PSYC201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Active Listening, Family Therapy
2 Jun 2018
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PSYC201 – Week 8:
Summary; Doing vs Being
• The ‘doing mode’ and ‘being mode’ are descriptions of two ways in which our
mind can function
• Mindfulness teaches/provides us with the means to change mental modes, by
choosing what we are going to attend to and how we are going to attend to it.
The essential first step is to recognise the ‘doing state of mind’ and then have
the ability to switch awareness and attention into the ‘being state of mind’
Part 1: Theory topic –
• Family Systems Therapy
o Individual best understood within context of relationships, through
assessing interactions with family
o Many different approaches
o Common central principle: client is connected to living systems,
change in one part affects other parts. Treatment addresses other
family members, the client in the broader context
• How is problematic behaviour viewed?
o Problematic behaviour may –
▪ Serve a function or purpose in the family
▪ Be unintentionally maintained by family processes
▪ Be a function of the family’s inability to operate productively
▪ Be a symptom of dysfunctional patterns handed down across
generations
Central assumptions –
• Clients best understood within context of wider interpersonal dynamics
• Families as powerful interactive and systemic units
• Dysfunctional behaviour understood as manifestation of dysfunctional
behaviour within the family system, impacting negatively on the system
• The wider interpersonal system must be addressed if lasting change is to be
achieved
Differences between systemic and individual approaches:
• Individual therapy –
o Focus on clinical diagnosis
o Start individual therapy immediately
o Focus on cognitive, behavioural and emotional processes in depression
o Examine individual experiences and thoughts
o Intervene to develop coping skills
• Systemic therapy –
o Explore family system
o Interview broader family
o Focus on family context in which depression ‘makes sense’
o Examine meaning/rules/thinking within the system
o Intervene to change the context
Development: Key Figures and Approaches –
• Multigenerational family therapy: Bowen
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