Mastering Competencies in Family Therapy, Essay Example

Here we have a case of two well-meaning parents who are wonderful in many ways. However, they have a fundamental structural problem: insufficiently clear boundaries between them and their daughter. They are not teaching her to respect authority, and they are allowing her fears to override the need for her to go to school. This is a very clear case of diffuse boundaries and enmeshment. Both parents have a distinctive subsystem with Jessica which allows them to give her a great deal of time: Jean stays home with her and helps teach her, Henry calls her every night and spends time with her on weekends. Well and good, except that with insufficient hierarchy, they are now enabling her rather than teaching her that sometimes life requires us to face up to our fears and do things we would rather not do. A dysfunctional triangle exists between the parents, Jessica, and Jessica’s fear of school. The function is likely a way for the parents to avoid their own anxiety about putting their daughter in school full-time (Gehart, 2014, pp. 125-131; Griffin, 1993, pp. 63-65; Winek, 2010, pp. 160-167).

What needs to happen is that Jean and Henry need to start acting like parents, not caregiver-playmates. More definite boundaries are needed between them and their daughter, boundaries that will allow them to insist that she does what she needs to do, even if she does not like it and is afraid. I would use the therapeutic technique of first, establishing alliance and seeking to understand their worldview: they clearly care deeply for their daughter and want to protect her. In gaining their cooperation, and hopefully Jessica’s as well, I would seek to understand all of their motivations and needs. From there, I would encourage Jean and Henry by reframing: I would point out that loving Jessica means teaching her to face her fears and play by the rules. I would also seek to help them make boundaries by having sessions with them alone, and also by telling Jessica to be silent at need, and by asking important questions that highlight needful areas (Gehart, 2014, pp. 125-134; Winek, 2010, pp. 160-167).

References

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

Griffin, W. A. (1993). Family therapy: Fundamentals of theory and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.

Winek, J. L. (2010). Systemic family therapy: From theory to practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.