STRATEGIC FAMILY THERAPY

STORMY TROTTER-LLOYD & JANE ROSSER

COUN 7080 Spring 2014
Strategic Family Therapy
Haley called the therapy ‘Strategic’ because:

"it is a therapy where the therapist

initiates what happens during therapy,
designs a specific approach for each
person's presenting problem, and
where the therapist takes responsibility
for directly influencing people."
http://www.mri.org/strategic_family_therapy.html

Roots in structural family therapy

Builds on concepts from
communication theory
 LEADING
FIGURES
Palo Alto Group 1960-70’s Brief Family Therapy /Mental
Research Institute (MRI)
Don Jackson, Gregory Bateson, John Weakland, Paul Watzlawick
(family communication)
Strategic Family Therapy Institute 1980’s
Jay Haley & Cloe Madanes (directive & challenging)
Milan Systemic Model
Mara Selvini-Palazzoli (
COMMUNICATION THEORY
 How VERBAL and NONVERBAL messages are exchanged

 PROCESS between people in a SYSTEM vs. inner conflicts

 WHAT rather than WHY

 Communication PATTERNS vs. content

 Faulty communication patterns = family DYSFUNCTION

INTERPERSONAL NATURE OF COMMUNICATION
 All behavior is communication
 Communication happens at many levels
 Every communication has a content(report) &
a relationship(command) aspect
 Relationships are defined by command messages
 Complementary interactive patterns = oppositional -
create superior/inferior relationships
 Symmetrical interactive pattern = equality – can
become competitive
 Each person punctuates a sequence of
events in different ways organizing their
view of cause and effect
Focus IP symptoms

Family attempts to address

“problem” behavior

Actions become a pattern

Pattern reinforces
IP behaviors

Circular Patterns
Breakdown in Solutions
family functions … become part of
the problem …

Contradictions
between what is
said and what is
expressed…

Repeating
non-workable
solutions …
Breakdown in
rules and roles…
What does Strategic
Family Therapy
look like?
Active
Brief
Directive
Therapist Centered
Task Oriented
 Define the problem
Identify attempted solutions
Determine the position of the client
Designing an intervention
Selling the client on the intervention
Assigning homework
Doing a homework follow-up
Terminating
Latino Brief Therapy Center (Schlanger & Anger-Diaz (1999)
 KEY CONCEPTS
PARADOXICAL INJUNCTIONS – Contradictions between what is said and what is
expressed in tone or gesture
PARADOXICAL DIRECTIVES – Direct client to continue or extend the behavior.
Non-confrontational – undermines resistance – ties in to patients own
momentum
DOUBLE BIND – Conflicting messages – can’t win situations

THERAPEUTIC DOUBLE BIND (COUNTER PARADOXES) – Technique to force a

person/couple/family into a no-lose situation
PRESCRIBING THE SYMPTOM – prescribe the very behavior to be resolved.
The therapist helps the client understand this need and determine how much
control they have over the symptom. This can help them change or stop it.

RELABELING (POSITIVE CONNOTATION) – Changing the label attached to a

person or problem from negative to positive. In altering the meaning, the
emotional and conceptual context, the situation can be perceived differently,
and hopefully new responses will evolve.
 KEY CONCEPTS
FIRST ORDER CHANGES – superficial behavioral changes within a system that
do not change the structure of the system
SECOND ORDER CHANGES – changes to the systemic interaction pattern so
the system is reorganized and functions more effectively
FAMILY HOMEOSTASIS – families tend to preserve familiar organization and
communication patterns – resistant to change
FAULTY FAMILY SOLUTIONS
1) Ignoring a problem when action is needed
2) Taking action when it is unnecessary
3) Action taken at the wrong level i.e. first order changes when the problem
is at a second order level
DIRECTIVES - Challenging
Provoke – rebel or resist
Ordeal Therapy – undesirable task – more difficult for the client to have the
problem than give it up
 KEY CONCEPTS
PRETEND TECHNIQUES – Encourage family members to ‘pretend’ –
playfulness and fantasy – shift context – encourage voluntary control of
behavior
HYPOTHESIZING – interactive process of speculating = determine how the
family is organized around the problem
NEUTRALITY - Remain allied with all family members – avoid coalitions or
alliances
CIRCULAR QUESTIONING – focusing on family connections rather than
individual family members to address family differences

REFLEXIVE QUESTIONING (Tomm – social constructionist/narrative)

Help families reflect on perceptions, actions, & belief systems – meaning of
their life patterns
Types of Questions:
Future oriented questions Observer - perspective
Unexpected counterchange Embedded suggestion
Normative- comparison Distinction-clarifying
Questions introducing hypotheses Process interrupting
 Want to read more …. there
are some great resources on
line that illustrate the theory
and applications…………

Robbins, M. S., Szapocznik, J., & United States.

(2000). Brief strategic family therapy.
Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.