Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy
Part 1.
Summarize the key points of both experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy.
Experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy are distinctive approaches applied in psychotherapy, particularly to address family client groups. The two are distinctly different approaches with narrative family therapy focusing on retelling past events and experiential family therapy focusing on current experiences to understand the motivations for different behaviors. The two therapy approaches seek to improve the behaviors of family members by changing interactions and relationships between the family members. This is intended to address the existing social, emotional, mental and behavioral problems as identified. As distinctive psychotherapy approaches, the two apply distinctive theories and philosophies that are acquired through formal training. Practitioners are only allowed to apply the two therapies after being licensed and certified to be proficient in their use. The use of the two therapies requires that a professional relationship be established between the therapist and family members attending therapy. The established professional relationship is intended to promote the growth and development of the family members even as the maladaptive behaviors that stress their interactions and relationships are eliminated. Besides that, the two therapies rely on observing the interactions and conversations between the family members. Additionally, the application is the two therapies is reliant on scientific evidence collected from routinely scrutinizing them to improve their efficacy and outcomes (Christenson & Merritts, 2017). In this respect, it becomes clear that both experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy require training and certification, make use of conversation to understand family problems, and are evolving in the process of improving. Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy
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Compare experiential family therapy to narrative family therapy, noting the strengths and weakness of each.
A comparison of experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy reveals that although the two have some similarities, they are distinctively different. Experiential family therapy focuses on helping the family members attending therapy to experience the desired growth and therapy in the midst of exploring individual autonomy and independence. This is a therapy approach that focuses on spontaneity to leverage the relationships and interactions between the family members. The family members attending therapy are encouraged to have authentic conversations in which they make open disclosures about the issues affecting them. In addition, the sense of belonging and interconnection is engendered as they open up and present their concerns and would they would want to change in the family. The authentic conversations help to direct and evaluate the dynamics in the family, such as identifying the power dynamics and who does what during the problem occasions. The goal of this therapy approach is to encourage the family members to develop individual identities that engender positive interactions and relationships. In this way, this therapy approach makes use of the present conversations and interactions to understand why each family member behaves in a specific way, thereby helping to understanding the concerns and turning the family towards an acceptable direction even as they support each other in the changes (Christenson & Merritts, 2017). Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy
On the other hand, narrative family therapy focuses on helping the family members attending therapy to develop meaning from their past experiences, relationships, conversations and interactions. This therapy is targeted at encouraging the family members to recall problematic past interactions, and use them to develop unique skills for understanding the family problems and developing personalized solutions. It retells stories in the family, acknowledging that both bad and good past experiences have valuable lessons for the family and can help the family members to grow and develop. The past experiences are evaluated and given meaning, even as the family members are directed on how to carry out self-evaluations and develop a better self-awareness. At the end of the therapy, the family members are expected to understand their uniqueness and differences, and support each other to improve the interactions and relationships in the family (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2015).
Provide a description of a family that you think experiential family therapy would be appropriate, explain why, and justify your response.
The Anderson family has four members, comprising of a father, mother and two teenage sons. Mr. Anderson presents the two sons as the patients, explaining they have been disrespectful and resistant to being disciplined. However, Mrs. Anderson argues that it is normal for teenage boys to be resistant to authority, and that Mr. Anderson has been especially hard on the boys. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson work to financially support the family. The two sons (Peter and Paul) attend the same high school. Immediately upon attending therapy, it becomes clear that the parents are in opposition to each other. They openly argue about whether or not the therapy is necessary. The two sons interject by stating that their parents need more therapy than they do, and that they have very normal lives except for their parents who are always arguing. Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy
The Anderson family are good candidates for experiential family therapy. This therapy approach examines their experiences by re-enacting them within the therapy session, using conversation to uncover new information that is used to stimulate change and growth in the family system. It gets the family to focus on the activities and use experience to identify the emotions associated with self-esteem, responsibility, disappointment, and success. The therapist guides the family members to explore and release negative feelings of hurt and anger that linger as they relate to the experiences. In applying this therapy approach, the family is able to change its current and future relationships with the members able to live up to their full potential (McWey, 2020).
Part 2.
Family genogram
References
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. (2015). Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Christenson, J., & Merritts, A. (Eds.) (2017). Family Therapy with Adolescents in Residential Treatment: Intervention and Research. Springer International Publishing AG.
McWey, L. (2020). The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy