Alice Garcia-Irvine, Kathy Findley & Laura Rocha 1

 Emerged from humanistic- existentialist movement of the 1960’s  Drew from ◦ Gestalt Therapy ◦ Psychodrama ◦ Client-centered ◦ Encounter-group movement 2

 “The root cause of family problems is emotional suppression” and denial of impulses  Individuals-fulfilling roles  Bridging the family-second priority 3

 Emphasis on freedom  Emotional experiences  Here-and-now  Honest emotion  Individual before the family 4

 Humanistic ◦ People are good ◦ Honest emotions ◦ People are resourceful, energetic, creative  Existentialist - freedom of choice 5

 Carl Whitaker ( ) ◦ Anti-theoretical ◦ Be yourself ◦ Intuition  Virginia Satir ( ) ◦ Communication ◦ Individual self-expression 6

 Experiential family therapy lost popularity  Then resurgence of trends of therapy  Key figures ◦ Leslie Greenberg and Susan Johnson ◦ Richard Schwartz 7

 Greenberg and Johnson (1985)  Attachment theory  Emotion as communication  Defenses  Deeper emotions 8

 Internal Family Systems model  Clients confront sub-personalities ◦ “parts” ◦ “disowned selves”  Conflict in others (family, friends) ◦ Conflicts with/within self 9

 Confuse instrumental & expressive functions of emotions  Control emotions of children  Dull emotional experience  Not tolerant of individuality  Victims (children of these families) ◦ Boredom, apathy and anxiety later 10

 Satir’s observations ◦ Emotional deadness ◦ Cold affect ◦ Don’t enjoy the family ◦ Lack of warmth ◦ Avoidance by work/school 11

 Destructive communication in smothering feelings: ◦ Blaming ◦ Placating ◦ Being irrelevant ◦ Being super reasonable.  All are due to low self-esteem 12

 Spontaneous  Did not allow complaining  Used positive connotation  Taught affection  Loving, yet forceful  Use of touch as communication  Was present and supportive 13

 Innate inclination toward self- actualization  Conflicts with social structure  Not a lot of parental control  No restriction of child’s emotions  Sharing experiences  Open, natural, spontaneous 14

 Suppression of feelings  Denial of impulses  Lack of warmth  Avoidance  Security rather than satisfaction 15

 Creative and spontaneous  Unblock awareness  Support individuation  Force personality on family  Caring and accepting  Increase experience levels ◦ Increase affect  Don’t diagnose 16

 Personal integrity  Expand experience  Liberate affect and impulses  Little focus on presenting problem  Promote communication  Promote interaction 17

 Family Sculpting  Family Puppet Interviews  Family Art Therapy  Conjoint Family Drawings  Animal Attribution  Play Therapy Techniques  Role-Playing  Gestalt Therapy  Psychotherapy of the Absurd (Whitaker) 18

 Gus Napier  Carl Whitaker (3 generation rule) ◦ Two therapists ◦ Personal encounter ◦ Joined family ◦ Confrontational  “to overemphasize either the individual or family connectedness is to distort the human condition” (David Keith) 19

Goldenberg, I., & Goldenberg, H., (1991). Family therapy an overview (3 rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Nichols, M., (2008). Family therapy concepts and methods (8 th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education. Piercy, F., & Sprenkle, D., (1986). Family therapy sourcebook. New York: Guilford Press 20