Object Relations Family Therapy: Articulating the Inchoate

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in psychodynamic ideas within the family therapy literature. While some authors have explored the usefulness of psychodynamic concepts in the systemic context (Byng-Hall, 1995; Flaskas, 1993, 1996; Luepnitz, 1988, 1997), others have argued that psychodynamic models of family therapy should be given more credence in systemic work with families (Guttman, 1991). This paper describes Object Relations Family Therapy (ORFT), a psychoanalytic model of family therapy, in plain English in order to minimise the obscurity of some of the existing terminology and to emphasise the utility of more contemporary formulations. ORFT addresses the interface between psychoanalytic and systemic theories. It offers a way of conceptualising complex family dynamics at both the interpersonal and intrapsychic levels. It also integrates an understanding of nonverbal, unstated and often implicit processes in its formulation of problem development. The unique contribution of ORFT is elaborated using a clinical example.     

The Theory Behind the Traps — Considerations for the Practice of Family Therapy in a Multi-frame Work Team*

Family systems theory as an approach to problem generation and change is practiced in many settings where other theoretical stances are also held. The issue of successful team work within a clinic where other therapists work from psychoanalytic and behavioural models is addressed. Structural, strategic and systemic approaches are compared with the psychoanalytic and behavioural. Particular attention is paid to apparent similarities between psychoanalytic and systemic family therapy theory. It is concluded that basic differences exist which make successful merging of the two views impossible. Practical examples of difficulties and attempted solutions are offered.     

Exploring the Therapeutic Relationship A Case Study

This paper is focused on the topic of the therapeutic relationship in systemic therapy. It is structured around the discussion of my experience of work with a particular family where the engagement issues were complex, and where there was the potential for a negative therapy sequence. The psychoanalytic concepts of transference, countertransference and projective identification are chosen to discuss my dilemmas — however, the differences between the analytic and systemic contexts of work are noted. Through the discussion of this case study, the potential benefits of using these analytic ideas to understand the therapeutic relationship in specific situations in systemic therapy are identified.     

Mary Poppins as Family Therapist

This article takes a light-hearted look at popular culture focusing on the 1964 film Mary Poppins. Some aspects drawn from theory underpinning family therapy and from the psychoanalytic ideas of Winnicott and Klein are applied, tongue firmly in cheek. Serious points made include the ubiquitous presence of popular culture in our lives, and the idea that Art/Popular culture may anticipate (or at least accompany) explicit formulation of scientific ideas.     

Frameworks for Practice in the Systemic Field: Part 2 — Contemporary Frameworks in Family Therapy

This is the second of two articles to map the landscape of practice theory in systemic family therapy. The first article gave a particular chronology of the development of family therapy practice theory, beginning with the frameworks that emerged in the 1960s‐1970s and then tracing the transitional decade of the 1980s. The convergences of three sets of influences — ecosystemic epistemology, the feminist challenge and postmodernist ideas — led to the changed landscape of post‐1990 practice theory. This second article picks up at this point, mapping four contemporary influential approaches in Australian family therapy — the Milan‐systemic, narrative and solution‐focused frameworks, and the dialogical perspective. Social constructionist and narrative ideas together constitute the dominant common theory influence in the post‐1990 practice frameworks, although intersected and used in different ways in the different frameworks. Throughout the history of the development of practice theory, context and relationship remain the enduring parameters of the systemic family therapy field.     

Site-Writing: She is Walking about in a Town Which She does not Know

ABSTRACT

Recently my writing has explored the position of the author, not only in relation to theoretical ideas, art objects, and architectural spaces but also to the site of writing itself. This interest has evolved into a project of “site-writing” that aims to spatialize criticism. “Site-writing” occurs when discussions concerning site specificity extend to involve art criticism, and the spatial qualities of writing and reading become as important in conveying meaning as the content of the criticism. This article suggests that this kind of criticism or critical spatial writing, in operating as mode of a practice in its own right, questions the terms of reference that relate the critic to the work positioned “under” critique. This is an active writing that constructs as well as traces the sites of relation between critic and work. Outlining the conceptual concerns that frame my project of “site-writing” with particular reference to current debates in art criticism, this article then draws on psychoanalytic theory to think through relationships between the spatial politics of internal psychical figures and external cultural geographies, drawing in particular on the work of psychoanalytic practitioners and theorists Jessica Benjamin and Jean Laplanche. Then, in “She is Walking about in a Town Which She Does Not Know,” this article demonstrates the practice of “site-writing” through an essay located on threshold spaces both real and fictional, exterior and interior which link and separate the critic from the work of the eight women artists included in Elles sont passées par ici, Loguivy de la Mer, Brittany, France, 2005.     

Key Systemic Ideas as Seen Through the Eyes of First‐Year Trainees

This article offers an introduction to key systemic ideas as seen through the eyes of first‐year trainees in a postgraduate systemic therapy course. Our aim is to present these ideas in user‐friendly, accessible language, with examples to illustrate their use. The article is organised around three main themes: how a family system gets organised; how systemic work helps to effect change in families; and how a systemic therapist creates a context for change. Ideas covered include circular patterns, processes and questions, feedback loops, the importance of context, the interdependence of meaning and action, taking a meta‐perspective, systemic hypothesising, neutrality, curiosity, second‐order change, use of language and the position of the therapist. The article may be of particular interest to those who are new to systemic ideas, as well as for those involved in providing training in systemic practice.     

Limits and Possibilities of the Postmodern Narrative Self

The task of theorising the self has been of little interest historically in systemic therapy, yet becomes more interesting in the postmodern turn to the narrative metaphor and social constructionist ideas. Within this frame, the self is theorised as relational, fluid, and existing in narrative. The ‘postmodern narrative self’ counters modernist assumptions of self as an autonomous and fixed ‘internal’ entity, and brings with it theory and practice possibilities. However, any theory also brings limits, and this paper explores the limits of the central ideas of the postmodern narrative self. Through questioning and discussion, an argument is made for holding a dialectic in our thinking about the relational and autonomous self, for acknow-ledging very real boundaries on the fluidity of self, and for thinking of narrative as one way of knowing self, rather than exclusively constituting the ‘being’ of self.     

The Mind of a Stranger: A Philosophic Contribution to Bi-Cultural Psychotherapy

Several philosophic paradigms reveal different ideas about how we know who we are to ourselves and to others. Emerging out of a plethora of notions, one area of philosophic thought, the intersubjective philosophy of Donald Davidson and Marcia Cavell reveals a perspective which I found significant in deepening psychoanalytic theory as well as work with patients, including people from other cultures. Two Chinese patients are presented, and the usefulness of the philosophic and psychoanalytic theory addressing their issues are discussed.     

Therapy and Ecology: Viewing the Natural World Through Systemic Lenses

Over the past fifty years systems theory has had a significant influence on numerous disciplines. Ecology and some models of therapy have integrated these systemic ideas, thereby opening up new meanings and new ways of responding respectively to environmental concerns and to emotional distress . Parallels can be drawn between how the two disciplines have developed systemic ideas and applied them for the purpose of change, and each has a contribution to make to the other. Systemic therapy has developed tools of inquiry that can assist in raising awareness of environmental issues. Ecology, in its turn, challenges therapy to include an ecological context in its understanding of the human condition.     

Alte Bilder — neue Heraufsorderungen: Ein Zwischenruf zur systemischen Organisationsberatung

Consulting based on social systems theory seems to have spread widely over the years. However, in public or even in professional discussions systemic consulting is still described in the same way as it has been from its beginning (focus on therapy-like settings, methods derived from family therapy, and so on). These images might cause problems with consultants facing changing demands in the consulting market. The following article therefore analyzes the difference that systemic consulting makes, or would be able to make, in comparison with other forms of consulting. It goes back to the theoretical foundations and the specific relationship between theory and practice which are unique features of systemic consulting.     

Most and Least Meaningful Learning Experiences in Marriage and Family Therapy Education

Marriage and family therapy educators increasingly emphasize training competencies. What we know less about is what makes family therapy education meaningful to marriage and family therapy (MFT) graduate students and what does not. In this study, through an Internet survey, we explored the most and least meaningful learning experiences of 68 MFT graduate students and recent graduates of Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education—accredited programs. We used thematic analysis to identify and illustrate resulting themes, which included the importance of experiential and personal components to learning, the professor‐student alliance, tying theory to practice, and the experiences of students with their clients, among others. We discuss the implications of these findings to support family therapy education and offer tentative suggestions for formative discussions both within and across programs. Video Abstract is found in the online version of the article .     

Postmodernism,constructionism and the idea of reality: A contribution to the ‘ism’ discussions

There has been a tendency to negate the idea of an external reality in the current systemic uses of postmodernist and social constructionist ideas. Postmodernism challenges us to abandon the modernist idea of reality, but as therapists we are still left needing to understand the social and emotional worlds which our clients inhabit. Social constructionist theory has become attractive in the attempt to advance new understandings of those realities. However, there is a critical distinction between a version of social constructionism which defines the realities of the social world as being (simply) social constructions, versus a version which uses the idea of social construction to understand how we come to know and experience the social world. Both versions are often run together in the systemic discussions, but it is the second version which allows the acknowledgment of the existence of external realities separate to our constructions of them. This paper argues that it is important to allow the space for an understanding of ‘the subject, the world and the space in-between’ in thinking about the idea of reality in the domain of therapy.     

The feminist/emotionally focused therapy practice model: an integrated approach for couple therapy

Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is a well-developed, empirically tested practice model for couple therapy that integrates systems, experiential, and attachment theories. Feminist family therapy theory has provided a critique of biased assumptions about gender at play in traditional family therapy practice and the historical absence of discussions of power in family therapy theory. This article presents an integrated feminist/EFT practice model for use in couple therapy, using a case from practice to illustrate key concepts. Broadly, the integrated model addresses gender roles and individual emotional experience using a systemic framework for understanding couple interaction. The model provides practitioners with a sophisticated, comprehensive, and relevant practice approach for working with the issues and challenges emerging for contemporary heterosexual couples.     

Clinical observations on interferences of early father absence in the achievement of femininity

In clinical work, we have observed that the loss of the father through divorce has a significant effect on the young girl's developing sense of feminity. This paper briefly reviews the research findings from sex-role development theory and psychoanalytic theory, and presents clinical discussions of latency aged girls whose parents divorced during their daughter's early and oedipal years. The most common defensive or coping patterns seen in these child patients during latency are identified, with clinical material presented to illustrate both the existence of these patterns and implications for treatment.     

Anxiety in the organisational context: Experiences of consultancy

Abstract

This article explores some of the theoretical ideas found useful when attempting to make sense of complex organisational phenomena in order to offer consultancy to people experiencing difficulties in their work settings.

A combination of insights drawn from psychoanalytic theory and the social sciences appeared most relevant. The use of these ideas is illustrated by describing some recent “process consultation” in two very different organisations.     

Frameworks for Practice in the Systemic Field: Part 1 — Continuities and Transitions in Family Therapy Knowledge

This is the first of two articles to map the landscape of practice theory in systemic family therapy. In this first article, the representation of knowledge for practice is explored, and an argument is made that while frameworks remain important, the relationship to them is now more conditional and pragmatic. A particular chronology is offered of the development of family therapy practice theory frameworks, beginning with the frameworks that emerged in the 1960s to the 1970s. An analysis is given of the important transitions in the 1980s and three sets of influences in this decade — ecosystemic epistemology, the feminist challenge and postmodernism — are identified. This reading emphasises hidden continuities in the transition, despite the seemingly discontinuous shifts in practice theory from the beginning of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s. Context and relationship are identified as the enduring parameters of systemic family therapy knowledge, though understandings of context and relationship have been recast in the contemporary (post‐1990s) practice theory. The second article will explore the four contemporary influential approaches in Australian family therapy — the Milan‐systemic, narrative and solution‐focused frameworks, and the dialogical perspective — and point to intersections in practice ideas and integrative movements.     

The Use of E‐mail in the Therapy Process

The therapeutic letter has a long history, with roots in psychoanalytic work and continuing application in family therapy. The advent of e‐mail has allowed another form for therapeutic written communication which, while incorporating the benefits of therapeutic letters, adds to these. It has also opened up some potential risks. This article incorporates a brief review of the literature covering therapeutic written communication and offers a case example where e‐mail was used as an adjunct in face‐to‐face therapy with a client who experienced attachment difficulties. This therapy was informed by systemic and psychoanalytic traditions. The authors explore a variety of technical matters including the timing and crafting of e‐mail responses, the integration of written communication with face‐to‐face therapy, impact on the therapeutic relationship and management of crisis. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and duty of care are also considered.