A Systemic View of Family Therapy Ethics

Abstract

A critical review of the literature on family therapy ethics is used to develop the proposition that a more systemic analysis is needed, one that includes the levels of therapist and society as well as patient (family). These ideas are discussed through reexamining the issues of family secrets, therapist deceptiveness, and therapist advocacy of personal (feminist) values.

Reconceptualizing Strategic Family Therapy: Insights from a Dynamic Systems Perspective

“…Use of a ''clandestine'' therapeutic stance Some have criticized the covert or opaque approach suggested by strategic therapy as being manipulative and even unethical (Duncan, 1992;Held, 1992;Wendorf & Wendorf, 1985). Such concerns should not be taken lightly or dismissed as invalid, as some research suggests clients may prefer a clinical process that is more inductive and accommodative and less directive (e.g., Butler & Bird, 2000;Butler & Wampler, 1999).…”

“…During the mid-1980s and early 1990s strategic family therapy was sharply criticized as being covert, manipulative, and even unethical in its practice (Duncan, 1992;Held, 1992;Wendorf & Wendorf, 1985). Noteworthy debates were held during conferences and in the pages of scholarly journals (e.g., Dell, 1989).…”

Systems theory and its discontents: Clinical and ethical issues

“…The view of the family as an organism (Bogdan, 1984) consisting of interchangeable personal subunits evades a social legacy of individual rights, welfare, and responsibility. The family-as-organism perspective places relationship goals above personal ones or equates the two (Wendorf & Wendorf, 1985). Clinically, simultaneous promotion of individual and family welfare is not always possible.…”

“…It is highly questionable whether shared systems-level goals can always be achieved in these situations. Recent ethical discussions have urged family therpists to identify isomorphic patterns (Wendorf & Wendorf, 1985) that unify opposing individual agendas. For example, the divorcing couple may be described as united in the systemic "dance" of pursuer and distancer.…”

The Milan method—a preliminary critique*

“…Their defence will no doubt be to reject Goldner as a linear theorist (cf. Wendorf and Wendorf, 1985) but I think history is decidedly on the side of Goldner.…”