Adult Sibling Conflict:
John, 47, seeks help to deal with his conflict with his adult siblings and parents. They seem to fight constantly whenever they are together, and his parents call him daily to “criticize” and “put me down.” The therapist takes a history and finds John’s family has always functioned somewhat like this, and informs John that there isn’t anything the therapist can do to change John’s family, but that she is willing to help John learn how better to deal with his family and the emotions John feels.
Please answer the questions below in order, but do not list them on the paper.
1. Does structural family therapy apply in this scenario? Why? Support your responses with evidence.
2. Identify the steps you would take and the techniques you would use to develop a therapeutic alliance with clients?
3. Structural therapists attempt to organize the therapy around specific issues that grab the family members’ attention and that contain within them the dynamics underlying a family’s core issues.
4. What will be the goal of this therapy?
How would this family have been treated differently if seen by a therapist that focuses on psychodynamics, a behavior therapist, or someone practicing rational emotive behavior therapy [REBT]?
5. Do you think genogram is important? Discuss what information the genogram could provide to you. Explain how that information could be used to develop a treatment intervention strategy.
