From a Bowenian Perspective, Essay Example

From a Bowenian perspective, this is an almost textbook case: I would want to have Lisa and her parents attend the majority of the sessions, because it is very obvious that her issues, including both her attitude problems and her weight/body image issues, are integrally tied to the need for more attention and affirmation from both of her parents (Gehart, 2014, pp. 33-34; Henderson & Thompson, 2010, p. 481). However, Lisa’s brother should also be a part of some of the sessions: though he does not appear to be part of the problem, he is still nonetheless a part of the family, and his differentiation of self, his niche in the family, is that of a clown. The role of the therapist is to help all family members figure out what they are doing, why it isn’t working, and what they can and should do instead in order to be helpful to each other and have healthy, positive, supportive relationships with each other (Henderson & Thompson, 2010, p. 481). In other words, the therapist plays the part of a coach, an educator (p. 481).

The assessment process should take the form of having the triad of Lisa and both her parents sit down and give their side of the story: their frustrations, the things that they find problematic about the situation (Henderson & Thompson, 2010, p. 481). From there I could go about helping them to realize their respective needs for intimacy and autonomy, and the ways in which their behavior might be causing problems for other members of the family. The target of intervention would be the relationships between the three members of the triad: Lisa and both of her parents. These relationships are the problem: Lisa needs more positive reinforcement from her parents if she is to overcome her body image and attitude issues, and that means the key interventions should focus on them spending more time with her. I would help them figure out how to do this. This is a deficit-based model in that the focus is on figuring out how presenting patterns are unhelpful and can be fixed; the theory of change involves substituting positive interactions between the family members (Nelson, 2003, pp. 255-259).

References

Gehart, D. (2014). Mastering competencies in family therapy: A practical approach to theory and clinical case documentation (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Henderson, D., & Thompson, C. L. (2010). Counseling children (8^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Nelson, T. S. (2003). Transgenerational family therapies. In L. Hecker & J. L. Wetchler (Eds.), An introduction to marriage and family therapy (pp. 255-296). New York: Haworth Clinical Press.