MFT Comp Exam - Structural Family
Therapy. Exam Questions And Answers
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3 Essential Components of Structural Family Therapy - Answer✔Structure, Subsystems, and
Boundaries
Structure - Answer✔Refers to the way a family is organized into subsystems and how the
interactions among those subsystems are regulated by boundaries
Subsystems - Answer✔Generation, gender and functions
Boundaries - Answer✔Invisible barriers that regulate contact with others
How is family structure reinforced? - Answer✔By the expectations that establish rules in a
family
Interpersonal boundaries - Answer✔Vary from rigid to diffuse
Rigid Boundaries - Answer✔Restrictive and permit little contact with outside subsystems.
Results in disengagement.
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Disengaged Subsystems - Answer✔Are independent, but isolated. Fosters autonomy, but limits
affection and support.
Enmeshed Subsystems - Answer✔Offer closeness and support but at the expense of
independent competence. Enmeshed children often become dependent on their parents
Clear Boundaries - Answer✔Supports a hierarchical structure in which parents occupy a
position of leadership. Enables children to interact with their parents, but excludes them from
the spouse subsystem.
Accommodation - Answer✔Elements of a system automatically adjust to coordinate their
functioning. People may have to work at it.
Boundary Making - Answer✔Negotiating the boundaries between members of a relation and
between the relationship and the outside world
Structural requirements for couples joining a relationship - Answer✔Accommodation and
boundary making
Symbols of Family Structure - Answer✔Rigid boundary, clear boundary, diffuse boundary,
coalition, conflict, detouring, and over involvement
Structural Conditions for Behavior Change - Answer✔Joining, accommodating, and
restructuring
Joining gets therapist into the family, accommodating to their styles gives therapist leverage,
restructuring maneuvers transform the family structure
Enactments - Answer✔An interaction stimulated in SFT in order to observe and then change
transactions that make up family structure
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