Foundations of Marriage and Family Counseling

In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

Summarize the key points of both experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy.

Compare experiential family therapy to narrative family therapy, noting the strengths and weakness of each.

Provide a description of a family that you think experiential family therapy would be appropriate, explain why, and justify your response using the Learning Resources.

Note: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The sample paper provided by the Walden Writing Center provides examples of those required elements (available at http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm). All papers submitted must use this formatting.Foundations of Marriage and Family Counseling

Part 2: Family Geno gram

Develop a genogram for the client family you selected. The genogram should extend back at least three generations (parents, grandparents, and great grandparents).

Experiential Versus Narrative Family Therapies

Psychotherapy applies different approaches, two of which are experiential and narrative family therapies that target the family as a unit to address they psychological and psychiatric concerns. Each therapy is distinctive in its principles, strengths and weakness as well as application (Wheeler, 2020). This essay presents an analysis of the two therapies in terms of similarities, differences, strengths, weaknesses and application.

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Summarize the key points of both experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy.

A distinctive point for the two therapy approaches is that they address the behavioral, emotional and mental illness concerns affecting the family members. Another distinctive point is that they are applied by a trained professional who is certified to use the therapy approach to establish a professional relationship with the members of the family (Wheeler, 2020). Yet another distinct point is that in considering the whole family as a unit, the therapy approach would seek to promote personal growth and development even as maladaptive behaviors are identified and removed, modified or reduced. Also, the interaction between the family members and the therapist is distinctive. It involves the therapist acting as a mediator who applies different modes of communication to include challenging, intense, dynamic, provocative and humbling, all intend to allow for active interactions. Besides that, the two therapies are in a continuous process of evolution as the actively undergo scientific scrutiny with changes being made to their principles and application (Christenson & Merritts, 2018).

Compare experiential family therapy to narrative family therapy, noting the strengths and weakness of each.

Experiential and narrative family therapies at targeted at addressing concerns affecting the whole family as a unit. However, the two apply different principles and are distinct. On one hand, experiential family therapy focuses on helping the members of the family to experience personal growth in the midst of gaining individual autonomy. It is targeted at making the interactions between the family members more authentic with regards to improving interconnection and the sense of belonging. Its objective is to help the identified family members to have a more fulfilling life by encouraging them to develop individual identities (Thompson, 2016). The minimum standard for success in the therapy is a sense of health in the family with each member having access to a good support system. It helps to create an excellent support system through reliance on empathy, joining and interactions to reevaluate the family dynamics while encouraging the desired experiences. The therapist has much value in this therapy approach by presenting realism and authenticity that exhibits a personal awareness of the problems facing the family so that effective solutions are developed. While helpful in acknowledging problems, increasing motivation in treatment and developing a positive approach to treatment, experiential family therapy has a significant drawback in the difficulty to connect personal issues with the experiences of the intervention (McWey, 2020).

In contrast, narrative family therapy is focused on helping the family members to give meaning to their experiences that include events and interactions. This therapy approach encourages the individuals attending therapy to apply their skills set in understanding the problems that affect them and develop appropriate solutions. It is based on the principle that the experiences of the family members (irrespective of whether this experiences are good or bad) help in developing a personal identity for the individual. The experiences act as a personal story that helps with developing knowledge. The therapy givers meaning to the experiences thus influencing how the family members perceive themselves and their environment. This means that even if two family members have the same experience, they would have different realities of the same experience as determined by their interpretation of reality and interactions with the environment. While helpful in separating clients from their problems and using inherent strengths and abilities to change lives, narrative family therapy has a significant drawback since it is a relatively new form of therapy with limited scientific research to support it as an effective therapeutic approach (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2015).

Provide a description of a family that you think experiential family therapy would be appropriate, explain why, and justify your response

The Ahmed family are emigrants from Iraq, having fled their country of origin owing to ethnic and political persecution. The family has four members who include a father, mother and two sons. They subscribe to the Muslim faith, are keen to following their faith dictates, and are members of the local mosque. The family has found it difficult to adapt to the American culture and feel ostracized by their local community. Mr. Ahmed appears depressed as he is unable to find a well-paying job owing to language barrier. He lost his parents and only sibling who died in violent clashed in Iraq. He is a well-educated individual and had a high paying job in Iraq, which allowed his family to live a comfortable lifestyle. However, that is no longer the case while in the USA as he is unable to meet all the basic needs of the family. This has caused him to be depressed and irritable, with the other family members complaining that he has become more temperamental. Mrs. Ahmed is a housewife. She feels that her home has become a battleground. She has been subjected to much domestic violence since coming to America and is apprehensive that the violence is worsening. The two sons complain that life in America is very difficult. They are excluded and ostracized in school for being different and unable to speak English fluently. They feel that life back in Iraq was much better as they had many friends and were not excluded by others.Foundations of Marriage and Family Counseling

Experiential family therapy would be ideal for the Ahmed family as it aids the members in experiencing personal growth of self. This therapy would help them in having individual growth that improves the sense of interconnection and belonging among each other even in the midst of individuation. It would help the family members to be more understanding of their current situation and support each other in improving their new lives. This would also aid the family to experience success, identify obstacles in their success, improve their self-esteem, and take greater responsibility for their personal actions. This would enable Mr. Ahmed to improve his life and get better jobs, and allow they two sons to make more friends (Thompson, 2016).

Conclusion

One must accept that experiential and narrative family therapy have some similarities and differences. In addition, one must acknowledge that the principles, strengths and weaknesses of the two make them ideal for different family concerns. Experiential family therapy is ideal for acknowledging problems, increasing motivation in treatment and developing a positive approach to treatment, although it has a significant drawback in the difficulty to connect personal issues with the experiences of the intervention. On the other hand, narrative family therapy is helpful in separating clients from their problems and using inherent strengths and abilities to change lives, although it has a significant drawback since it is a relatively new form of therapy with limited scientific research to support it as an effective therapeutic approach.

References

Capuzzi, D. & Stauffer, M. (2015). Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling. John Wiley & Sons.

Christenson, J. & Merritts, A. (Eds.) (2018). Family Therapy with Adolescents in Residential Treatment. Springer International Publishing AG.

McWey, L. (2020). The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Thompson, R. (2016). Counseling techniques: improving relationships with others, ourselves, our families, and our environments (3^rd ed.). Routledge.

Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2020). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: a how-to-guide for evidence-based practice (3^rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company, LLC.Foundations of Marriage and Family Counseling