Systemic and Family Therapies
Systemic and Family Therapies focus on understanding the dynamics with others and resolving unprocessed elements through symbolic role play with representatives. While it's not a solution that always works, it occasionally leads to surprising results to issues – both psychological and psychosomatic – that seemed unrelated to the resolved problematic dynamic with other people.
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Sub types of Systemic and Family Therapies
Click the subtype you find most appealing to read more details about this technique and comparisons with other subtypes.
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Family Constellations
Family Constellations is a therapeutic approach that explores the hidden dynamics and unresolved issues within a family system that may influence an individual's behavior and emotional well-being. Developed by Bert Hellinger, this method involves participants representing family members and organizing them in a spatial arrangement to reveal systemic patterns and entanglements. By visualizing these relationships, clients can gain insights into inherited family behaviors, loyalties, and unresolved traumas. The therapy aims to restore balance and harmony within the family system, promoting healing and improved relationships.
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Structural Family Therapy
Structural Family Therapy, developed by Salvador Minuchin, focuses on identifying and altering the organizational structure of a family to improve its functioning. This approach examines the roles, boundaries, and hierarchies within the family, aiming to create healthier patterns of interaction. Therapists work to restructure the family by realigning relationships, clarifying boundaries, and establishing appropriate leadership. Techniques may include joining the family system, mapping family structures, and enacting new interaction patterns during sessions. The goal is to empower families to develop more effective communication and problem-solving strategies, leading to lasting positive changes.
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Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapeutic approach from the 1980s that views the mind as naturally composed of multiple distinct subpersonalities or "parts," each with its own roles, emotions, and perspectives. These parts often carry emotional wounds and burdens from past experiences. At the core of IFS is the belief that every part has a positive intention, even if its actions are counterproductive or distressing. Therapy focuses on helping individuals accept each part as their Self. Through this process, individuals integrate these parts and become whole – healed – again.
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Return to the therapies overview
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Critique from other categories
One effective way of understanding how a certain therapy type relates to other types, is by looking at it through the eyes of the other therapy types, as each has it's own idea about the mechanism to get from A to B. The critiques below will help you in comparing your options. Click the name to read more about this therapy.
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CBT-Based Therapies: Criticize Systemic and Family Therapies for lacking a focus on individual cognitive and behavioral changes, potentially overlooking personal thought patterns that contribute to dysfunction.
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Psychodynamic Therapies (Regression): Argue that Systemic and Family Therapies neglect the exploration of individual unconscious conflicts and past experiences that influence current behavior.
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Humanistic and Existential Therapies: Claim Systemic and Family Therapies are too focused on relationships and external dynamics, ignoring individual self-actualization and personal meaning.​
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Ego Awakening Techniques: Critique Systemic and Family Therapies for reinforcing the ego through relationship dynamics rather than promoting ego dissolution or transcendence.​​
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About Bukuru
The core philosophy of Bukuru is that each person should test their own beliefs. The project started as a quest to categorize self-development books in such a way that it would become easier to find books that match your beliefs. However, along the way we concluded that the essence of most books can be captured in a few sentences – if the idea is original at all. Instead of helping people buy books, we now help people not buying books.
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