1. Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation Elaine Shpungin, Ph. D
Structural Family Therapy: A Case Presentation Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D. Director, Psychological Services Center

2. The Family Systems Perspective
Individuals understood in context of family
Family seen as living organism; individuals play roles in overall functioning of organism
Individual symptoms seen as manifestation of difficulty/dysfunction within family
Individual symptoms may serve “useful” function within family
Example?

4. Structural Family Therapy
Salvador Minuchin

5. Step 1: Structural Assessment
Boundaries – how close are family members? how flexible are the rules?
Subsystems – what are the dynamics between family “clusters”? who aligns with whom? who gets left out?
Roles – what repetitive patterns do family members play out with each other? who has what “job” in family? are roles appropriate among members and/or clusters?

6. Step 2: Intervention
Goal: Re-align family boundaries and roles to be more adaptive for all family members

7. Step 2: Intervention
Goal: To re-align family boundaries and roles to be more adaptable for whole family
Sample Techniques:
Enacting patterns within session (exercises; seating arrangements; organically)
Creating new communication channels (“Tell her, not me.”) (“Interpreting” for family members)
Creating disequilibrium; escalating stress
Assigning new roles
Establishing new boundaries
Providing support, education, guidance, hope

8. Garcia Family: A Case Example
Mrs. Garcia
(European
-American)
Mr. Garcia
(1st gen
Latino)
Spousal discord
Spousal discord
Emotional adjust.
Sylvia (12)
(Latina)
Adopted
at birth
Jeremy (16)
(American-born)
Disobedience
Physical aggression
Disrespect
“Bad attitude” (towards mom)
Alex (6)
(Russian)
Adopted 1 yr ago
Sergei (5)
(Russian)
Adopted 1 yr ago
Behavior probs
Emotional adjustment
Katya (15)
(Russian)
Adopted
1 mo ago
Olga (7)
(Russian)
Adopted
1 mo ago
Emotional adjustment Language difficulty

9. Thank You
Elaine Shpungin

10. Structural Family Therapy (Salvador Minuchin)
Family Structure = invisible set of rules governing family transactions (family members’ behaviors towards each other)
Family Subsystems (e.g., parents) have appropriate functions and tasks
Family transactions and subsystems are governed by boundaries (e.g., closeness of members, flexibility of rules)
Therapist’s role: Re-align structure of family – i.e., change interaction patterns between family members and family subsytems to be more functional