Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace.
- Date:
- [1983], ©1983
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Guldner [235] Vicki and Les Robins came to therapy concerned with the constant conflict between 13-year-old Doug and 7-year-old Geoff. Vicki had become depressed and felt helpless to handle the boys. Les commuted 65 miles to work and was home only late night and weekends, which were often spent relaxing or with his friends. The therapist contracted with the Robins for 10 weeks of family therapy. The structural therapy model was used with emphasis upon getting Vicki and Les to deal with their conflicts. It also focused on enabling Les to take more respon¬ sibility for setting limits and carrying out his parental control with the boys. At the end of the 10 sessions the family was functioning much better. During the therapy several concerns had been expressed around family goals, life-style, decision making, and use of leisure time. When these were reflected upon with the family a new contract on a biweekly basis was made to do some family enhancement therapy. The family began to define goals such as more fun times, less focus on making money, more cooperation with home duties. Behavioral plans for carrying through with these were made. In order to enhance differences it was decided that the kids would go to separate camps during the summer. During the therapy, tensions within the marital system emerged and four sessions were spent equalizing power and communicating more clearly each partner's needs, especially for affection. This family had a lot of good intentions, but the pressures of time and trying to keep up with the Joneses (two brothers in this case) had gotten in the way. The family enhancement therapy was able to slow down their hectic pace and give them a chance to focus on what was really important to them and how to achieve that. After eight growth-oriented sessions the family terminated therapy with an agreement to return in a year for a well-family check-up. (3) Life cycle changes and growth-promoting therapy. Life cycle has to do with the natural and unnatural progressions that family systems move through in the course of their existence. Natural cycle events relate to getting married, having children, children going to school, becoming adolescent, their leaving the home, retirement, aging, and so on. Unnatural events refer to such experiences as separation, divorce, death, incapacitating illness, and the like. Life cycle events are the transition points within the family system. Essen¬ tially they acknowledge a time when a change in the family patterning is impending or in process. As these changes take place they frequently allow for new growth to occur. However, they can as well produce crisis and dysfunction for the family.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18037604_0238.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
