Marriage And Family Therapy Essay

The goal of Bowen’ theory is to review developmental patterns within the familial system and the stress centered around the anxiety caused by closeness or the lack thereof (Penny, 1999). Bowen’s theory works to facilitate a decline in stress and anxiety by enabling the clients with education as to how the emotional system works and focusing on how to modify self perceptional behaviors instead of working to change others within the system (Penny, 1999).

Emotionally focused therapy is designed to be short-term in structure. Developed principally by Dr. Susan Johnson, the main target of this type of therapy is couples and is focused on expressing emotions. The primary goal of emotionally focused therapy is to create a safe and long-lasting bond between romantic partners and family members while expanding and restructuring significant emotional responses. Partakers in emotionally focused therapy are emboldened to express their thoughts and emotions in a safe environment without fear of judgment. In this paper, we will discuss a therapy session between Sue Johnson and a couple, Leslie and Scott.

In today’s Christian churches there has come about a very controversial subject, one that has been developing for many years, and is now at the fore front of controversial issues dealing with the church. The issue at hand is homosexuality and the Christian church. This controversy has caused there to be a split between the church into two different beliefs, liberal and evangelical, which one is right and which and which one is wrong? Issues such as should homosexuals be aloud in the church? If so how involved should they be? And most importantly what does God have to say about homosexuality? These are tough question brought about by a tough issue and the only way these questions can be

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

I believe that maintaining the marriage should be the decision of the parties involved when a couple enters relationship counseling because of conflict and emotional distress. I would not want to impose my personal beliefs on my client’s. By having a conversation around what values each client has and what values they each have in common I would allow them a safe space to continue exploring what they want to do as a team. Counselors should not have a greater ethical responsibility to encourage couples to maintain the marriage when children are involved because every family is different and one should not assume that because they have children they have to stay together for the betterment of the family. One reason I would not want to do so is because not all families need to stay together to strive and I would not want to impose my belief that they should stay together when they could make the family dynamic work with whichever path they choose to take. What needs to be done is to have a conversation around the needs of their child and what they believe is the best

This paper will discuss developing beliefs and identity regarding marriage and family therapy. Over one’s life many beliefs are learned and become apart of who they are. These beliefs may be religious or just what they fell are right and wrong. These are the characteristics that will help or hinder them when it comes to being an effective counselor. Marriage and family therapist use psychotherapy to treat mental, emotional and interpersonal problems in the context of close relationships. Spiritual and or religious beliefs can also be incorporated into treatment. As a professional one must be aware not to impose personal beliefs into counseling.

The purpose of this paper is to review my professional identity as a Marriage and Family Therapist and to reflect on my developing beliefs within my selection of the counseling profession. My professional identity is beginning to be developed throughout my education with Liberty University. I will address the Marriage and Family Therapist professional counselor role and how this position differs from social workers, clinical psychologists, and professional counselors. By reviewing the differences in counseling positions, I will be able to express the differences from my previous experiences with pastoral counseling, and outline what my

The purpose of this paper is to examine the field of marriage and family counseling beginning with the history and development of the profession and its importance in the field of counseling. This paper will also evaluate five major themes relevant to Marriage and Family Therapy which include: roles of Marriage and Family Therapists; licensure requirements and examinations; methods of supervision; client advocacy; multiculturalism and diversity. The author will discuss significant aspects to the field of Marriage and Family Therapy such as MFT identity, function, and ethics of the profession. This paper will assess biblical values in relation to Marriage and Family Therapists and to the field

Ethics and therapy are closely intertwined. It is important that healthcare professionals dealing in therapy adhere to strict professional standards and values that help define expectations and also prevent harm to those who seek therapy. Although the application of such values can sometimes be somewhat complicated when such therapists are dealing with individual clients, the complexity is even more heightened in the context of having multiple family members under therapy. Advancing conversations regarding values and marriage and family therapy is important to enable professionals grapple with the complexities of the topic as well as support their clients better.

The history of family therapy began around 1960, when Gregory Bateson coined the term, “system thinking.” This type of therapy was a daring departure, both technically and philosophically, from traditional and individual treatment during the 1960s. Gregory Bateson was inspired. He felt that the unit known, as “the family” needed to be celebrated and that is exactly what he did” (Family Therapy, 2010, Para 1) Along with Gregory Bateson, are a list of several others who contributed to the evolution of Marriage and family counseling. This list includes the founder of social work, Mary Richmond, Mr. W. James, who researched the organic expression of social systems intervention and Mr. J. Dewey. Each of these

Contemporary Home, by Jack O. Balswick and Judith K. Balswick comprise of various approaches in biblical, theological, cultural, and sociological perspectives. The author focus is strictly to “integrated view of contemporary family life based on current social-science research, clinical insights, and biblical truth. The background of the author’s work is from a previous edition upgraded with current changes in our “modern society including a section on marriage, mate selection, cohabitation, expansion of family life, parenting, rearing children, adolescent, challenges of the later-life premarital cohabitation, recognition of the importance of biosocial influence, and the interactive effect of bio-psycho-socio-cultural factors to understand family dynamics. The audience of this book are for families and marriage in conflict, every life stage, maintaining balance through the joys, pains, ups, and downs,

The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that affect marriage and family therapists’ willingness and comfort to engage in and discuss the topic of sexuality with clients to whom they provide therapy. The overarching research question was the following: How can therapists’ increase their levels of comfort and their willingness-to-engage so client care does not suffer and therapy is a positive experience conducted in a protective environment? The two dependent variables investigated were (a) therapists’ comfort in discussing sexual topics, and (b) therapists’ willingness to engage and discuss sexuality with clients. The independent variables that were measured were therapists’ (a) attitudes, (b) knowledge, (c) training, (d) supervision

Family is something that plays a tremendous role in our life. Even though the structure of families has changed over the years, it is important to acknowledge that there many families out there whether they are traditional families, nuclear family, stepfamilies or others which tend to have different types of problems in their families. Therefore, many families attempt to go to family therapy in order for them to obtain help in solving the different types of issues they might have at home. As stated in the book Family Therapy by Michael P. Nichols (2013), “The power of family therapy derives from bringing parents and children together to transform their interaction… What keeps people stuck in their inability to see their own participation in the problems that plague them. With eyes fixed firmly on what recalcitrant others are doing, it’s hard for most people to see the patterns that bind them together. The family therapist’s job is to give them a wake-up call” (2013).

Marriage and family therapists believe that the family patterns may affect an individual’s psychological and physical well being and therefore need to be part of therapy. During a therapy session even if only one person is being interviewed, the therapists focuses on a set of relationships that the person is embedded in. The entire family is involved in solving clients problems regardless of whether the issue in individual or family.

Cultural Relativism is another theory when it comes to philosophy. Cultural relativism can be used here to encourage to use their beliefs in God. One way as a counselor in the Christian seat can advise this couple that human needs are to be met. So talking to one another openly is the best advice that a married couple is to have. No secrets should be kept in a Christian marriage. Unlike the man in this counseling session he told his wife after they were married that he cheated on her before they became married. The mistake that the husband committed was that he kept this secret from his wife. Now this husband is now on the verge of losing his wife. As a Christian counselor one would have to tell them God is an honest God therefore he wants to be honest with their spouse. In today’s society people cannot be trusted one way to remedy that in a marriage is to be clean and honest before the “I Do’s”. So when the I Do’s are completed there is no deception going into the marriage.