Marriage & Family Therapy Final Exam
Coalition -
An alliance between two persons or social units against a third.
Communications theory -
The study of relationships in terms of the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages.
Double bind -
A conflict created when a person receives contradictory messages on different levels of abstraction
in an important relationship and cannot leave or comment.
Metacommunication -
Every message has 2 levels, report and command; is the implied command or qualifying message.
Mystification -
Laing's concept that many families distort their children's experience by denying or relabeling it.
Boundaries -
Emotional barriers that protect and enhance the integrity of individuals, subsystems, and families.
Structure -
Recurrent patterns of interaction that define and stabilize the shape of a relationship.
Subsystems -
Smaller units in families, determined by generation, gender, or function.
Constructivism -
a relativistic point of view that emphasizes the subjective construction of reality; implies that what
we see in families may be based as much on our preconceptions as on what is actually going on.
Disengagement -
psychological isolation that results from overly rigid boundaries around individuals and subsystems
in the family.
Enmeshment -
loss of autonomy due to a blurring of psychological boundaries.
Family structure -
the functional organization of families that influences how family members interact.
Function of the symptom -
the idea that symptoms are often ways to distract or otherwise protect family members from
threatening conflicts.
Reframing -
, relabeling a family description of behavior to make it more amenable to therapeutic change; for
example, describing someone as "discouraged" rather than "depressed".
Social constructionism -
like social constructivism, challenges the notion of an objective basis for knowledge. Knowledge
and meaning are shaped by culturally shared assumptions.
Circular questioning -
A method of interviewing developed by the Milan Associates in which questions are asked that
highlight differences among family members.
Directives -
Homework assignments designed to help families interrupt homeostatic patterns of problem -
maintaining behavior.
Family ritual -
The technique used that describes a set of actions designed to change family systems rules.
Hierarchical structure -
Family functioning based on clear generational boundaries in which the parents maintain control
authority.
Invariant prescription -
The technique in which parents are directed to mysteriously sneak away together.
Ordeal -
A paradoxical intervention in which the client is directed to do something that is more of a hardship
then the symptom.
Paradox -
A self-contradictory statement based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises.
Paradoxical intervention -
A technique used in strategic therapy in which the therapist directs family members to continue their
symptomatic behavior. If they conform, they admit control and expose secondary gain; if they rebel
they give up their symptoms.
Positive connotation -
The technique of ascribing positive motives to family behavior to promote family cohesion and
avoid resistance to therapy.
Prescribing the symptom -
A paradoxical technique that forces the patient to either give up the symptom or to admit this under
voluntary control.
Restraining -
A strategic technique for overcoming resistance by suggesting that a family not change.
Accommodation -
Coalition -
An alliance between two persons or social units against a third.
Communications theory -
The study of relationships in terms of the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages.
Double bind -
A conflict created when a person receives contradictory messages on different levels of abstraction
in an important relationship and cannot leave or comment.
Metacommunication -
Every message has 2 levels, report and command; is the implied command or qualifying message.
Mystification -
Laing's concept that many families distort their children's experience by denying or relabeling it.
Boundaries -
Emotional barriers that protect and enhance the integrity of individuals, subsystems, and families.
Structure -
Recurrent patterns of interaction that define and stabilize the shape of a relationship.
Subsystems -
Smaller units in families, determined by generation, gender, or function.
Constructivism -
a relativistic point of view that emphasizes the subjective construction of reality; implies that what
we see in families may be based as much on our preconceptions as on what is actually going on.
Disengagement -
psychological isolation that results from overly rigid boundaries around individuals and subsystems
in the family.
Enmeshment -
loss of autonomy due to a blurring of psychological boundaries.
Family structure -
the functional organization of families that influences how family members interact.
Function of the symptom -
the idea that symptoms are often ways to distract or otherwise protect family members from
threatening conflicts.
Reframing -
, relabeling a family description of behavior to make it more amenable to therapeutic change; for
example, describing someone as "discouraged" rather than "depressed".
Social constructionism -
like social constructivism, challenges the notion of an objective basis for knowledge. Knowledge
and meaning are shaped by culturally shared assumptions.
Circular questioning -
A method of interviewing developed by the Milan Associates in which questions are asked that
highlight differences among family members.
Directives -
Homework assignments designed to help families interrupt homeostatic patterns of problem -
maintaining behavior.
Family ritual -
The technique used that describes a set of actions designed to change family systems rules.
Hierarchical structure -
Family functioning based on clear generational boundaries in which the parents maintain control
authority.
Invariant prescription -
The technique in which parents are directed to mysteriously sneak away together.
Ordeal -
A paradoxical intervention in which the client is directed to do something that is more of a hardship
then the symptom.
Paradox -
A self-contradictory statement based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises.
Paradoxical intervention -
A technique used in strategic therapy in which the therapist directs family members to continue their
symptomatic behavior. If they conform, they admit control and expose secondary gain; if they rebel
they give up their symptoms.
Positive connotation -
The technique of ascribing positive motives to family behavior to promote family cohesion and
avoid resistance to therapy.
Prescribing the symptom -
A paradoxical technique that forces the patient to either give up the symptom or to admit this under
voluntary control.
Restraining -
A strategic technique for overcoming resistance by suggesting that a family not change.
Accommodation -
