Weekly Learning Record #31

Unit 8: Models 1-4 Integration of CBT, SFBT, Systemic & Psychodynamic approaches to counselling

Weekly Learning Record #31

Introduction to Couple Therapy and Family Scripts

The perspective of working with the 'space between the couple' or the 'relationship' sounds really fascinating.

I think that this idea helps to shift the focus from the person, the individual in the couple and the couple as such towards what is happening between them. This sounds similar to externalising the problem, the issue is taken out of the personality of the couple and the personalities in the couple. Thus the issue can be touched, handled, operated less painfully and without carrying blame or guilt. It is no one's fault but it is everyone's responsibility to create and maintain a healthy, loving, fruitful environment. If one part fails, there is always opportunity to learn how to do it.

My feelings: The series on systemic therapy we had through the last few weeks made me experience great enthusiasm and at the same time I feel bewildered and insecure.

My thoughts: 'People you need to find out about this', 'Systemic therapy needs to be introduced to the church system.' My impression is that it is a tool that can bring so much freedom to people in the church and equally to those rejected...

The experience during these weeks made me ponder a lot and feel in a different way regarding my strengths and weaknesses as a developing counsellor. I realised that they can be described in a different way from what I carry as merely personal weaknesses and strengths. My description as counsellor will involve my personality, my previous knowledge and competence and the knowledge, skills and competence I am developing (and will be constantly) as a counsellor. The drive for learning and the attitude of being teachable can bring a lot of positives in this process but equally

sometimes leaves me with the feeling that there is so much more that I cannot reach yet. On the back of my mind, I am most probably holding to the idea that I can be a Superhero and do anything. The ability to accumulating and analyse insights, revelation of a theory or knowledge is useful when is well stored and accessible. It is the feeling of having a balloon in the mind that grows bigger and bigger...Then when we do the skill practice, I realise, I can only do about some 5% of what is stored in the balloon (then I realise how much of it has become conscious and how fast this happens). Practice makes it perfect, they say. I used to consider myself a quite organised person, able to self-control emotions and thoughts. Through the series of learning about systemic therapy, I realise that my process of becoming a counsellor is related to greater freedom in my methods of organising the work. I have extra space, now in my soul-mind, where documents have to be sorted out and space where I can be disorganised and creative, where I can allow myself to 'freak out in the love zone'.I find useful this flexibility and adaptability to a certain degree. Structure and empathic support, therefore, become equally important for me as a counsellor. Finally, I would like to end with a thoughts I came across in one of the articles, they were talking about brief interventions (internalised other or externalising the issue) incorporated in the long-term therapeutic process. I believe it will be quite useful for my counselling practice to develop this skill.

Some observations

'Experiential Family Therapy, developed by Virginia Satir (Satir, et al. 1991) and Carl Whitaker (Whitaker & Bumberry 1988), is a traditional insight oriented theory which can be loosely described as psychodynamic. Experiential family therapy, however, tends not to be driven by theory but is focused on the potential of the relationship with the therapist to help family members to develop insight into their family relationships. Greater self-awareness, it is argued, can lead to greater levels of choice and improved levels of functioning. The therapist helps family members to analyse their underlying feelings, to communicate honestly and openly with each other, and to develop self-esteem through a focus on positives rather than negatives. The therapist tries to change repetitive communication styles with a focus on genuineness, avoiding secrets and unlocking defensiveness. Experiential family therapy is a flexible way of working and the content of the session varies according to the needs of the family and the individual therapist. ' (Evans at al 2012)

'Reflexive questioning is an aspect of interventive interviewing oriented toward enabling clients or families to generate new patterns of cognition and behavior on their own. The therapist adopts a facilitative posture and deliberately asks those kinds of questions that are liable to open up new possibilities for self- healing. The mechanism for the resultant therapeutic change in clients is postulated to be ref~exivity between levels of meaning within their own belief systems. By adopting this mode of enquiry and taking advantage of opportunities to ask a variety of re~exive questions, a therapist may be able to augment the clinical effectiveness of his or her interviews.' (Fam Proc 26:167- 183, 1987)

Date: 25.11.2018

Bibliography

Evans, P., Turner, S. and Trotter, C. (2012), The Effectiveness of Family and Relationship Therapy: A Review of the Literature. Melbourne: PACFA. (Online) Available at https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/phi-natural-therapies- submissions-containerpage/$file/PACFA%20Family%20Therapy%20lit%20Review.pdf (Accessed 25.11.2018)

Hewison, D., Casey, P. and Mwamba, N. 'The Effectiveness of Couple Therapy: Clinical Outcomes in a Naturalistic UK Setting' (Online) Available at https://tavistockrelationships.org/images/uploads/Tavistock_Relationships_Naturalistic _Study_Report_2017_Complete_FINAL.pdf

(Accessed 25.11.2018)

Jacobson, N. and Addis, M. Research on Couples and Couple Therapy What Do We Know? Where Are We Going? (Online) Available at http://www.rebeccajorgensen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Research-on-Couples- and-Couple-Therapy.pdf

(Accessed 25.11.2018)

Jacobs, 'Psychodynamic Counselling in Action' (Online) Available at

https://in.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/34066_01_Jacobs_CH_01.pdf

(Accessed 25.11.2018)

Tomm, K. 'Interventive Interviewing: Part 11. Reflexive Questioning as a Means to Enable Self-Healing' (Online) Available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.555.8448&rep=rep1&type=pdf

(Accessed 24.11.2018)

Wang, L. and Crane, R. The Relationship Between Marital Satisfaction, Marital Stability, Nuclear Family Triangulation, and Childhood Depression https://russcrane.byu.edu/Documents/Marital%20Therapy %20Research/2001_The_Relationship_Between_Sattisfaction_Etc.pdf

(Accessed 24.11.2018)