Precipitating crises in families: patterns which connect

Abstract

This paper proposes that a stage in treatment common in all successful approaches to therapy is the precipitating of some degree of crisis, and that failure to provoke an element of crisis in terms of behaviour or beliefs in the family represents a ‘crisis’ for the therapist. Before considering the different approaches of three major schools of family therapy, it is first suggested that, at a more abstract level, ‘the patterns which connect’ (Bateson, 1979) the different schools provide a unifying framework to understand one of the aims of therapy. This is the intention to challenge established patterns to precipitate crisis. Three models of Family Therapy, Structural, Strategic, and Milan/Systemic, are outlined and their manner of precipitating crises described.

Systemic Family Therapy in Adult Psychiatry a Review of 50 Families

“…Deterioration in the IP and/or the family in three cases during treatment could be ascribed to this potency factor, and must be viewed as a possible feature as families grapple with the prospect of change (Jenkins, 1989).…”

Can Adolescent Court Reports be Used to Facilitate Therapeutic Change?

“…Structural family therapy provides a useful framework as it fits the court process, particularly the commissioning of the report questions, clarification of the roles of the professionals concerned and in the construction of the closing written statement (Dare, Goldberg, & Walinets, 1990;Jenkins, 1989;Minuchin, Montalvo, Guerney, Rosman, & Schumer, 1967;Reder, 1983). Surprisingly, adolescents often respond well to the imposition of authority if they understand that it may be in their longer term best interest (Bruggen & Pitt-Aikens, 1973).…”

Potential Perils of the Demonstration‐Consultation Interview in Family Therapy: A Case Study of Contextual Confusion

“…While inducing a “perturbation” in the family is widely recognized as an essential aspect of therapy (3, 4), the differences between the expert's approach and that of the regular therapy team may have had a disturbing effect that was reflected in the clinical deterioration of two family members.…”