family therapy techniques. Boston: Harvard Press.
Nichols, M. (2013). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (10th Ed). Boston: Pearson Education.