2. Structural Family Therapy
Developed by Salvador Minuchin at
Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic
Based on Systems Theory
Emphases on structural change as the main
goal of therapy;
Therapist as the active agent in restructuring
the family
3. Structural Family Therapy
Treatment that addresses patterns of
interaction that create problems within
families
Dynamic, concrete
Active Approach
Therapist “joining” the family system
4. Structural Family Therapy
Family Rules – invisible set of functional
demands that persistently organizes the
interaction of the family
Family Structure:
Subsystems
parental,
couple/marital
sibling
5. Structural Family Therapy
Boundaries
Clear/normal
Enmeshment/diffused
Disengagement/Rigid
Hierarchy - how does power move in the family
Between parent and children
Between couples
Family is functional or dysfunctional based upon its ability
to adapt to various stressors which in turns rests upon the
clarity and appropriateness of its boundaries.
6. Structural Family Therapy
Healthy families are comprised of:
parent-children boundaries that are both clear and
semi-diffused
parents to interact with some degree of authority
in negotiating between themselves the methods
and goals of parenting
Children’s side: parents are not enmeshed with the
children, allowing for the degree of autonomous
sibling and peer interactions that produces
socialization, yet not so disengaged
7. Structural Family Therapy
Dysfunctional families exhibit:
Mixed subsystems
Improper power hierarchies
ex: older child being brought in to the
parental subsystem to replace a physically or
emotionally absent spouse
8. Structural Family Therapy
Therapeutic Techniques:
Joining
Process of “coupling” that occurs between the
therapist and the family.
Reframing
Putting the presenting problem in a perspective
that is both different from what the family
and more workable
Enactment
Actualization of transactional patterns under the
control of the therapist
9. Structural Family Therapy
Goal of SFT:
Restructuring of the family’s system of
transactional rules, such that the interactional
reality of the family becomes more flexible
with an expanded availability of alternative
ways of dealing with each other
10. Sources:
Miller, A. with Minuchin, S. and Lappin, J.
(2011) Instructor’s Manual For Salvador
Minuchin on Family THERAPY. 150 Shoreline
Building A, Suite 1 Mill Valley, CA 94941:
Psychotherapy.net, LLC
Structural Family Therapy. Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/structural-
family-therapy