FAMILY THERAPY OR COUNSELLING

The basic point here is that problems in families often arise because of the way the whole family works. People are pushed into family roles which may or may not have much to do with them as individuals - for example, one person may be a scapegoat, one person may be the bright one, one may be the sick one, and so on. It would be ineffectual in such cases to take, say, the sick one out of the family and treat that person in isolation, because as soon as they got back into the family the same pressures would operate to push them back into their role. These pressures may often be very strong and very hard to resist.

We came across one example recently where four therapists were treating four family members quite independently. This is quite obviously a case where family therapy would be more economical and more efficient.

In family therapy, the whole family comes in at the same time, and there may be one therapist or two co-therapists. Again the main emphasis will be on communication, and almost always there are secrets to be brought out, and shown to be innocuous. And again the question of conflict resolution will be important.

More than one generation may be involved in some problems, and it is not unusual for grandparents to be brought into the picture, and also aunts and uncles. In some cases this can get very complex indeed.

In the humanistic approach to family work, it is thought to be very important for the therapist to work in an authentic way, treating the family members as subjects rather than objects. This contrasts with some other approaches to family work, which see the family as an almost mechanical system, where one ingenious adjustment, made perhaps without the knowledge or understanding of the family members, can make the system work normally. So we do not deceive people or play tricks on them or say the opposite of what we really mean.

Some of the greatest family therapists have been humanistic in orientation, and Virginia Satir has left behind her a flourishing school of therapists trained by her. Walter Kempler has also made an important contribution in the humanistic approach to family therapy.

Occasionally we may use an intensive marathon approach, where the family is kept together with a pair of co-therapists for a whole weekend. The family experiences the actual stress of mutual confrontation and works through it with the help of the therapy team. The group sessions are supplemented with individual sessions. On some occasions it has been known for the therapists to bring their own families to these intensive weekends to add to the naturalness of the human interactions, but this is rare rather than common.

One of the great problems of family therapy is the cost, in every sense, of bringing the whole family together and working with it. For this reason family therapy tends to be brief and intensive, rather than open- ended and lengthy. But it is important for family therapists not to get so carried away by the importance of brevity that they cease to treat the family members as human beings. As with couples, it is important to have some political awareness, and to notice the power issues which may lurk behind seemingly rational actions. The reinforcement of stereotypes has to be avoided.

BOOKLIST

Kempler, Walter (1973) Principles of gestalt family therapy Self- published, Oslo. Excellent if you can get hold of it. Perelberg, Rosine Josef & Miller, Ann C (eds)(1990) Gender and power in families Routledge, London. Seventeen authors give a useful dose of political awareness, much needed in this area.

Satir, Virginia (1988) The new peoplemaking Science & Behaviour, Palo Alto. The standard work on humanistic family therapy. Fully revised, with a great deal of new material. Satir, Virginia & Baldwin, Michele (1983) Satir step by step: A guide to creating change in families Science & Behaviour, Palo Alto. Very helpful book showing how the family process works in detail.

Schwab, Johanna et al (1989) The Satir approach to communication: A workshop manual Science & Behaviour, Palo Alto. A practical, step-by-step guide, not to family therapy, but to workshops about family therapy.

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