Brief Strategic Family Therapy

Dozens of detailed clinical examples show practitioners how to navigate family complexities, and how to work through the challenging decision points they present.

Brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) is an evidence-based intervention for diagnosing and correcting patterns of family interactions that are linked to distressing experiences and symptoms in children ages 6-18. This clinical guide shows practitioners how to transform family interactions from conflictive to collaborative, from habitual to proactive, so that the love trapped behind the anger can flourish, and family members can rebond in loving and mutually caring relationships.

Readers of this book will learn how to engage families that are reluctant to become involved in family therapy, and structure a 12-to 16-week intervention that will effect powerful behavioral change. Therapists help adults learn to collaborate with one another to nurture, guide, and handle misbehavior among children and teens.

José Szapocznik, PhD is the co-developer of brief strategic family therapy. He is Professor of Public Health Sciences, Architecture, Psychology, and Educational and Psychological Studies at the University of Miami, and Director of the Center for Family Studies at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. His policy roles include service on the NIH National Advisory Councils for the National Institute on Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He has received more than $125 million in NIH funding and has over 280 scholarly publications.

Olga E. Hervis, MSW, LCSW, is the co-developer of brief strategic family therapy and family effectiveness training. She has held academic positions at the University of Miami, Florida International University and Barry University. She is a frequent consultant on scientific studies on family therapy, having served in numerous national grant review committees for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Justice. Olga’s work has been published in books and scholarly articles, and she has won numerous awards, including the 2000 Exemplary Model in Substance Abuse Prevention Award presented to her and José Szapocznik, by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention in Washington, DC.

Foreword
Preface
Introduction

1. Basic Concepts of Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Family Systems
Structure: The Script for the Family Play
Strategy
Context
Process Versus Content: A Critical Distinction
Advice to Therapists
Key Takeaways

2. Joining: Preparing the Terrain
Creating the Therapeutic System
Joining Techniques
Advice to Therapists
Key Takeaways

3. Diagnosing Family Systems Patterns of Interactions
Organization
Resonance
Family Developmental Stage
Identified Patienthood
Conflict Resolution
Life Context
Key Takeaways

4. Applied Issues in Diagnosis
Encouraging Enactment
Defining Adaptive or Maladaptive Patterns
Planning Treatment on the Basis of Diagnosis
Interrelationship Between Dimensions
Key Takeaways

5. Orchestrating Change: Restructuring
Building on Joining and Diagnosis
Working in the Present
Developing Mastery: Helping the Family Build Competence in Adaptive Interactions
The Process of Restructuring
Key Takeaways

6. Pitfalls to Avoid
Content-Driven Therapy
About-ism
Centralization of the Therapist
Lecturing and Philosophizing
Losing the Leadership in the Therapeutic System
Doing for the Family or Playing a Family Role
Getting “Sucked” Into the Family’s Frame
Failing to Close the Deal
Key Takeaways

7. Engaging Families Into Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Challenges for Therapists
Diagnostic Dimensions of Engagement
How to Engage Reluctant Families
Working With Challenging Family Interactional Patterns
Key Takeaways

8. Applying Brief Strategic Family Therapy to Different Circumstances
When the Family’s Home Is the Practice Setting
Family Compositions
Special Circumstances
Key Takeaways

9. Bringing It All Together: The Case of JJ
JJ’s Case
Engaging the Family
The First Therapy Session
Session 2
Sessions 3 to 5
Sessions 6 and 7
Session 8
Sessions 9 to 12
Key Takeaways

Concluding Thoughts
References
Index
About the Authors

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Brief Strategic Family Therapy

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials